1st post: Question about wildly different load data for .22-250 Rem.

[AstroVic]

This is my first post on this forum. I'm a brand new reloader. I'm about to load my very first rounds.

I have a Horizon Villain .22-250 Rem with a 1:8 twist. I'm planning to load 60 rounds of Hornady V-Max 55gr bullets with four different 15-round loads to see if one of them works best in my rifle. I'll be using Varget powder, once fired Hornady brass (from the same rifle), and CCI large rifle primers.

I checked my Hornady reloading book, and it shows the starting charge to be 30.8gr of powder and the max charge to be 34.6gr.

The Hodgdon loading data shows a starting charge of 34.0gr and the max of 36.5gr.

Why are these so wildly different? The Hodgdon starting charge is pretty close to Hornday's max charge. This concerns me. Which one do I trust? My inclination is to go the safe route and use the Hornady recommended loads.

 

[E.Shell]

Welcome aboard.

The reason for the differences is that the components and test equipment differ between manufacturers/publishers. Their result will also vary from yours, because you are using yet another set of variables.

As always, start low and work up. I usually load one round each beginning with the starting load and add 1/2 grain increments until I find pressure signs. Some people call this "scanning". I'll then test the upper loads in depth for precision and consistency.

Do yourself a favor and look up "OCW" and look at testing loads from that perspective.

 

[AstroVic]

Thank you for the explanation. I greatly appreciate it.