Are we over loading when we should be under loading? 6UM<300WMS?

[Minburn]

It’s a funny thing, I think most reloaders know the advantage of not running max +.5 and yet a whole bunch of them get caught up in it even while knowing better, myself included.

When I screw a new barrel on I tell myself “I’ll be happy with 2900 out of this barrel” and then 8 hours later after 30 rounds I’m thinking “Man, with XX powder I bet this baby will hit 3050!”

My usual technique is to start with a very achievable goal, exceed it by a lot, trash some brass, maybe pull some bullets just for fun, come to my senses and back way way down to my original goal and then happily shoot the barrel for the rest of its life at the happy load after killing 40% of the barrel life and ruining a couple hundo in brass for a few extra yards of minimum expansion velocity that I’m not gonna use anyway.

PS- This is an advanced technique I don’t recommend for anybody but the extremely simple minded like myself.

sounds very familiar

 

[WhoGarrDen]

I have not used enough to say, it was quicker
I know some guys do for the extra velocity, I think in a 26” it’s good for 75-100 FPS
Varget and a 105-110 is just too easy

Do you have any other barrel lengths to compare to? I'm seeing 2,850 from 22" with Varget, and found one person's load of 2,800 with H450 out of an 18" barrel. I was hoping to run a 6mm at 2,800 to keep 1,800fps out to 600yds, but also wanted a 16" barrel... I don't think I'm gonna get that with a 6GT, and likely not a 6 creed either. However, 25 creed with 134 eld-M's is good out to 600 with 2,600fps out of a 16" barrel and that seems doable.

*edit* more on topic - I found good accuracy (~1 MOA) loading 150 eld-x from my 18" 7mm-08 at 2,600fps MV. However, I found an even more accurate load (0.5 MOA for 10 shots) at 2,400fps MV. So for whitetail hunting this year (max 200yds) I ran the 2,400 MV and saved on some powder. If I start running these new TMK's, I'll 100% be testing the full range of powder weights to get the same thing - a 600yd load and a ~100yd load. The 100yd load being the range load too.

 

[Gstew1930]

Thanks. I only asked because i have multiple barrels worth of h4350.

RL16 is working great in my GT. 4350 should be good as well

 

[Rainierrifleco]

Hav given this same topic a lot of thought over the years
I had a 223 ackley that would shoot ragged little hole with about any possible load
But full power neck sized loads were finikey
Still shot well enough to burn out the barrel
I threaded up another barrel and chambered it in 222 rem. About the vol of those form loads
Now my go to fav prarie dog gun
So if you listen to Kevin Robertson who killed 600 capes Buffalo with 9.3x62.
He was a ph for many years and was an advocate of bigger slower
Mountains of deer have been killed with 30-30
Bullets at slower vol work and don’t usually fail.

 

[Benchrest Braxton]

I've sort of hit the age where I don't care to push anything.

My .223/5.56 loads are mild - 77s at 2575' from a 16" with Benchmark.
My dedicated .223 loads for my old 12-twist bolt gun are only 3200' for 53s from a 26" tube (varget)
My 30-06 165s are about 2675' from a 22" (IMR4895)
My .280ai 180s max out about 2925' with VVN565 but I am loading to 2870'. (25" tube)
My 6.5cm with a 20" and 147s is moving 2610' and I know I can get 2650'+ from this powder and faster with others. (RL16)

I shoot smokeless muzzleloaders with loads that don't even surpass what is claimed for BH209 and 'magnum' loads.

I get the desire to go faster but once you figure out what you might need to do with a rifle and you have consistent loads that perform within that envelope, there's no real need to push things, unless you're already pushing by trying to do more than the rifle will do. Like, if I was trying to shoot elk at 400 yards with a 5.56, yeah, I'd want to step on it and get all I could out of it. But I'm not. Or if I was hunting in high winds, yeah, sure, better wind performance would be awesome. Not really an issue in 300-yard eastern deer hunting or 1st rifle season elk in mild weather.

We live in a day where we know what sort of performance envelope we need and most of us can easily pick a caliber just a hair bigger than that, then run it below maximum.

try some n133 sometime for your 53's in 223. 3,500 is easy peasy out of a 26" tube.