Hi guys. Maybe this should be a new topic, but since my rifle is a 260 rem, I'll at least start here.
I notice that in this forum (which admittedly I have not read in it's entirety) and other handloading/reloading sites it is common for loads to exceed the "maximum" posted loads in the manuals by A LOT.
Has everybody REALLY started out at the manuals' starting loads and cautiously increased the load fractions of grains at a time up to, and beyond, the published maximums?
In a time where ALL the components are in short supply, is there a SAFE way to "get there" sooner? Or at least to get close to "there" so that the resources can be used more efficiently?
I see all kinds of guidance. Anything from starting at the minimum published load to starting a 90% - 95% of the published max load. I know, the min load is usually ~90% of the max load, but using 95% would save half the bullets, primers and powder.
And when I see that virtually everybody is using loads that are significantly above the published max loads, I wonder about trying 90% or 95% of these supermax loads.
I have a chrono and wonder if I shouldn't just make the jumps on powder charge based on how close to a targeted MV.
I also have learned that the best charge has to be found by testing on each and every gun, and I wonder about what range of velocities or range of powder charge less than supermax or maybe even published max I should do my ladder at.
I saw a post someplace that said to use a chrono and get up to 2775 - 2825; then fine tune.
My rifle is a Savage M12 LRP.
