I have a few pounds of IMR 4895 and loaded one hundred rounds. I used v-max 55g bullets at 24.8g of IMR 4895. Used Winchester SR primers in LC cases, 2.215 TOL. I read a few old reloading books and it shows starting loads at 24.5 with 26.5 max. I have since found many resource since that say 24.8 is too hot, including hornady. I think they said 24.5 was max. Any opinions on this before shooting this 100 round batch? I ran three rounds threw and it felt a little stronger than some of my factory loads but not by much, but not stress signs and they were accurate through my 1-9 barrel and cycled fine. Granted I test them on a 25 yard indoor range.
I’ve reloaded pistols for many years and just got back into it for obvious reasons. Experts, please let me know your opinion on this batch…
I’ve seen many differences from manual to manual and use them as a guide only. Rule of thumb…start out LOW, load only a few rounds, shoot and read brass for excess pressure signs and adjust from there. No manual is a Golden Rule as every chamber is somewhat different and components vary from lot to lot. When in doubt, load low and fire a shot…
the differences in manuals can be because they use different bullets. most bullet companies publish their own manual for their own bullets but the one I have found most consistent is the Lee Reloading manual which is not a bullet company. Lyman manual is crap. the easiest to use, for me, is the Nosler.
generally I will try to use an average of a couple different manuals’ with one of those being the powder company I am loading with but as you say, start 10% low and build up from there…
So your load would in the Mid range. If you have a chrony- which you should- shoot 10 rounds over it, your velocity should be around 2900 fps - if it’s way over that then your probably running to hot-look at your brass after the first few shots!
OK, good. a 55 grainer should take more powder safely, if I understand the dynamic in play. Heavier bullets in many manuels show heavier bullet using less powder. Correct me if I’m wrong. Thanks!
I’ve run 4895 at 25.6 and 25.0 with 55gr hornady’s no over pressure at 25.6 and is very accurate. On a side note, before all of this nonsense I would ask folks at the range if I could have their once fired brass and they’d say sure, .223 is plentiful and cheap to buy…I have thousands of once fired brass so I don’t worry about that too much. Btw, I don’t generally see those people much at the range. And where I could come home with 6-700 rounds of once fired brass, now it’s generally my own brass that I come home with now, so I track how many times they’ve been fired then I reload and stash them for future use.
