Looking at the current Hornady book at 125gr 357 loads they list the maximum load using Win 296 at 20.3gr with a velocity of 1500fps.

Hodgdon lists the same load and recommends starting at 21 grains of Win 296 for a velocity of 1881fps and the max at 22 grains for a velocity of 1966fps.

The grain spread from min to max in the Hornady book is 3.4 but from Hodgdon only 1 grain. Something clearly wrong here.
I also noted on the Hodgdon web site the load for Win 296 is completely identical to H110. Almost as though they copied and pasted from one to the other although I suppose it's entirely possible those two powders have the same burn rate but I have not checked. I suspect the Hodgdon site is incorrect.

Anyone else noticed such a disparity between two different loads from two different sources?

Below is the link to the load.

http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol?&CartridgeName=357+Magnum&OrderBW%5B%5D=125&Manufacturer%5B%5D=All&Powder%5B%5D=All

Well looking at the burn rate chart it appears Win 296 and H110 are identical..

That still doesn't explain the max on one at 20.3gr of Win 296 and the starting load on the other at 21gr.

weird..

Maybe I should just ask what are your favorite loads for a 125gr XTP bullet in 357 Mag using Win 296 powder?

thanks

What do you mean by "grain spread"? Often the bullet companies are a little more conservative reserved on their data which could explain some of it.

grain spread meaning how many grains listed from a starting load to a max load..

A huge difference as one says you can have a spread of 3.4 grains and the other only 1 grain..

From looking at other books I'm leaning towards the Hodgdon site being a bit on the high end.

I have always understood that starting is 90% of max load. I get what you mean but have never looked at it like that. Some hodgdon publications only give max load data with the instruction that you start at 10% less.

I've noticed the disparity in other loads that I work with. There's a couple of loads that the starting load for Speer is very close to the max load for Hornady.

Okay glad I wasn't the only one.. I just stayed conservative to be safe.

Start at the lowest point and work up. good loads sometimes far exceed published data you just have to get there slow and know what to look for. If you do ever load over published data for one gun don't ever assume its safe to shoot in another either, it may not be

I know its been a while since your post ,but one thing that is worth mentioning. When loading with H110, W296, or LilGun, DO NOT go below the starting load. If you have an insufficient amount of powder in the cartridge you risk getting an instantaneous spike in pressure. When the cartridge is in the horizontal position (I.E. firing position) you could potentially expose a lot more surface area of the powder to the primer ignition. Instead of a smooth burn and you have more of an explosion in the chamber. Also H110 and W296 are virtually the same powder. Newer load data is measured in PSI , older data is measured in CUP. At least one reason you will see variations in loading data. The newer method is more accurate in measuring chamber pressures.