Thread: Reloading subsonic 7.62x39

Originally Posted by Max Headroom

The only reply I can think of to make is simply that if it were safe, the reduced load data for 4895 posted above wouldn't have the instruction to take the max charge and multiply by 60%,and work on up from there.

They'd simply say the formal equivalent of:
"Have at it, use what ever percentage loads you want, providing that this is a recommended powder for this round, and you're not going over the max load"

I think it's a lawyer-proof thing, they don't want to tell their customers that they're idiots and probably pulled the trigger on an obstruction.
I wouldn't load down any super slow powders, anything slower than 4831 I would be particularly cautious of with low load densities.

Also in many cases you can go over the max load and be safe. I don't advocate this without the means to test actual chamber pressures (though plenty of people do it), but if you have a longer barrel than the one they used on the test data you're going to get higher velocities. A new bolt action is going to be stouter than a war era semi. Etc.
And if you know what you're about, there's no reason "published max" should be "actual max"
Recipes in loading manuals have been getting lesser and lesser over the decades, too. Not all of this can be attributed to hotter powders. Again, it's a lawyer-safe thing.