Load recipe interchangability - 6 MM BR

[Joe Marella]

I'm having trouble finding prescribed load recipes for certain bullets/bullet manufacturers.

My question is this: Can a prescribed load recipe for say a 80 grain Berger bullet be used with an 80 grain Sierra bullet? Or other bullet manufacturers 80 grain bullets?

Does your answer apply to other bullet weights?

JPM

 

[DeltaBravo]

JPM,

I'd reduce the minimum recommended load by 5 to 10 percent and work up from there, or take your current load and reduce it by 10 percent (or more) and try the new bullet.

Dennis

 

[Mozella]

Short answer: NO

A good recipe for one bullet not only might be potentially dangerous, it is unlikely to be the best one. DeltaBravo is correct. Use recipe A as nothing more than a hint, reduce the load significantly, and start testing the new bullet with recipe B.

For example, I have a charge weight I use for Sierra 69 grain Match Kings and another different charge weight for the nearly identical Sierra 69 grain Tipped Match Kings, the ones with the plastic tip. You gotta' test for yourself and it makes sense to start low and work up, just like always.

 

[dmoran]

With the same bullet weight and similar shape, I do it.....
Have never had issue doing so in my +25-years of reloading.
Donovan

 

[Steve Ladino]

You have to be careful loading near the top of a powder charge range as the bullets bearing surfaces vary regardless of same weights. I know Sierra lists the same loads for many of their same weight bullets of the same diameter. A good example of very different bearing surfaces of .224 bullets about the same weight are the Berger .224 73 grain HPBT and the .224 77 grain Sierra HPBT. The 77 grain Sierra being the greater.