[Unclenick]

James,

RC20 is well intentioned but wrong in his assertion of complete safety in starting in the middle of a load range. It depends on the powder and other components involved in the recommended range. I've twice in my life encountered loads at the bottom end of a recommended range that turned out to hard maximums for the guns I was using them in.

You don't need a lot of effort to work up. A general recommendation is 2% steps. So if a load range starts at the usual 10% below maximum, you have only 6 rounds to go to maximum, while looking for overt pressure signs. It's not worth not doing it, just in case you've got one of those peculiar combinations in hand.