compressed powder in 223 bullets??

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mpjustin

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I am fairly new to reloading and have been loading up 69gr smk bthp bullets.
I am using 25gr of varget and my over all length is 2.25
my question is most of the rounds when I seat the bullet make this crushing sound of the powder being compressed. is this bad and are they ok to shoot still?

I had just backed off the seating die from a 55gr V-max and the first round with the 69gr bullet had an over all length of 2.20 and it really made a crunch sound:( after that first round I then changed i to 2.25 but like I said they still have a pit of a crunch. And from what i read max load is 26gr varget for a 69gr bullet according to hodgens and I am only at 25gr.

what do you guys think? I am shooting them out of a rem 700 sps tactical.

thanks in advance,
Justin
 
What does the reloading manual say about 25gr of Varget? The data I have on IMR4895 tells which loads are compressed for it. Nothing official about the Varget load to go by regarding whether its compressed?
 
it's only compressed when you shake the loaded round and you can't hear the powder. the crunching sound is fine. 25gr of varget should be fine with 69gr bullet. i use 25.2gr with a 75gr amax. 2.450col
 
Crunching is fine. Compressed loads are common with certain powder/bullet/case combinations. At some point, with loads that are more and more compressed,you might start to deform the bullets. You can get away with a bit, but at some point it might hurt your accuracy.

Another thing that can happen with heavily compressed loads is that the powder pushes the bullet back out a little bit.
 
How are you determining overall length?
Fits the magazine?
Relationship of bullet ogive to leade in throat?
If you are worried about the single 2.2" load, just jump the bullet foreward and reseat it to the length you choose. Personnally, I doubt that it would be a problem to shoot it.
 
tiriaq said:
How are you determining overall length?
Fits the magazine?
Relationship of bullet ogive to leade in throat?
If you are worried about the single 2.2" load, just jump the bullet foreward and reseat it to the length you choose. Personnally, I doubt that it would be a problem to shoot it.
Click to expand...

hodgons data center on line.
 
I have used larger than "safe" published loads in my .223 using Varget with no ill effects (up to 1.2gr over published max).

Of course I worked up from published loads checking for pressure signs along the way.
 
so we have come to the conclusion that the crunching of the powder I hear when seating the bullet is completely fine, right???

thanks again,
Justin
 
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