Here's my situation. Last year when working up a load for my .30-06, I ultimately settled on a max charge of powder that filled the case literally to the top. It's so full that moving the case top the press takes a steady hand. I then loaded a few more for deer season. I was very happy with the accuracy of the load and its performance on game. Now that the season is over I decided to load some more to have on hand. Since I still had over 1/2 a can of the powder used I bought some more of that brand brass and bullet to load 50 more and commenced to loading.

But this time, I used a drop tube to fill the cartidges. The load that without the drop tube filled the catridge literally to the top of the case now only comes maybe half-way up the neck. The load is still compressed but not nearly as much as the ones I first did. For reasons unknown to me, after I had 25 loaded, the light bulb went on: I'm using a drop tube and this isn't nearly as full.

So my question is this: will the different level of powder compression affect the performance of the load? I.e. should I expect any meaningful difference between the more and less compressed loads?

Thanks for your thoughts.

(Why didn't I use the drop tube when working up the load? I guess since I started without it and didn't need it for the lighter charges, I never thought to reach for it as the cartridge filled up.)

I would be totally shocked if you will see any difference...and if you do it would probably be more attributed to the new brass verses the old brass...not the level of compression.

The first load as it compressed filled alot of the voids that you are filling with the drop tube, it shouldn't make a whole heck of a lot of difference.

Assuming the interier volume of the new brass is the same as the old, the amount of compression is the same weather you use a drop tube or not.

I've experimented a bit w compressed loads in several carts. My experience is little to slightly better performance w/ the drop tube because compression by drop tube is a bit more uniform than by seating the bullet & crushing the powder.

Thank you for your insightful comments. As always, this forum is a wealth of information.

LWD