"Mostly prolific use of non-cannister powders at near-max pressures. "
Hmm. What's 297?
I know a little about Tim Sundles, and Buffalobore. If you look at the website, you'll find that Buffalobore actually chronographs the loads in real guns. In other words, they do real world testing, and recommendations for what they are loading. They use trial and error. The general rule is to use the fullest case you can, with the slowest burning powder possible, to allow maximum pressure build up, in the barrel length you are designing the load for.
By using a slow burning powder, you avoid quick peaks, that put extreme pressure on gun pressure bearing areas. In other words, your gun can handle maximum pressure, if it uses a slow burning powder. If you use a quick burning powder, that spikes to high pressure quickly, it is both less consistent, and, it creates pressure quickly. Hard on your gun.
The big ammo makers remind me of what I think CalTrans does when designing merging lines, and lines in general, on California freeways.
Two guys smoking a joint, one guy holds up his thumb,
"Yeah man, the line should go there."
Other guy:
"Take another hit. I think it should be a little further up."
"Yeah, baby, that looks REALLLY good!!!".
"Can I have another hit?"
:banghead:
Or, in other words:
Remington is offered all the powder from the 16" gun loads for the battleships
of world war two, at a price that is so low, it could be only mil surplus.
They need to turn a million tons of powder over, and make a profit.
They load EVERYTHING with that powder, not caring if it's proper for that certain application, and, the powder is so cheap, they can still make HUGE profit, at the industry standard price. The powder is slow burning, fills the case, and therefore is not likely to blow anything up. Is it optimal for a 3" barreled handgun, in .44 Special? NOT even close. BUT, they still charge 25 bucks for 20 rounds, with a lead 246 grain bullet, and, they even throw in some case lube, so you at least don't feel totally screwed.
Tim Sundles pays 1000 times more for his commercial powders, and, is charging maybe twice what Remington is. He can still make a profit by producing a quality product that even reloaders are hard pressed to match, with retail powders.
Also, guys like Mike McNett, at DoubleTap, have a long history of experimenting with loads to achieve maximum velocity, using even combination powders. Casull did this as well. This is pretty close to Voodoo Magic, but, it can be done, and, it takes work, and very careful quality control the major makers can't do.