diff --git a/pkg/hold/gc/gc.go b/pkg/hold/gc/gc.go
index 0eb62cb..4c4e036 100644
--- a/pkg/hold/gc/gc.go
+++ b/pkg/hold/gc/gc.go
@@ -765,10 +765,9 @@ func (gc *GarbageCollector) reconcileMissingRecords(ctx context.Context, missing
 				"total", len(missing))
 		}
 
-		// Throttle to avoid flooding the firehose (~100 records/sec)
-		if i < len(missing)-1 {
-			time.Sleep(10 * time.Millisecond)
-		}
+		// Throttle: ramp delay based on record index to avoid flooding relays
+		delay := max(10*time.Millisecond, time.Duration(i)*100*time.Microsecond)
+		time.Sleep(delay)
 	}
 
 	if result.RecordsReconciled > 0 {