Long – Hodgdon's Load Data
Question:
I had similar problems With accurate no 9. I loaded some 357 mag with a starting load in my book. Checked their website and found out I was a bunch over maximum. Emailed them and they said their data had changed due to SAAMI standards. Also my loads were safe and they were none too pleased with their website data… Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
Response:
I have finally gotten fed up with Hodgdon, and I thought that I’d pass along to you all what I have noticed since March 7th with their load data available on the web. I recently added a 7mm STW to my cabinet and was looking for load data. I saw on their web site that they had included this load in their basic manual so I grabbed the data. In this version (I use that loosly by the way) Hodgdon indicated that the maximum charge for a 140 grain bullet was 82 grains of H1000 powder and it yielded 3,497 FPS. Just what I was looking for. I started off with a reduced charge and worked my way up. Now I always expect a little difference in the manual and actual, but this turned out to be rediculous. At 82 grains the velocity out of my 26" tube was 3,150 FPS. I had ran some of the green box through the rifle for benchmarking and Remingtons factory load yielded 3,350 FPS (Using 84 grains of some type of powder). I measured the remington loads above the belt and noted that the case had expanded to .509" The Hodgdon load measured .5085. Still room to spare. Next I borrowed from a friend copies of the 1988 and 1991 articles of Shooting Times where the 7mmstw is discussed. In the 1991 article Hodgdon’s manual #26 is open to the page for the STW and plainly shows a maximum charge of H1000 to be 85 grains for a 140 grain bullet and yields 3,522 FPS. SO I decided to check their Web site again on April 30th to find that Hodgdon had changed the 7mm stw listing from 82 grains of H1000, to 77 grains with a 145 grain Speer GS and yielded 3,120 FPS and they showed this as a maximum load. response has been made to date. So I called them last friday and talked to someone in their lab who said SAAMI had released pressure standards for the cartridge and that prompted them to reduce the loads listed. Heck I can go faster with a mild load in a 280 remintgon in a 24" barrel. I found this interesting since the SAAMI spec for both the 7mm STW and 358 STA were published in 1996. The person in their lab goes on to talk about, "How they have to live with the SAAMI and not follow the gun writters who load the thing up till the bolt won’t open than back off 1/2 grain." By the way they did the same with the H4831 data. Makes me wounder. I’ve used their powder for a long time, but you gotta wounder if their more worried about being attorneys or their customers satisfaction. I did a little more digging and Nosler’s #4 manual says that no pressure spec has been published by SAAMI and that they rely on the parent 8mm Remington cartridge pressure data to arrive at their maximum loads. This is 65,000 CUP. Hodgdon is showing in their new data 52,100 CUP as max. So off to SAAMI’s site and they don’t publish any data there. Sorry for the spelling errors. Visit the rec.hunting and rec.hunting.dogs FAQ Home Page at: http://sportsmansweb.com/hunting/
