Hi guys,
*edit* can't seem to post pictures, but considering the absence of other pressure signs, what's your opinion?
I think I found my albatross in load development. I've been on a mission to find a flat shooting, hard hitting 30-06 load for a few years now. My local store had Hodgdon Superformance on sale for $49 a pound and I was intrigued by the velocities that it had for my rifle with heavier weight bullets so I bought a bunch on a whim.
I started working up a load with that powder, Starline brass, Federal 210 primers and 178 gn ELD-X projectiles.
Early testing was encouraging. Was getting great velocities as I approached the upper limit of the load charts. I found my accuracy node near the upper end (not surprising since all research says that that powder loves a full case). With a 59.6 gn load I'm averaging 2904 FPS (approaching 300 win mag territory!) with an ES of 11 and an SD of 5. I'm also getting sub MOA results on 3 shot groups to 100, 200 and 300 with results between .755 and .813 MOA.
Now to the question, I'm .3 gn above the suggested max load and safely worked up from 2.2 gns under. No obvious signs of pressure, easy bolt lift etc. However, upon examining the cases in artificial light I think that the primers might be a little flat - even when well under max load. The one on the left is at 2.2 gns under, the one at the right is .3 gns over. What's your opinion on the safety (and the results) of this load work up?
