Looking at my 6mm Remington 1-9.25"

Could a minimum load for an 85 grain Nosler partition be different than the minimum load for a 85 Sierra hpbt?

IMR's site lists 42 grain of Imr4350 as minimum charge for 85 grain Nosler partition.

Steve's pages listed minimum at 39.9 grains w/o naming a bullet.

For years I used 40grains for the hpbt but became nervous after looking at IMR's data.

Never had an issue and best accuracy was at 40 grains. Am I flirting with trouble using 40 grains?

The Nosler is slightly longer if that matters

Nosler lists 41grs and Sierra lists 41.8grs with their respective bullets, so you are definitely under the minimums for both bullets. I personally have never messed much with the starting charges, and on the occasion that I did, it wasn't as slow as the manual suggested. Then again, the top velocity wasn't what they had listed either!

Thanks for responding JC363. By the way- did you happen to see my other post on a the JBM Calculators? It is a free site with some terrific data and resources worth checking out. Like -want to know if your twist will stabilize that bullet? Like to know how long your bullet is? etc...

I know I buck the trend but most of my shots are inside 150 yards, many half that, where less (velocity) has proven more of a good thing. I can usually find very good loads near minimum.

Nice thing about loads with a wide min-max is that they offer more than one 'sweet' load for a rifle. Going up the ladder my groups shrank again at 42.5 grains- or thereabouts. It is just that 40 worked for a long time and had one unique bonus- since I had an aim towards safety- and that was that same powder charge worked for my pet load in my 260 Rem.

I normally start around 10% low or maybe 3 grs low. Not interested in finding the best match accuracy and longest case life! Whatever is written in the manuals, I will switch data if need be for a different powder. The data in each manual is worked up in one certain chamber, at a certain altitude and certain temp. You probably don't get the same as they do; no big deal! A lot of people are afraid to use different data for different brand bullet's in different manuals. It's no problem at all, start low and work up, manuals are nothing more than a guide line.

Don do you mean 10% below the published max ?

All my hunting is done low elevation so I am wondering how that might play into things.

If the bearing surfaces are different on the two bullets, the min and max loads could also be different. I can't recall the two bullets where I had this experience, I think they were 6.5's. I swapped one with a large bearing surface into a load that had been developed with a bullet with a smaller bearing surface. It was over pressure.

You answered your own question.

"For years I used 40grains for the hpbt but became nervous after looking at IMR's data.

Never had an issue and best accuracy was at 40 grains". This load is not reduced enough to be a problem.

Tjay- thanks for that. I have not been able to find a reliable source for giving me an indication. Plenty discussions on going over max but precious little on going under it- thank you.