Joe, and others, thank you for your posts. I guess I am way to the conservative side with my loads. I use 41.5 grs of Varget for my Berger 185 Hybrids for 2,643 fps with an ES of 37 fps for 20 shots, SD=4.3fps. This is with Lapua non Palma brass and BR-2 primers. The data comes from prior to the 2016 Berger SWN's on 1-5-16 and my range is at 4,700 feet. Base to ogive is 2.215" with a 0.015" jump. I have a Kreger 1:10 barrel at 30". As Joe suggested I will start at 40.0 grs with a 0.020" and 0.015" jump and see what that looks like. I will try for 2,700 fps, if accuracy shows consistant improvement and pressure signs allow but I really do not see me going to 44 grs of Varget at this time. Again, thanks for sharing.
Boltman - what is your COAL with the 185 Hybrids? I ask because CBTO can vary quite a bit depending on the type of caliper insert you use. The reason I ask is I'm getting ready to load up some of the 200-20Xs in a rifle I had chambered to shoot the 185 Hybrids. Rifle has .180" freebore and a 30" barrel, similar to yours.
Using Palma brass and H4895, I'm getting 2775-2780 fps at the sweet spot with the 185 Hybrids. Unless there is something I'm missing, your load with the 185s is extremely conservative; ~140 fps slower than what I'm running in a similar barrel length. Only about 25-30 fps of that is likely to be due to H4895 vs Varget. I would expect a Varget load with 185 Hybrids in a 30" barreled rifle with suitable freebore to be in the 2750 fps range with no issues whatsoever in terms of pressure. I understand fully that lower pressure accuracy nodes are often very easy to tune and can give great precision, but you're leaving an awful lot on the table unnecessarily. Further, optimal combustion for a given powder typically takes place at a little under max pressure for that specific cartridge. So running full pressure loads can also be an advantage with regard to optimizing powder burn/combustion and thereby minimizing ES/SD.
In preparation for loading the 200-20Xs, I measured my chamber with the new bullets, created a bullet file in QL, and ran some numbers with Varget and H4895 (using factory preset burn rates) for a 30" barrel, 3.111" COAL, Palma brass (~56.1 gr case volume):
43.0 gr H4895: 61,686 psi 2674 fps
44.3 gr Varget: 61,934 psi 2658 fps
Note that both these were
maximum predicted charge weights
without going over SAAMI spec pressure (62,000 psi). Standard Lapua brass would give at least 5 firings under similar pressure loading, whereas Palma brass can take pressures in that range without any issues for much longer. Obviously, burn rates for specific powder Lots and COAL will have an impact on the actual numbers. In addition, these values are not necessarily associated with optimal precision, which needs to be determined empirically. They are simply rough "max load" predictions based on SAAMI pressure. However, they are also well within the optimized load parameters of what a number of people have reported using the 200 Hybrids and/or the new 200.20X. If you're interested, I'll be happy to let you know the actual values I obtain and how they look once I have "calibrated" the burn rates in QL for my setup. IMO - safety is always a good idea, especially when starting out on a new load/new bullet/etc. However, I try not to be conservative to the point I limit myself to using a lower node than one that is safely achievable.