When working up a load I always check as many sources as possible and am always amazed at the differences I find on various sites. I am going to be loading some 175 gn Barnes Match Burners with Accurate 2520 powder in the .308 Win. tis morning and testing them this afternoon in a bolt gun
First place I looked of course was the Barnes site - 44.0 gns minimum 48. 9 maximum from a 24 inch barrel
ok - lets look at Western Powder - 39.9 gns minimum - 44.3 maximum for a 175 SMK also from a 24 inch barrel but the MB and SMK prfiles look about the same. hmmm pretty wide discrepancy
How about a Nosler, the SMK, MB, and CC all have pretty similar ogives. 39.5 min - 43.5 max also from a 24 inch barrel
ok lets look at the Sierra manual and as usual it is one of the more conservative loads 36.1 min 41.1 max
Now being a conservative kind of reloader I will be starting with 39.0 and working my way up to 41.7. Depending on how it groups today and if I see any pressure signs I may try a second higher test set next week.
I am wondering if how many of you guys also look at multiple sources also, I do not want to consider what may have happened if I had just went to the Barnes site and left it at that. Does anyone here want to speculate on why Barnes loads are so much higher. Same test barrel length and the Match Burners, the Sierra Match kings, and the Nosler Custom competitions are virtual clones of each other
First place I looked of course was the Barnes site - 44.0 gns minimum 48. 9 maximum from a 24 inch barrel
ok - lets look at Western Powder - 39.9 gns minimum - 44.3 maximum for a 175 SMK also from a 24 inch barrel but the MB and SMK prfiles look about the same. hmmm pretty wide discrepancy
How about a Nosler, the SMK, MB, and CC all have pretty similar ogives. 39.5 min - 43.5 max also from a 24 inch barrel
ok lets look at the Sierra manual and as usual it is one of the more conservative loads 36.1 min 41.1 max
Now being a conservative kind of reloader I will be starting with 39.0 and working my way up to 41.7. Depending on how it groups today and if I see any pressure signs I may try a second higher test set next week.
I am wondering if how many of you guys also look at multiple sources also, I do not want to consider what may have happened if I had just went to the Barnes site and left it at that. Does anyone here want to speculate on why Barnes loads are so much higher. Same test barrel length and the Match Burners, the Sierra Match kings, and the Nosler Custom competitions are virtual clones of each other