I am putting together some loads to work up for my FCP-K in .223:
Hornady virgin brass
Remington primers
Sierra 69g BTHP
Varget powder(also have IMR4064 that I have not gotten to yet)
I have been reading personal load data online, as well as the Lyman, Sierra, and One-book-One-caliber manuals. They are calling about 25.9 grains of varget as the max load and a 2.260 COAL They do not call that a compressed load.
However, when I was loading the bullet over just 25.5 grains, I started getting that crunching sound at about 2.295 COAL. It didn't become more difficult to press down, but the sound concerned me. I ended up stopping at a 2.283 COAL - longer than the listed max but my savage will chamber it and still have the bullet slightly off the lands.
My question is, is this considered a 'compressed' load? Should I expect catastrophe?
Of course, I worked down from this load, and brought my COAL down to 2.272, but could still feel the bullet touching the grains at as low as 24.0 grains. My starting load is 23.5 grains, working up .5 grains from there.
Do I fire away and stop if I see pressure signs? Do compressed loads do different things to brass that maybe I should look for?