John,
From knowing a little bit about each other from years past and knowing myself just how imprudent and irresponsible your request would be to satisfy given the possibility that another member might go directly to that charge without passin' 'GO' (ie: doing the appropriate and necessary load work-up), I will pm you the charge that I use. I trust that you are not so inclined and/or really perhaps not all that interested, but I will forward on that charge to you as soon as I finish this post. As I would totally expect, I look forward to your pm'd response and any suggestions comments that you might have.....thanks in advance.
As I've tried to convey all along and in any post that I have ever posted prior to today, we are all responsible for the results of our behavior and unless one has a death wish, do not take lightly the entire process that is 'working up a load'. I'd venture a guess that there are very few experienced handloaders here that have not ever pushed past printed charges, slightly or otherwise, to levels where your abilities and knowledge to reliably acknowledge the slightest signs of pressure is truly our last line of defense, if you will. I have stopped at charges that exhibited just the tiniest and slightest signs that pressure might be the cause and I then backed down from there to my next tightest and acceptable group.
I will say that with this particular 300WSM load, there was never and has never been a single 'visual' pressure sign after hundreds and hundreds of reloads and firings. I fully expect that John and perhaps others will comment that the 'invisible' pressure effects are no less reason for worry and/or consideration and that would certainly be true. But in regards to having 'pushed the envelope' whether it be only once or perhaps many times or enhancing a charge just ever so slightly to several grains more per charge, I don't expect that many, if any of us, can say that we haven't BTDT. If so, my hat's off to you. If not, I think that we finally made the majority list in something.
Nope.....not a death wish for me or anyone else. When working up loads and getting at or above where max's are now being chambered, I choose a weekday at a time when I have several benches open on either side of me. I said earlier that we are responsible for our own actions/decisions. I fully expect an uneventful trip every range session, but I choose to cover all bases, especially those of others. While actually hunting, I have already sent hundreds of TSX's downrange in 75-80 degree weather without a hitch so I feel almost 100% comfortable that all will go well in 22 degree weather. I would assume that there are more catastrophic events caused by reasons other than excess pressures caused by too large of a charge (stuck bullets, wrong powder, barrel obstruction, etc.).
Given the work put in with this particular handload and the results from that work, my 300WSM adds a bit more horsepower than what my 'ole '06 could have ever hoped to achieve. Is it really necessary? In most cases......no. But I'm not a 'one gun' guy and the whole idea of handloading for me, is to wring out the most accuracy I possibly can. How often is that done with the lightest of printed charges or even the middle weight charges?
Not always is the most accurate load in one's particular rifle the heaviest charge possible of a certain powder, but never have I ever found the most accurate load to be the lightest printed charge either.
I always end up with what my gun wants to shoot and to shoot extremely accurately. I am as responsible as I can be given that I know full well that 99.9% of the time, I'll inevitably end up using an extended dropper tube if I chose my powder/cartridge/charge possibilities correctly.
Good luck...........
