by Apollo » 06 Apr 2014, 10:10 pm
A little word of warning here.
Nick Harvey is just a person, he does not have a full Ballistics Labratory as do some of the Firearms and Powder Manufactures. Nick for years used to publish data that was on the very hot side and most times shot in his own firearms using his Chronograph. A lot of his data has been downgraded to a more safer figure. Tread lightly when using his data and always compare it with other information from better sources before approaching maximum loads. On page 125 under 95-100gr weight in Nick's latest Reloading Manual (9th) he lists two different lots of load data using AR2217 with two different velocities. There are many other errors in his Reloading Manual.
Nosler, Speer (Lee), Hodgdon (ADI), Sierra and others have much better resources available to them for testing under very controlled environments. It's hard to judge exactly who does a lot of the load testing but it's never in your firearm. Please don't say it's safe to use any maximum load unless you have worked that up in your own firearm and know how to judge the safe limit. BTW, ADI do not do any powder load testing, it's done by Hodgdon USA at their test facility and passed on.
A 100gr Speer and a 100gr Nosler should give you the same muzzle velocity as will any other 100gr bullet within a reasonable fine margin based on bullet bearing surface , bore friction and other very minor differences. Terminal velocity at a given distance will vary more so as then bullet design comes into effect. Seating depth, bore rifling and many other factors vary from one firearm to another and hence all have an effect that will make your load behave differently to someone else's even of the same brand.
My suggestion is to look at the data from a number of sources using .243W 100gr bullets and what powder they have tested to see the results they obtained, take that information into account before choosing another powder. ADI's AR2217 or AR2213SC may, and I say may give you a fraction more velocity. You may be far better off dropping bullet weight if velocity is your only factor in question. Velocity does not mean accuracy.
All USA Reloading Manuals list ADI powders under the Hodgdon Label, it's easy to compare them then start your own testing.