Hello from New Mexico: reloading questions

[Banjo]

Banjo,

Your current load is hot. Your actual case volume will be slightly different to Quickload's default but it is showing 105% case full at 28.2gn/8208 and 2.250" OAL with that bullet. The pressure is up around 63.4K lbs. It is more than the light action is designed for and while you may be OK it may break the bolt - sooner or later. Hard to say when it will break and also depends on the quality of your parts.

8208 is unforgiving once it gets compressed and 105% is definitely compressed. The pressure curve gets steep real quick.

How are you determining your muzzle velocity?

Thanks for the informed reply, I haven’t used quickload. I went off of the load chart from hodgdon reloading’s website. Starting load of 25.5, max load of 28.5. Worked up from 26.0 iirc and never saw any pressure signs with 8208 all the way up to the max load. I did see pressure with AR-comp and primers were starting to back out. All loads chronographed with my RCBS ammomaster chrono. At 28.2gn I can still hear powder shaking around in the case, although I don’t know if that’s a scientific way to check.

At any rate, I appreciate the reply and will report back with what works out to be an accurate load for this barrel.