Min Max loads for unlisted powder

"When the bolt doesn't move it is hard to feed in the next cartridge. "

REALLY???

"And this happens quite a lot" Are you KIDDING??? Do you actually reload and shoot rifles??

This is silliness at the extreme.

If the load is a few grains less, it cannot cause the bolt to stick, and a stuck bolt does NOT effect the feeding of cartridges from the magazine.

Did you even read my first post? The advice was to not load full bore max loads for hunting.

I WAS ADVISING NOT LOADING MAX LOADS.
 
I have been reloading for 40 years and have a few different wildcats.

Do I want to tell somebody to load up some loads to max and load them long and go elk hunting?

No, sounds like you do.

As far as thing like that happening yes I have seen people do it. Did I say I did it? NO

The guy asked about loading H4831 when he didn't have data for it. What I advised was
1. work up a load from IMR4831 data reduced 10%... Basic reloading.
2. You may want to load around the suggested coal for HUNTING ammo.
3. Once you find max it is good for HUNTING AMMO to back off a couple percent even with temp stable powders like H4831.

If the guy is experienced he wouldn't be asking these questions.

Quit saying stuff that I did not say or advocate.

As far as a change of "dialogue" someone who never read the prior post shouldn't jump in and spout off about what they haven't read or if they did read it didn't comprehend.
 
Thanks for the advise! One of my reasons for choosing H4831 is because it's temperature stable, I don't intend to load at max load, I would rather back off a couple grains just for peace of mind.
 
Thanks for the advise! One of my reasons for choosing H4831 is because it's temperature stable, I don't intend to load at max load, I would rather back off a couple grains just for peace of mind.

I wouldn't intentionally back off a couple grains from max. Just load up a few rounds of each charge in half grain increments up to max and see what shoots best(keeping seating depth the same that you choose to start with). If best is at max or a grain under with no pressure sign shoot it. Then fine tune loading a few charges in 2/10 increments up and down from that charge, then play with seating depth if needed or wanted
 
Thanks for the advise! One of my reasons for choosing H4831 is because it's temperature stable, I don't intend to load at max load, I would rather back off a couple grains just for peace of mind.

If you're paranoid you shouldn't be loading ammo.


I wouldn't intentionally back off a couple grains from max. Just load up a few rounds of each charge in half grain increments up to max and see what shoots best(keeping seating depth the same that you choose to start with). If best is at max or a grain under with no pressure sign shoot it. Then fine tune loading a few charges in 2/10 increments up and down from that charge, then play with seating depth if needed or wanted

Great post.
 
If you're paranoid you shouldn't be loading ammo.




Great post.
Well nearly every article I've read has said that max loads are max loads for the exact rifle and setup that was tested...different rifles produce different results. So I don't consider myself paranoid, I consider myself cautious and not experienced enough to trust shooting max loads. But your probably right; I should just get rid of all my reloading stuff because I'm cautious...thanks for the advise
 
Well nearly every article I've read has said that max loads are max loads for the exact rifle and setup that was tested...different rifles produce different results. So I don't consider myself paranoid, I consider myself cautious and not experienced enough to trust shooting max loads. But your probably right; I should just get rid of all my reloading stuff because I'm cautious...thanks for the advise

Glad I could help.
 
Well nearly every article I've read has said that max loads are max loads for the exact rifle and setup that was tested...different rifles produce different results. So I don't consider myself paranoid, I consider myself cautious and not experienced enough to trust shooting max loads. But your probably right; I should just get rid of all my reloading stuff because I'm cautious...thanks for the advise

It's not bad at all to be cautious but like you said it's max for that particular rifle/load combo. If you really wanna see where max is for your rifle load in half grain increments over max till you hit pressure signs. In all my rifles and powder combos I've tested I've been able to go a grain or 2 over published max before getting pressure.

A good example I have is my 243 using RL25 and 105 bergers. Listed max from Berger is 45.6 gr I loaded rounds from 43 to 47.5 gr in half gr increments all bullets seated to touching lands and at nearly 2gr over published max I only had very slightly flattened primers, no other marks or pressure signs. I had an accuracy node at 45-45.5gr and another at 46.5gr. After some more testing I settled on 45.5gr because it seemed to be a wider node being able to go down to 45gr and up to 45.8gr without groups opening up much. And at this charge even though I'm 1/10 of a gr under listed max I'm 2gr under max for my rifle bullet combo and confident I'll never see pressure issues with temp changes.

Now that I think about it I think the node I've found for all my rifles is about 2gr under max but it's the max I found for my rifle not published max. I would put in the work to find this and have the best safe performance you can from your combo. Of course be cautious and inspect every case very carefully.
 
A bit of caution is what keeps us alive with all our appendages and senses such as sight!

I would suggest that you purchase a copy of QuickLoad, input all the information you can get for your rifle and run a scenario to determine safe loads for that powder. With a bit of work, you can get the QuickLoad predictions to be a very close match for the actual results.

Measure the case capacity in grains of water and input.
Measure the bullet dimensions and compare to the default in QuickLoad, edit as necessary.
Measure you OAL and input.
Weigh your bullets and edit as necessary.

Fire a few rounds at a predicted safe load over a chronograph. Use this info to adjust the Burn Rate and recompute. These results should very closely mimic real world results.
 
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