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My "Green" is showing!

So awhile back I posted a few pics of my Father's masterpiece, a very much customized Remington 600 in 6mm-284, and had explained that I had planned on getting setup and loading my own ammo for it. Fast forward quite a bit and a lot of information being stuffed into my brain(and a lot less cash) and I feel that I'm ready to attempt his loads as I've successfully reloaded a boatload of 6.5 creedmoor rounds that the groundhogs just HATE, but have a couple questions for the experts! I've managed to get all new brass from Reeds that has been necked down from the 6.5mm-284 Norma and everything is as it should be! I've gotten the Sierra 85gr HPBT and the CCI#250 magnum primers...so far so good. Where I'm getting nervous is the powder! What I have is Hodgdon's 4350 but I'm getting what seems to be a large variation when it comes to a starting and a max charge and can't seem to find one for the Sierra bullets! Dad's loads were calling for "H414 @ 47 grains...but the loads I'm getting from Hodgdon are saying 47.5 is the max load?!?!? I'm green to the point that I'M NOT SURE and need some advice from one's who actually know and have done this!! Where my confusion is mostly, is that the info on my Dad's loads is from 1981 and I'm not sure if the newer stuff is more powerful requiring less or ? Sorry for my rambling, and I truly apologize for the headache I've given most by now....but Please Advise!!! Thank You !!!
 
IMO loading manuals are only good to give a safe starting load. I think that the best practice is to do ones own testing to determine where the upper limit is. Generally to do that I would start with the lowest book load and, for a case of that size, shoot one shot per load, in half grain intervals, up to the point where the last shot fired seemed to have higher pressure than I would want to shoot. At that point I would call the previous charge weight my maximum, for that bullet, primer, lot of powder, temperature, and humidity, in that particular chamber. If you do the test shooting from a good bench and rest, over flags of some sort, with good conditions, you may get an idea as to where you might want to start further testing, but even if you do not, knowing your upper limit will be useful information that no manual can give you.
 
IMO .... unless you have a boatload of that powder (it's been discontinued) you should start over with an available powder.

I do not have a clue about the 6/284, but it seems to me a slower burning powder might be explored

I'm just full of good news for ya.
 
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Neck clearance is gtg with the new brass? As Boyd explained, start low find your rifles pressure max find best load below max. Don't risk damage to your dad's art work.
 
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IMO .... unless you have a boatload of that powder (it's been discontinued) you should start over with an available powder.

I do not have a clue about the 6/284, but it seems to me a slower burning powder might be explored

I'm just full of good news for ya.
I currently only have about 3 pounds!
 
IMO .... unless you have a boatload of that powder (it's been discontinued) you should start over with an available powder.

I do not have a clue about the 6/284, but it seems to me a slower burning powder might be explored

I'm just full of good news for ya.
have ya got a replacement suggestion?
 
Neck clearance is gtg with the new brass? As Boyd explained, start low find your rifles pressure max find best load below max. Don't risk damage to your dad's art work.
I got 50 shells from Reeds, according to Hodgdon, the trim length is 2.160, they came at 2.162 so I trimmed 5 to start with cuz I'm very green! :) I did however check the empties in the rifle to see if they would bind or hang-up, they didn't, so once i get a couple actually loaded i will do so again just to make sure all is good. Thats about all i know about it!
 
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I'm just looking to shoot the rifle safely with ammunition that wasn't loaded in 1981, yall's advice at going to the starting load sounds like VERY GOOD ADVICE!!!!! Thanks to all!!! Here's what Hodgdon's site has given me for a starting load: Hodgdon H4350, C.O.L 2.750" Grs 43, vel 3116, pressure 43,100 cup.
 
H4350 will do all you want with the 85 grain Sierras....
Books can get you started, but from then on, it's up to you..
Seems your into the game just fine so far...
 
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have ya got a replacement suggestion?
I'd try N160 ... IMR 4831 ... and both flavors of 4350

Depending on barrel length

FWIW ... I am shooting a 6.5 '06 AI (24" barrel) which is close to the same case capacity as the 284 and am using slower powders .... N560 ... IMR 7828 ... N165
 
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47.5 grs of 414 85gr Sierra hp is what I use in my 243.
H 1000 will get you speed and decent accuracy with 87 vmax or 88 Bergers 12 twist in a 6 284.
 
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That ammunition from 1981 is just fine if it was stored decently...I'm still using loads from the early 80s in my 30-06 for deer.
The storage of that ammo is what's in question, it's Unknown at this point! I did shoot a few of them due to being told they would be fine, and they did shoot just fine BUT all but one of them cracked BIG TIME at the neck making me panic and refusing to shoot any more of them! Thanks for your input here, I really appreciate it!!
 
all but one of them cracked BIG TIME at the neck
Not unheard of. At least you have one survived to measure the neck o.d. to get an estimate of the chamber neck size.

Depending on how many rounds you are dealing with, you might pull a bullet and use it to measure the freebore in your chamber. Then conditional on the existing c.o.a.l. bump the bullet s down to break the cold weld and ' maybe' they won't split

To pull the bullet without damage you need to use a kinetic puller.
 
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