Also looking for opinions

[charlesasmith]

I have a 223 that I am working up a load for. Most of my powders are from the 90's. Have H335, Win 748, WC844. H335 has been a favorite, but want to use up my Win 748. My old Hodgdon manual has a max load for the 40-53 gr bullets as 28 grs! Strange as the 40 gr max shows only 44,000 CUP. When doing a ladder test I found that 28.5 grains was a good node. However, it filled a Lapua case 1/2 way up the neck. The 40 gr V-Max bullet compresses the powder about 1/8-3/16ths of an inch.

The load was shot at 72 degrees without any pressure signs. Unfortunately, my Labradar did not read the fps. I would be shooting in 90 degree weather. I could use a long drop tube to see if the powder would fill only to the neck/shoulder junction. I have never shot a compressed load before and have some doubts about it.

Any suggestions/recommdations?

Thanks,

Chuck