I dunno, I have never seen Pearce publish anything that struck me as excessive or just BS, he is among the VERY few gun writers who does impress me as being both highly experienced and very honest.
I know that a considerable difference in burn rate in different lots of RE-22 happens, my lot was 30 lbs. in six 5 lb. canisters I bought in 1990 from Kesselring Gun Shop, of Alger, WA. We Lower Mainland guys would often drive down there and buy components we could not get here and in large lots....they were closed by BATF, sad to hear.
Now, the tubes on my four P-64 Alaskan .338s are factory 25" and 76-RE-22, my load since 1990, chromos, at sea level, at a hair over 2800 and is NOT "max" as I have loaded the 77 grains and had no "pressure" signs.
I am well aware of all of the divers issues surrounding "max" loads and am cautious and weigh EVERY load. I also note that Ken Waters published a 250 load that went 2840 with a 250 and he hs always seemed quite conservative to me.
I would not expect even close to this with shorter barrels and have never had a .338WM under 22.5", even that one was done by Greydog here for a friend, as a stainless truck gun in his bush business in BC and Canada's Yukon. I would not go under 23", but, each to his own.
I may well re-chrono my 7 different .338s with Brian's load later this year when this never-ending, pounding deluge of cold rain ceases. I will post my results as I love the .338 and enjoy working with it.
The .340 "Bee", well, after shooting two rifles in this, it is not for me. I find my .375 H&H rifles nicer to shoot and the sharp kick is nasty, again, ETHO.
