Just wounderd how many use this site for reloading data
and if they are happy with the results.

The data is from a 7" barrel.................
and the pressures are either psi or cup which leave me hanging on the powders as to which is better with different figures from one to another.

Now that I have a chrony................I find this data a "Little" off.......... (being nice).

Hodgdon uses test barrels of various lengths so their results are generally quite optimistic when compared to real life crono results using actual pistols and rifles. You can find out what length barrel they used if you click the "print" option and see the print preview screen.

I use it as a check for loads or powders that I haven't used before and to compare to other data sources. I was a bit annoyed that they downgraded all the older .38 spl Winchester data regarding lead bullets to cowboy load levels rather than Winchesters data that showed full standard and +P loadings equivalent to their factory loads.

I use Hodgdon's site quite a bit. And yes, their fps ratings are always a bit different than mine. Different barrels with different rifling and lengths. I take the velocity with a grain of salt. I have actually gotten more fps than the data said I would on rare occasions. That happens as well.

If you had the same batch of powder with the same batch of primers and the same batch of brass and same batch of bullets using the same test barrel and action shooting over the same chronograph in a lab, you would get their results. But since we live in the real world and aren't using the exact same everything, you "mileage" so to speak, will vary.

I use it and many other resources to cross check load data before I start working up a new load. I have found most velocity data in most resources to differ from what one gets in the real world. But then I worry more about accuracy than velocity.

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Regards,
Guy-Harold Smith II

You can say that again.

If you hit the "print recipe" button, you will see why. Most of the time, their barrel is much longer than the one you are using.

It all makes sense if you get all the info!

The Hodgdon website is a excellent resource.

You will never get the same results as any web site or manual for that matter.

Everything varies, barrel length, primer, exact bullet, the time of day, temp and the alignment of the stars.

Remember this is only a TEST!

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Still Running Against the Wind

I have to be curious why they for the most part all like to use long tube barrels for their published loads when most of us have 4" to 6" in volume and the longer barrels aren't nearly as common. I found loads listed as being measured from an eight or ten inch pressure barrel and all I was thinking was, "Great... If I had a Contender maybe..."

Can't answer that one Bob.....It is just how it is!

Published load & velocity data and those from powder manufacturer's sites
are seldom if ever going to be replicated with your reloads. At best
they offer solid guidance and give an approximation of what you can expect.
My view is that when working up a load, if you first compare several
data sources, you will have a little better idea of what load to work
toward and the sort of performance you might expect from a particular load.

I have bought several reloading manuals from bullet manufacturers (both new and old) and have compared them to data from Hodgen's web site.

My preference, in order:

Hornady 7th
Speer #14
Lyman 43rd
Speer #8
Speer #7
Sierra 1st edition
Hodgen's web site
Lee

Lee is just a collection others data, he does not test it himself, and and doesn't state the sources. I prefer to get the data from the original source.

Hodgen does not use real firearms to generate their data. Their max loads are far below what is safe. When I first started reloading, I tried to use their web site and was very concerned when comparing their data to what I read online in the forums and places like handloads.com.

Then I started buying real manuals. I now trust Hornady and Speer data. I only use Hodgden as a last resort.

How often do I visit Hodgdons website? Hardly ever.
As JohnGalt stated above I place them just above Lees manual, and for the same reason he gave for Lee being last. Hodgdons powders come from a lot of different manufacturers, which I believe accounts for the pressures being listed in both psi and cup. It looks like they run all the powders through a certain barrel, which is extra long to make their powders more appealing, but if the pressures are coming from various sources they don't mean squat to me. I prefer to look at other sources where all the testing is done on the same equipment to give a fair, unbiased and more precise comparison. I have a ton of loading data laying around, both printed and digital, but I will not rely on Hodgdons or Lees when researching a load.

I use it mostly because of the lack of data for the CFE223 but now that the new Hornady manual is out and it lists the powder plus loads for 5.56x45 I wont be going there as often. For my other guns I like the Lyman and the Lee, as has been stated above, is just a collection of information from other sources and in some cases not reliable. I just recently started buying Nosler bullets so I will get their manual.

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Grover Oathkeeper

Reloading manuals are like every thing else in the real world -- sales and marketing. Follow the money path and you will find the truth. When Hodgdon had the best price powder in 1986, I used their data exclusively without any problems -- handgun, rifle, shotgun. It was a happy, happy day when all that shotgun stuff left my house.

Today I reload two IMR powders and 5 Accurate Arms powders because of price and availability at the time I made my bulk powder purchase. Opinons are like reloading manuals - everybody needs at least one. Does not mean any one data block is perfect, absolute, or accurate to 7 digits and 4 decimal places.

I shot a rebarreled Rem 700 in 25-06 that had almost 257 Weatherby velocity and was boringly accurate like a lazer. It was a killing machine in the prairie dog patch with 32 # of H414 and Hornaday 75 grain hollow points. I don't know why or how -- it just did safely with a bolt that opened with 1 finger. The proof was either on the paper target or laying dead in the fields at remarkable ranges -- all day long. The load came out of the current Hodgdon manual at the time, was 300 FPS faster than listed, and was not identified as an "accurate" load. We couldn't sleep at the Holiday Inn Express -- too far away.

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S&WHF 366