Is it safe to shoot?

[17LiveFree76]

If its a 55g jacketed, My Lyman 49 reads 25.3 as max for your bench mark powder in a 223, Lee Second edition is 25.6, just .2 away from your "overload" while Hornady is only 24.5 as max??? I think I would work up a few in between that 25.3 and your 25 .8 and look for trouble like normal. (That's my opine) If all is well, shoot them.
My old lyman 46 has loads for my 45-70 intended for Ruger # 1 that are over 10 grains higher than any other modern books, (including Lyman # 49) and at that, I have pushed it by .5 grains without issue using IMR 4198. and ran them through my BFR 45-70 revolver and Marlin 1895SS 20 years ago, and still use a load just barely below it that reads exactly 9.5 grains higher than any new reloading manual out today calls max load, for 350 gr cast lead.
I use IMR 4198 @ 21.7g for my .223 in a mini14 with great results, even though many feel the mini 14 to be a pile of crap. I guess I'm lucky, the mini shoots well enough for me though albeit a little clunky, and honestly, I'll not be entering any bench rest competition with it.

That's good info. My chrono had consistent reading at 25 and no signs of pressure at all

 

[CLT65]

Maybe I missed it, but what kind of rifle are you shooting these out of? Does it have a .223 chamber, or 5.56 chamber? The reason I ask is that the 5.56 a slightly higher pressure round. You'd have a little better safety margin with those rounds in a 5.56 chamber.

As far as blowing up your gun, kabooms are typically caused by serious overcharges, double charges, bore obstructions, but not normally slight overcharges. You'd see popped primers and other minor gun-damaging events before you get a body-damaging event. NOT that I'm saying it's OK to overcharge your reloads, because I actually agree with those advising caution. I'm just talking about the realistic practicalities here.

A friend called me up one day a few years ago. He'd had a scary event with his rifle, a Rem 700 .300 Win Mag. I had helped him get set up to load some time previously, and had given him a good load that we had worked up for his rifle. Months later he decides to load a box, dumps some H4831 in the powder hopper, adjusts it to the load by dropping a few charges into the scale, then just goes to town loading them up.

The problem was, he didn't let the powder settle, and 4831 will settle a lot. He had to use a hammer to get the bolt open, and some of the rounds we pulled down were overloaded by as much as 5 grains. It was amazing that the rifle held up with no damage.

So, my two cents worth is that realistically it's extremely unlikely that you'll blow your gun up with such a minor overcharge, and if it's a 5.56 chamber it may not even be an overcharge.

As to advice though, I'd have to go with everyone else and recommend getting a bullet puller. If it were me I think I'd pull them down and start over, especially if the gun is a .223.

 

[17LiveFree76]

Maybe I missed it, but what kind of rifle are you shooting these out of? Does it have a .223 chamber, or 5.56 chamber? The reason I ask is that the 5.56 a slightly higher pressure round. You'd have a little better safety margin with those rounds in a 5.56 chamber.

As far as blowing up your gun, kabooms are typically caused by serious overcharges, double charges, bore obstructions, but not normally slight overcharges. You'd see popped primers and other minor gun-damaging events before you get a body-damaging event. NOT that I'm saying it's OK to overcharge your reloads, because I actually agree with those advising caution. I'm just talking about the realistic practicalities here.

A friend called me up one day a few years ago. He'd had a scary event with his rifle, a Rem 700 .300 Win Mag. I had helped him get set up to load some time previously, and had given him a good load that we had worked up for his rifle. Months later he decides to load a box, dumps some H4831 in the powder hopper, adjusts it to the load by dropping a few charges into the scale, then just goes to town loading them up.

The problem was, he didn't let the powder settle, and 4831 will settle a lot. He had to use a hammer to get the bolt open, and some of the rounds we pulled down were overloaded by as much as 5 grains. It was amazing that the rifle held up with no damage.

So, my two cents worth is that realistically it's extremely unlikely that you'll blow your gun up with such a minor overcharge, and if it's a 5.56 chamber it may not even be an overcharge.

As to advice though, I'd have to go with everyone else and recommend getting a bullet puller. If it were me I think I'd pull them down and start over, especially if the gun is a .223.

This rifle is chambered 556. After listening to everyone in this chat I played it safe and started with .2g incriminate until I reached 26g. 3 of each. I fired them and inspected my brass and rifle after every shot. I never flattened a primer, didn't jam, nothing abnormal on the brass. They actually shot really well but I'll keep it down at 25g because those had beautiful accuracy. I always check every powder charge for all my other rifles. I just got a little lazy on these 223 rounds that I was cranking out. I usually get about 15 rounds in my little tub when it starts popping cartridges out so I'll just make it part of my routine to check my charge every time I do that

 

[Tilos]

I have never understood why people load at or near max.

What's the attraction to doing that, other component/gun variations could put you in the danger zone quickly.
I don't do it, for any reason/rationality, and would not sleep well if I did.
jmo,
.

 

[41mag]

Far less likely to occur if you develop the habit of weighing every 10th charge on your scale

As a Blue Press fan of many decades, along with their electronic scale, at times there is enough question in my own mind, that I even check loads on a new mechanical Green beam scale, just for peace of mind. I'm working with pistol loads, so being 0.8g over any recipe, would certainly call for further inspection.

 

[17LiveFree76]

I have never understood why people load at or near max.

What's the attraction to doing that, other component/gun variations could put you in the danger zone quickly.
I don't do it, for any reason/rationality, and would not sleep well if I did.
jmo,
.

I don't load everything at max. This particular load shot best groups at max. I started low and worked up. 90% of my loads on progressive are midrange. These loads are shooting great