thanks - 32" barrel and .168 FB 1-10tw, .020 OTL. Sure each setup is different albeit certain combinations tend to cluster around a window of FPS.
I use Lapua SRP Brass in a Panda Fclass action - it is a specialist FTR setup.
I'm interested in peoples experiences in what might be considered the higher end of the load. The design of the 200.20x seems to indicate the ability to run reliably and precisely at higher FPS without excessive pressure or reduction in brass life i.e. a great outcome.
Actually, this would be known as "magic". Higher velocity comes at the expense of higher pressure, there's no way around it. Bullet design, particularly bearing surface length, might have a tiny impact on pressure, but the best ways to decrease pressure are to use a longer barrel and/or longer freebore and/or brass with greater internal volume. Anything that increases the volume of the pressure cell will allow you to run a given velocity at slightly lower pressure. If those are already optimized in your setup (as it looks like they are), there is little to be gained by attempting to squeeze a few more fps out of a given load if it doesn't shoot with optimal precision at that velocity.
You can run the numbers yourself, but increasing the velocity of my 200.20X load from 2660 fps to 2700 fps (40 fps) would buy about 1.5" less wind deflection at 1000 yd. Although certainly not "zero", that's very little improvement for a
significant increase in velocity and pressure. Certainly the Palma brass will take higher pressure for longer periods of time than will standard brass. Palma brass is largely how F-TR shooters have been getting away with the typical velocities they have been using with 200/215 gr bullets, not anything special about the bullet designs themselves. In general, the gains to be made by increasing velocity are relatively small. If you really want to increase performance, the best approach is to use a higher BC bullet, not try to speed one up.
In your original question, you're asking about velocities and nodes that may well be the same node. Most of the people having success with the 200s with 30+" barrels are getting a velocity somewhere in the mid to upper 2600s. Exactly where depends largely on what powder they chose and exactly where their setup shoots with the best precision. People that have chosen to use use 28" barrels are getting velocities in the low 2800s, but most likely is the same node. Typical pressures (as predicted by Quickload) required to reach these nodes will be somewhere in the 61.5K to about 64K psi range. Palma brass can take that for quite a while. However, that node doesn't correspond to an Optimal Barrel Time node, if you happen to buy into that theory. In order to reach OBT Node 4, you'd need to be in the 2725-ish fps range with a 30" barrel. There you're talking pressures in the 67-68K psi range and even Palma brass won't take that for very long.
So F-TR shooters have been running the mid/upper 2600s node with outstanding success, I might add, because that's where their setups shoot optimally. Those that have chosen to use a shorter but heavier contour barrel will be running them in the low 2600s for the same reason. These are probably not different "nodes", per se, the difference between the two lies mostly in a given rifle setup and where it tunes in, not any special design feature of the bullet. Given your setup, you shouldn't have any trouble finding a precision node somewhere between 2650 and 2700 fps using either Varget or H4895. Running the 200s in the low 2600s with your setup is not going to give you any better "node", in fact it might not shoot nearly as well. A simple ladder or OCW test will give you a very good idea of where your setup wants to tune in. If it's closer to 2700 fps than 2650, as I suspect it might be given the 32" barrel and generous freebore, it will shoot just fine there. It's not as though the node is only 0.1 gr wide and very finicky to maintain. A difference of 25 fps one way or the other is pretty much meaningless in terms of windage at a distance. If you optimize the precision, the small velocity difference isn't worth thinking about.
