Here's my dilemma.... ran a first, small batch of .505 Gibbs the other night... 600 grains solids, being pushed by a light powder charge (114 grains IMR 7828SSC). According to a model kindly provider by another list member or another board, this should give about 2000 FPS or a little less, at a little less than 30 Kpsi based on a quickload model. Overall, should be a VERY mild load.

Max pressure on the .505 Gibbs magnum is just under 40 Kpsi.

My issue is that 5 of my loads I am perfectly happy with. However, there is "stubby". "Stubby" was the first, and is a result of me fiddling with the seater die trying to adjust the crimp... long story short, wasn't paying enough attention and seated the whole thing about 1/8" (or maybe a hair more) too deep, past the cannelure.

Had this been a more common caliber, I would have chucked in the reject bin. However, I don't think there is a bullet puller in my city big enough to pull this thing apart to reclaim the components... given all that, and my inherent cheapness, I'm thinking about just shooting stubby. I'm expecting it to be higher pressure than the rest given the seating depth, but then again there is still spare case volume and I was only at about 75% max pressure to begin with...

Anyone have a really good reason for me to not shoot stubby? Normally I wouldn't, but (famous last words) don't think it will actually be that bad....

A bit of additional information: the COL for this short cartridge is 3.774" - so, about 0.11" short. The load is very light - 114 grains of IMR 7828SSC. I'm suspecting that this would be perfectly safe to shoot... just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this degree of over-seating.

quote:

Originally posted by ak_msf:
A bit of additional information: the COL for this short cartridge is 3.774" - so, about 0.11" short. The load is very light - 114 grains of IMR 7828SSC. I'm suspecting that this would be perfectly safe to shoot... just wondering if anyone has had any experience with this degree of over-seating.

Shoot it!!

If you want to pull the Bullets, it is fairly easy to do.

Leave the Shell Holder in the Press, but remove any Dies. Place the Cartridge in the Shell Holder and raise it until the Bullet extends above the top of the Press. Grasp the Bullet with some pliers and lower the Cartridge.

The plier marks on the Bullet generally don't hurt anything, but you can wrap it with Duct Tape and then grip the Bullet if it bothers you.

Best of luck to you.

in a giant gibbs case, and light loads?
shoot it

quote:

Originally posted by Hot Core:
If you want to pull the Bullets, it is fairly easy to do.

Leave the Shell Holder in the Press, but remove any Dies. Place the Cartridge in the Shell Holder and raise it until the Bullet extends above the top of the Press. Grasp the Bullet with some pliers and lower the Cartridge.

The plier marks on the Bullet generally don't hurt anything, but you can wrap it with Duct Tape and then grip the Bullet if it bothers you.

Best of luck to you.

You can use end cutters without marking the bullet.

thanks for the comments... I shot stubby off a little while ago - no more felt recoil than any of the others, and certainly no pressure signs on the case (well, 2 of the others had light powder marks on the case neck - maybe a little too LOW pressure if anything).

Off to load some more...

It was nowhere near max load, pressure-wise; i have used up to 144 gr 7828, HDS brass, 600 gr woodleighs for 2500 fps, with no pressure signs at all.