Quote Originally Posted by bullbarrel View Post
Its interesting that you are almost 10% less capacity. I wonder what affect its having on pressure.

If you weigh the 77gr bullets it doesn't say 79gr by any chance

What cases are they? Thick brass?

Lots of places on the net I can see people using 24gr with col ~2.260/5 and no one mentions compressed loads.

Are you using the regular SMKs (9377) or the tipped version (7177) which are slightly longer so the same col will push the bullet back in the case.

I'd like to try the 90s or the 95s but need a 1:6.5 twist. Time to get a Valkyrie
Hi again! Bullets are definitely 77gr regular SMK; brass is Remington and measures up as it should. Like you, I can find loads of references to 24gr with COL 2.260.
I have gone with 22.5gr and can just hear a slight crunching as I seat the bullet.
Perhaps I'm just nervous, but will see how they perform next week.

Have just also loaded 175gr TMK for the .308. Local component vendor says to bung in 44gr N140 and seat to 2.800 COL. No way........ That exceeds the published maximum and in any case the bullet won't go in with that much powder unless a lot of force is used. Perhaps my idea of a "compressed" load is rather less adventurous than some others, but I prefer not to have to hammer the bolt open after a shot.