Jacketed A-frame vs jacketed bullet

[Defc0n]

Hello all, long time lurker, first time poster.

As the title says, is there really a difference between reloading for a jacketed A-frame bullet or a regular jacketed bullet? My Lyman manual (49th ed.) only has reloading information for jacketed A-frame bullets for the round I'm reloading, while my Lee manual only specifies jacketed.

I am trying to work up some reloads for my 338 Remington ultra-mag using 250gr HPBT match bullets using IMR 7828.

I would think that since all of the bullets in question are jacketed and of the same weight it should be somewhat applicable. Obviously I'll be starting low and working my way up either way, but the Lyman manual, if I remember right, has loads that start a few grains heavier than my Lee.

Would you think taking the average of these two sources would be the best route to take? Or just use one source and see how it shoots?

 

[scottishkat]

My Lee 2nd manual says 83 to 90 minimum COAL 3.580
My Lyman 49 says 85 to 89.5 COAL 3.575
My Swift Manual says 80.4 to 86.5 COAL 3.600

The Lee manual does not say bullet type but it came from Hogdons data which is on the web 250 grain Hornaday Soft Point the Hornaday #9 data for 250 grain BTHP and SP is 78.6 to 87.1.

All for IMR 7828.

Good Luck and shoot straight.

 

[jwrowland77]

I use about 6 different sources when I start a workup. What I normally do is take and average of the mins, take and average of the max and use that as the avg as my min and max. This ensures I'm always going to have enough umph to make sure I don't have a squib, and using the avg max makes sure I'm always below a book max. I've done it this way for two years now and I've always found a good load in between those.

 

[gamestalker]

I will also find an average by using various sources, but I start about mid range of those averages and then work my way up.

As for how I determine max, once I begin to approach the average published max I continue working up in small increments until I've found the operational max. Then I document the results with that bullet and OAL, with that brass, that primer, for that action. This has worked well for me since I began doing load development.

GS

 

[jwrowland77]

I like GS, once I workup to the avg max, if I'm still not satisfied and haven't seen excessive pressure signs, will work up in small increments towards the highest book max I was able to find. I actually did this to find my comp load that I use in my .308. It's over max in several manuals but still under the max load in another manual.

 

[Defc0n]

Thanks for the replies.

A guy I know has the Speer manual and for 250gr bullets it lists 87gr as starting, which seems a little bit high to start. I averaged out the starting loads for the published data that I have and will start with that.

I most likely won't load to hot, as I'm just looking for something that shoots straight at a fair distance. Not shooting any living targets with these bullets either.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Generally you can safely use load data for any brand of bullet that's the same composition, profile and length. This is why we have a starting charge weight and a max charge weight. The slight differences in bullets can be safely navigated by using the starting charges and working up. But (there's always a but) recently many of the manufacturers have come out with an all metal bullets which use different load data, sometimes it's very different so be careful there.

Welcome to the forum and reloading...