Hornady manual ???

[Blucollar]

The Hornady reloading manual starts with much lighter loads than any other source i've used.
Has anyone ever had a problem starting with these loads?
Why would they be so much lower than other manuals?
I've heard that too light a load could cause pressure spikes, just trying to stay away from any problems that can be prevented.

[Siskiyou]

Blucollar:  I made a point of this years ago, and it caused me some concern.  Was I going to blow up my rifle if I loaded below the recommend charge?  Winchester published a number of warnings regarding the explosive effects of reduced charges of WW785.  In fact the WW booklet gave only one recommend load for it in any give caliber.  But Hornady provided a number of options on both sides of the WW recommendation. Admittedly I looked a little silly at the bench when I dropped below the recommend charge of ball powder.  A small but tough rug was place on top of my rifle to contain the explosive blast, I was wearing leather gloves, and my shooting glasses were protected by goggles.  About the only things I was lacking were my bullet resistant vest, a protective mouthpiece, and my motorcycle helmet. 

Hornady is my favorite manual publisher, and I use a lot of Hornady bullets.  I have not had a problem with their publish data.  I have seen corrections published by a number of manual publishers over the years.

I believe that some manual publishers and powder manufactures approach the issue from different directions.  The common thread between the publisher and the powder manufacture/distributor is the powder.  In most cases the publisher is the manufacture of the bullets and in some cases the primers, and the cases.  The publisher will provide the reloader more powder options from a number of manufactures. Winchester will use Winchester powder, cases, and primers.  Sierra, Speer, and Hornady’s common thread may just be the powder.  I believe Lyman is the most neutral, I do not believe they manufacture or label any components.

I cannot find fault with the powder manufacture or with the manual publisher.

I currently own 3 Lyman, 2 Speer, 2 Sierra, 3 Hornady, 2 Accurate, and one Hodgdon manual(s), along with a collection of WW, IMR, and Hodgdon publications.  In addition I have the resources of manufacture Internet papes.

[OR-E-Gun Bill]

I use the Hornady manual and have noticed the differences too. Why? I can't answer that one.
Since my Lyman Manual has several of the Hornady bullets that I use listed, I have leaned more towards their data.
A good example of what you are talking about:
60 gr. V-Max in the Hornady (6th) manual  lists Varget @ 21.7 gr.MIN. thru 24.8 gr. MAX.
60 gr. V-Max in the Lyman 48th book lists Varget @ 24.4 gr. MIN. thru 27.2 gr.+ MAX.

Note the starting load in the Lyman book is almost the MAX. in the Hornady manual.

Maybe one of the reloaders with vast knowledge can give you the answer. My knowledge is only half vast.

Bill

[jhalcott]

  All of the manuals are made with DIFFERENT firearms.! You can not expect a pressure barrel test gun to give the SAME results as a beat up sporter. You can take 2 firearms off the same shelf in the same caliber and work up loads for each. At the end of the work ups, the guns may have different likes. I am assuming that the people making the manuals have a method of determining a starting load. Whether they use a "bomb" test or some thing else ,each one is different. You can find a difference in one lot to another with powder. This isn't as much as it was in the 50's due to powder making improvements. I have some  loading manuals that seem to be copies of much older manuals. That is what scares ME, they did not even retest the data ,just put it in the next edition!

[gypsyman]

I believe that most company's use a pressure test barrel to get a start load, and some use it to go threw a whole load test. It's much more accurate to watch the pressure peaks. Problem with this is, it would be like using a custom built race engine to find out where red line is on a factory motor. All you can hope for is a generalization. I have heard of where the powder can ''detonate'' in the case. I believe it's where the primer pushes the bullet into the lands and grooves, but hasn't totally ignited the powder. When the bullet stops at the barrel, just for that fraction of a second, the powder ignites, and the pressure peaks dramatically. Very rare.
Different lots of powders are going to give vary the pressure also. As long as they keep the lawyers out of the testing rooms!!! gypsyman