epoletna
Well-Known Member
There's something to be said for an old guy's opinion: they lived long enough to become an old guy!
A LOT of older reloading manuals should be kept for an outhouse emergency, in case the Charmin runs out. Lots were published without reliable pressure-testing equipment. CAVEAT EMPTOR!
17 BadgerThere is no shortage of tested loading data for wildcats.
I was reading up on 30-06 AI, and came across an article on Shootingtimes.com , 30-06 AI reloads .
In there the writer describes his journey to producing reloads, and ends with
"... I used the usual pressure indicators of primer appearance and bolt lift to estimate how safe the "hotter" handload recipes were ..."
Usual since when, and by whom.
There is an example of a respected publication spouting often repeated nonsense, that people who don't know better about will assume is the right way to find the limit on hot handloads.
Imagine - "I can't understand why, I added one grain of powder at a time, and the bolt lifted easily each time till everything suddenly blew up ."
There is a way to find the optimum load for your rifle, that could improve on factory data, but that is not it. He measured velocity, but was comparing it to nothing known. The point of recording velocity is to check it against the known limit.
The writer ends with "Coincidentally, the Speer Reloading Manual #4 (circa 1960) includes recipes for the .30-06 AI, and the maximum velocity listed exactly matches my results."
So, by sheer dumb luck, the "feel" and the "look" gave the matching result to a measured proof barrel. At least he's lucky.
This is an example of when nonsense is repeated often enough, it becomes generally accepted fact. You cannot determine pressure change by looking at or feeling metal. It requires physical measurement.
The correct approach is to first find reputable data, and work up the load. If there is no data, there is software nowdays to estimate for you. But not to keep adding powder while checking how the primer looks and how the bolt feels.
In this sport, velocity is very important, but if you want 300 win mag velocity, don't buy a 308 win
and push it beyond its limit. If anything buy a 300 rum and kick back.
ii think you have not been learning while loading.
there is DATA and there are INDICATORS.
a chrono gives you DATA, bullet velocity.
bolt lift, primer condition, and brass condition are INDICATORS. PRESSURE indicators.
BOTH are valid TOOLS for hand loaders.
17 Badger
You can have low velocity and high pressure. If you load Bullseye in a 300 win mag you're going to blow it apart before you reach the max velocity with the book's listed max velocity. You have to be able to tell when things are going in the wrong direction before they become a major problem. The book is a reference. I've gotten faster and slower loads compared to multiple books. They're a starting point. If you're 200fps over their max then yeah something isn't right. But if you have no pressure signs and you're 50fps over their max, then you're most likely fine.The indicator is reliable if it's measured. How it looks and feels is unreliable.
If you can't measure it, making stuff up doesn't count.