slimjim wrote:

Grumulkin wrote: If you use any data for 130 grain jacketed bullets and work up like you're supposed to anyway, you'll be fine provided you're using a strong bolt action rifle. There is my dilemma. I'm only going to have about a dozen bullets to load and test with. I'd like to pick a powder load that will be below max but give reasonable velocity to conduct my testing with. If I'm too conservative, the velocity may be lower than it could be and not provide representative performance. I know 56.5gr of IMR 4350 is good with 130gr TSX in my rifle, 55.5gr of IMR 4350 is good with 130gr GMX. I probably can reduce it to 54.0 or 54.5 and be ok with the 130gr E-Tip.

If it were me, I would use the same load that worked with the 130 gr. TSX bullets.

Grumulkin, the Barnes bullets are pure cooper thus softer, plus the bands reduce internal friction with the barrel. At 56.5 grains of IMR4350, the 130gr TSX show less signs of pressure than 55.5grs with a 130gr Hornady GMX. The GMX is harder copper alloy (95% copper/5% zinc) and a large expansion cavity to compensate. The GMX has two bands which reduce peak pressure by 1,500 psi according to Hornady and that a third band didn't show enough benefit to include it in the production process. They also told me my load was a bit hot. My average GMX velocity, 3080 fps, is about 20 fps faster than the TSX. I worked up the the TSX load first, I stepped it back a grain to just try the GMX and got the best group ever so never tried another recipe, seating depth, etc. The E-Tip is harder like the GMX but has no pressure reducing bands, thus I think I need to reduce pressure at least 1,500 psi below the GMX. That should be about 1.0 to 1.5 grains. I probably could work up higher, but not for my first time out.

Well, 54.0 grains of IMR4350 worked well. The muzzle velocity or 2990 fps was lower than my other 130gr bullets which was expected since I had reduced the charge. I think I will be able to load about 1.0 more grains of powder and still be ok pressure wise. It looks like Nosler is adding a single band to help reduce pressure. I think their BC of 0.459 is a bit optimistic. I need to do some more work-ups and may even try MagPro with it.