Hornady recipes vs Lyman and Speer

bnichols

bnichols

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
9   0   0
Location
Trailer Park Boys country
Any idea why Hornady powder weights appear to be dramatically less for a given bullet, powder and casing combination across the board (for 223 at least) than the weights in corresponding Lyman or Speer recipes

The combo that caught my eye was

.223 Remington case
60 gr. Jacketed V-Max bullet (2.260 OAL)
H335 powder
WSR / Remington 7 1/2 primer

Speer 14th ed. doesn't have the exact bullet but the powder weight for the 62 gr V-Max is consistent with Lyman weight for 60 gr V-Max.

For Lyman 48th ed. and Hornady 7th ed. the powder amounts are as follows:

Code: 
Source        Min             Max
            Gr.  fps       Gr.     fps
Lyman      23.2  2728      25.8   3121
Hornady    20.1  2700      22.9   3000

Test firearms are
Lyman - Colt AR15 & Universal receiver
Hornady - Remington 700
Speer - Ruger M77 MkII
 
Last edited:
Hmmm:
Powder lot diffrences, bullet lot diffrences, primer lot diffrences.
Chamber diffrences, action diffrences, pressure testing equiptment diffrences.

That is why you never start with a top end load from anyone's manual.
You need to find out where your rifle falls with respect to pressures.
Manuals are great for showing you what powders may work for you, beyond that, the fine tuning of loads is as individual as you and me.
 
Roger that, except the Lyman starting load would be classified as dangerous according to Hornady.

To be accurate, and possibly to make matters more confusing, the Hornady recipe specifies the WSR primer while the Lyman specifies the 7 1/2 (more or less a WSRM)
 
Then start at the lowest and go from there.
Like I said mauals are great starting points, and working with only one manual is very dangerous, as you've pointed out.
Also I wonder how old some of the data is, with newer and better pressure testing equiptment out there, many old standby loads from the past have been found to be over pressuring things for a while, a few thousand psi is likely not to detrimental, except in brass life, but a 10 or 20 thousadn psi, is gonna make things a tad interesting, in the long run.
 
I always check Hornady, but I never stop there.

I suspect their chronically weak or underlisted loads have more to do with limiting exposure to liability than any new, improved pressure data.
 
I also noticed that.

55gr FMJ with H335. Hornady lists something like 23.7gr max load. - Lyman lists in the neighborhood of 26gr.

I'm at work and don't have the access to both manuals.
 
The 6th Edition Hornady manual is watered down compared to previous amnuals ie:3rd Edition.Sometimes by as much as 3-4 grains in a rifle.Hornady said it is because of thier SST bullets have a longer bearing surface increased preasures somewhat.I prefer #3................Harold
 
I checked 7 different manuals when I was working up a 300 win mag load. Some of the starting loads were higher than other manuals maximum loads. My gun was happiest with 68.5 grains of 7828SSC. That is lower than at least one of the starting loads. If I had just followed that one manual (can't remember which one it was) I would never have found my best load. Use "the life rule".....start at the bottom and work your way up.
 
The load I use with Varget for mine with 55 gr Vmax is .8 grs under max from the hogdon site, but it over max on the hornady site. Hornady hasn't done alot of new load development in their new manual. Check mutliple sources and work up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom