diff --git a/src/brevitas/core/bit_width/parameter.py b/src/brevitas/core/bit_width/parameter.py
index 8a54a07df..d5dd63adc 100644
--- a/src/brevitas/core/bit_width/parameter.py
+++ b/src/brevitas/core/bit_width/parameter.py
@@ -106,7 +106,8 @@ def _load_from_state_dict(
             del state_dict[bit_width_offset_key]
         super(BitWidthParameter, self)._load_from_state_dict(
             state_dict, prefix, local_metadata, strict, missing_keys, unexpected_keys, error_msgs)
-        if config.IGNORE_MISSING_KEYS and bit_width_offset_key in missing_keys:
+        if (config.IGNORE_MISSING_KEYS or
+                self.override_pretrained) and bit_width_offset_key in missing_keys:
             missing_keys.remove(bit_width_offset_key)
 
 
@@ -147,5 +148,6 @@ def _load_from_state_dict(
             del state_dict[bit_width_coeff_key]
         super(RemoveBitwidthParameter, self)._load_from_state_dict(
             state_dict, prefix, local_metadata, strict, missing_keys, unexpected_keys, error_msgs)
-        if config.IGNORE_MISSING_KEYS and bit_width_coeff_key in missing_keys:
+        if (config.IGNORE_MISSING_KEYS or
+                self.override_pretrained) and bit_width_coeff_key in missing_keys:
             missing_keys.remove(bit_width_coeff_key)
diff --git a/tests/brevitas/core/test_bit_width.py b/tests/brevitas/core/test_bit_width.py
index e8b1c7879..51883ae18 100644
--- a/tests/brevitas/core/test_bit_width.py
+++ b/tests/brevitas/core/test_bit_width.py
@@ -142,6 +142,7 @@ def test_load_from_stateful_const(
         """
         if (bit_width_init_two < min_bit_width_init) and not override_pretrained:
             pytest.xfail('bit_width cannot be smaller than min_bit_width')
+
         override_value = bit_width_parameter.bit_width_offset
         bit_width_parameter.load_state_dict(bit_width_stateful_const.state_dict())
         bit_width_parameter_tensor = bit_width_parameter()