The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Hi guys, I have always used Varget to load my .223 but as you do I decided to try RE 7, looking in my lymans 49th the was no load stated,I also have the latest Sierra handbook,and as I was loading 53grn SMKs I found the loads available,
The starting load was 21.6 grn up to 23.6 grn MAX,. All was fine,until I thought to run the load
through Quickload, to my horror the stated starting load in the handbook was well in the red on Quickload,I measured the case volume of my cases and found them to be larger than the default volume and if I have it right should decrease the pressure.If I use Quickload data the max would actually be lower than the Sierra starting load,the question is who do I believe and can Quickload get it so wrong, I filled in all the relevant info I could,Max OAL, case volume, seating depth etc
I think maybe I should use a starting load of about 19 grns and work up from there,but surely there should not be such a large discrepancy :?

Sorry,should have posted in reloading, its 02:15 and I`m tired

Shifted!

Neither is "wrong" QL predicted based on what you put in and what is has in its bullet and powder database.

Handloading manual data is usually test fired, what were the conditions from the sierra manual for getting its data. Their data is good for their conditions. its a reference point.

Also which 223 data in QL were you using? SAAMI usually has lower max pressure. Maybe the difference is you were using SAAMi max pressure and Sierra wasn't.

Yes,thanks for pointing out the difference.I was using SAMMI because I didnt realise the difference. There is marked difference between the two, although the figures given by Sierra ( max) still puts me firmly in the red. I at least now I can use the starting load with confidence and build from there. Thanks for that

If in doubt always start at the lowest, better safe than sorry.