7mm RM 140gr BT Over RL23

[Joec7651]

Well I’m getting significantly flattened primers at 67 grains of RL23, that’s .8 grains under Alliants max. Regardless its too hot for my rifle. I’m dropping it down from 67 to 65.5 grains to be a little nicer to the brass and primers. The stuff seems to get hot really fast. Anyone else found this as well?

 

[FOTIS]

Keep in mind...... 23 is faster burning than 22

what velocity are you getting?

 

[Joec7651]

That is very true, I agree it is. After pulling the few rounds I had loaded, WOW the bullets acted like they were welded to the case mouth. And that is with a collet puller. It took a lot of force to pull them. They were loaded about 2 weeks ago, 140gr NBT in new unfixed Hornady brass. I’m going to reprep and size them again then burnish the inside of the case necks with 0000 steel wool, restart my load ladder and see. I’ve never had a bullet pull that hard. I get almost 3k with 64gr RL23 And 160gr Hot Cor’s and love the load. However this run with 140’s showed high pressure very early and low velocity at the top (3100ish). I’m wondering if high humidity caused a little corrosion that fused the bullet to case neck. I haven’t checked neck dimensions yet.

 

[Joec7651]

Keep in mind...... 23 is faster burning than 22

what velocity are you getting?

Sorry, I meant to add the velocity. It wasn’t excessive, I got an average of 3124 fps from a 24” barrel. No heavy bolt lift or ejector marks, just very flat primers. It’s also a new rifle that had only had 20 rounds or so down the bore. I pulled the charges in the other loads that were charged further up the scale. Full length sized all cases, even unfired with a Redding die and started lower. I worked up to 65.3gr and stopped there. Everything looks nice now. I didn’t chrono them but will. Those Hornady cases have HEAVY neck tension though. Not sure how I feel about that. I’ll see how it is after all 50 cases are fired.