30 Nosler - earlier then expected pressure signs??

[Hbb6601]

First off not complaining as I am loving the rifle and cartridge, I'm just surprised by my experience.

I have a 1-10 shilen in 30 Nosler I loaded up new Nosler brass withCCI 250, 178 ELDX's, and Retumbo seated 10 thou off lands at 3.416 - I started by doing a ladder test starting at 82grs and worked up in .5gr increments. My plan was to go up to Nosler max at 87grs. I had magnetospeed and found a good node around 84-84.5 the weird part is I started to see ejector marks but bolt lift was good. This was a new to me used REM 700 action so I thought maybe there was a sharp spot on ejector since primers looked good (weren't flat & no primer crater starting) plus no heavy bolt lift. But when I got to 86 gr I did have a stiff / heavy bolt lift and heavy ejector mark. I was surprised to see this much pressure at this charge compared to book data for Nosler. I ultimately backed all the way down to barely noticeable ejector marks at 84.0grs ave 3079 fps & where SD was 4.8 fps - my group was under .3 MOA. I am happy of course and gun is repeatable with this load, my question is - are quite a few people seeing higher pressures then expected out of this cartridge compared to Nosler load data?

 

[Gamesniper19]

I have a 30N and have had it for years. Your ladder and testing happened the way it should happen. Every rifle is different, every barrel and load is different.
A node in the 84 range is spot on. It is common to see pressure short of what "load data" max is. You are getting great FPS, great accuracy, and great SDs.
I run 212's in mine and 82.1 gr of retumbo .012 off with no pressure signs. I saw pressure ejector at 82.8 and overpressure at 83.4. Don't worry, leave it right there, have fun shooting it.

 

[Hbb6601]

That was my thought, everything was working well at 84 and I'm extremely happy with all results. This was just my first experience where published load data with shorter oal was 3 full grains higher then where I felt comfortable and a full grain higher then where I had a heavy bolt lift. After I posted this I did find where Hodgdon online magazine lists 83 grs as max for 180 gr which is 4 full grains lower then Nosler lists so I guess my data lines us close between the two. Surprised that Nosler is that aggressive in their published load data.....

Thanks for the reply and comments, much appreciated to have a sounding board when you get a result you aren't quite expecting.

I'm really happy with the end result, should make great muley and speed goat medicine out west this year!

 

[Buttermilk]

My own 30 Nosler is a cut with a JGS reamer to my specs. Freebore is at 0.170" or so.

Using the Berger 210 VLDH bullet, F215gmm primer, ADG brass and H1000, I've went up to 80.0 grains with no pressure signs. I've got loads ready to go with more powder in the case to see where I hit pressure.

18.5" Bartlein 5R barrel is showing right at 2700 fps with H1000 @ 80.0 grains (RL26 gets me 2800 fps).

It's possible the Nosler brass you have is soft (my experience with Nosler brass is that it's soft) and contributing to early pressure signs.

 

[Hbb6601]

Thanks Buttermilk, I hadn't thought about the brass being a little soft.

 

[L.Sherm]

Get some ADG brass and my guess is the ejector marks will go away at the same velocity.
What length of barrel?

 

[Hbb6601]

I'll try the ADG, that's what I wanted originally but couldn't find any. I only have 25 of these Nosler brass anyway.

I'm running a 26" barrel.