The confusion i've been having is with their bullet types - GS (Grand Slam?!) and RWS KS - Cant even find the abbreviation in their paperwork (
http://www.lhs-germany.de/uploads/media/VECTAN_Poudres_and_Passions_Reloading_Data_2014_01.pdf) for what this might even be.
I'll tell you all where i am and what ive done to date. Laugh if you want, but im just trying to find my feet here.
I made an original batch of 2.900" COAL with 38-45gr - The length was by placing bullet into an empty cartridge and loading it into rifle x10 times, and gathered an average COAL.
I then noticed while firing these that the bolt was quite tight when loading and extracting fired brass. much more than usual. I did however find that i was shooting an excellent group at 42gr. (.25" at 100yrds) oddly a poor group at 43gr (1.5") another great group (.4" with the 44gr) - since learnt that this could again be due to the bullet length - i could have been that tight that on the 43gr group they could have been a few 1000th longer than both the 42gr and 44gr (this was checked but there may have been .002 difference)
I thought overall this was a fantastic result (having never shot a group like that with my .308) and talked about my results on a few groups on FB, obviously mentioning that the bolt was quite tight which concerned me. I then got my bubble burst and was told by many people to seriously pull back the COAL to book specs before venturing into the finding the rifling carry on, this would fix the tight bolt issues (had already thought this, but thats why i asked to confirm) So I did just that:
Then, back to the drawing boards. I made a batch of 40gr-45gr in .5gr increments, Trimmed all my brass down to 2.005", checking primer seating was all uniform and at a depth of .008" (literally went full anal on my brass prep at this stage) and made the COAL 2.750" (Sierra COAL Max states 2.775")
These all grouped fairly well, and again best result from the 42gr (.75") This time bolt not tight at all, and absolutely no signs of over-pressures on cases - even with the 45-46gr rounds, but their groups were not good (~2"). I did find the 2.900 COAL 42gr grouped far better than this batch, but as i said before the bolt was tight when loading/unloading which was obviously not ideal or advisable to have.
I've now made a batch of 41-47gr in .5gr increments. (made them up to 47gr after reading its burn rate being similar to IMR 4320) Brass trimmed to 2.005", again primer uniform and at a depth of .008" and COAL now 2.775" (As stated max in Sierra's Manual for this specific bullet) - when chambering the rounds the bolt is smooth so thats the length worry avoided.
Obviously i'm going to take heed in what has been placed infront of me here and previously
What is wrong with the link that enfieldspares gave you in post #6 ? Discover which powder corresponds to which rifle or revolver
Nobel sport the powder's manufacturers list the starting load with a 150 grn bullet as 37.8 and the maximum as 44.0 grns.
and tread very carefully when going into the higher loads. checking every round for any slight sign of overpressure.
My brain is telling me to not even bothering going to the 45.5gr+ area at all now as all the warning signs are there. (Books saying max load 44.0-44.8 depending on bullet type of the 150gr. Bullet seated further now due to COAL being smaller, therefore higher pressure within the cartridge compared to the 2.900" and the fact that i was basing the 45.5gr-47gr on a burnrate comparison table, which was based upon IMR 4320 while taking around a grain off the max of it - which in hindsight is a pretty stupid thing to do, considering they are completely different powders)