Question on Powder charge and bullet style/weight

[The_Pretender]

I bought a box of Speer 240g JHP's to reload in 44 magnum today, because my usual preference, Hornady XTP's were sold out. Thought I would try it since I want to go shoot it tomorrow.

I use Federal Large pistol primers, Winchester brass, and Alliant Blue Dot powder.

The last time I loaded 240g XTP's, I used 13.2 grains of Blue Dot. I wanted to up it a little.

The Hornady manual suggests a 14.3 grain load for 1350 fps, and 15.2 for a max load. This is with 240g XTP's and JHP's.

The Alliant book says no more than 13.7g of blue dot with a 240g Speer GBHP or something like that.

Under Speer, it says no more than 14.2 or something similar.

My question is, are charge weights equal across the board for a certain projectile weight, or do you have to use a different scale for each style bullet in a given weight, and a given brand? (All leads and WC, SWC aside)

Basically, what I want to know is, if Hornady says a 240g XTP slug is ok at 14.3g of Blue Dot, would these Speer 240g semi-jacketed hollow points be ok at the same charge?

 

[243winxb]

Start low, work up the powder charge when changing components.

 

[zxcvbob]

I use 16.5 grains of Blue Dot with 255 grain bullets, but that's in .45 Colt which is a lot bigger than .44 Magnum. (sorry, I couldn't resist that)

Lyman's 48th says the max load of Blue Dot for generic 240 grain HP's is 16.0, loaded to the full 1.610" overall length. (QuickLOAD thinks you can go higher with Hornady XTP 44200's) That's sounds about right to me, but you need to work up to it; start at about 14. If you seat the bullets deeper than that, you'll probably need to stop before you get to 16. Blue Dot is a tricky powder, so go slowly. Hope this helps.

 

[rfwobbly]

Pretend -
You can use the same load data, but the 2 bullets will behave differently, so you have to start over. If the Speer is a GoldDot, then it's a plated bullet, where as the Hornday XTP is a jacketed. There may also be bullet length differences. If seated at the same OAL, then case volume will be changing. So there's all sorts of differences that would change the load behavior.

It's best to play it safe.

 

[Randy1911]

The reason for the differences is the different books use differennt components. Their test barrels are also different. Anytime you change something you need to work it.