Ammo makers using SECRET powders

[shaughn]

A lot can be done by reengineering the case head and one can tread well past where the original designer/developer's would not have even thought to have gone.

Original case design featured ballon head cases, then manufacture evolved to the point that we now have solid web design and better metallurgy.

Add in chamber designs and tighter machining and tolerance and even our understanding of smokeless propellants and we have gone even farther than before.

 

[hemiford]

I got some good education out of this thread.

 

[akmtnhnt]

There's only so much pressure you can put into the chamber before you make a bomb, and an overbore cartridge certified at high pressure is hard to beat. 204 Ruger is already specified 2500psi higher than the parent case (222 Rem Mag) and hits 4400 FPS out of the box. Only marginal gains to be made there unless you push pressure hard.

The particular chambering you mentioned is not a hundred year old design like the 30-06 where in a modern rifle you can safely load past the 50k spec that factory ammo is limited to and see some big gains.

Same logic applies to 6.5CM vs 260 Rem - 2000psi more for the newer design so factory ammo should push slightly faster when both are limited to spec. But a handloader can push a 260 Rem faster.

Nosler got the 26 Nosler specified at 65k, not as much room to work with there. So on and so on.

More pressure, generally leads to higher velocities, but pressure under the curve is really what we're looking for. It's why you can have 2 powders at max pressure produce 100-200fps difference in velocity. This is where a lot of the modern double base powders have really changed what we can do with the same pressure limits.