does anyone else tend to load for max accuracy, and
not really really give much thought to using a hand-load,
that may be slightly slower than the listed max reachable predicted velocity's?
I had a guy I hunt with come over to B.S. and plan next seasons hunt, while I was reloading last evening.
as I was in the process the guy was flipping through several of my reloading manuals and comparing loads and predicted velocities.
now over the past 4 plus decades ,I've tried a dozen different bullets and powders and found a very consistent load using the h4831 powder, a federal 215 primer and and a 250 grain hornady bullet , but I was loading the new 270 grain low drag bullets
https://www.hornady.com/bullets/rifl...70-gr-eld-x#!/
when he looked up the potential velocity , he looked like he was having a minor stroke!
he repeatedly pointed out that I could have easily loaded a 225 grain bullet and potentially gained an easy 350 fps-500 fps
when I pointed out that the loads Id used for decades were not cracking the 2800 fps barrier he seemed to think Id lost my mind!
" why would you carry a 340 wby mag if your not going to load it to well past 3000 fps was his main concern"
honestly I can count the number of times I've even seen a legal bull elk that looked like it was worth shooting, on public land, at ranges over 300 yards in the last 46 years on a single hand and still have unused fingers.. In my experience a 338 caliber, 250 grain bullet pushed too just under 2800 fps kills anything I've ever used it on.
yes in theory I could gain a bit flatter trajectory and a bit more impact energy by boosting velocity with hotter loads... but I don,t see any benefit!
now I'm not suggesting loading down to lower velocity as a goal,
but if my most accurate load happens to be 50 fps-100 fps slower than the max listed velocity you can find listed in the manuals,
I don,t, miss a minutes sleep worrying about the rifles lethality.
I'd bet he would totally flip out if he knew my back-up rifle was a 20" sako 375H&H carbine that barely brakes 2450 fps with a 270 grain bullet and that both rifles have a long very successful record of dumping elk!
http://www.handloads.com/loaddata/de...=Rifle&Source=
http://www.accuratereloading.com/340wby.html
https://load-data.nosler.com/load-da...58c69-0-ab_gsb