Well,
today I had a chance to go to the range and try some of my reloads through my Weatherby Vanguard in 300 Wby Cal. The loads consisted of the following:
*180 Rem CoreLokt's & 180 Comb Tech Part (Moly Free)
*Rem-Wby Brass
*Fed 215 Primers
*AOL= Heavy Crimp to Chanelure on Rem's, Lee fact crimp on Comb Tech's.
*IMR 7828 @ 82.0 grains which felt to be a compressed charge (No powder noise W/a shake either). *** Note IMR states 86.0 is MAX for the 180 Nos Partition and is compressed.

Guys, I have been reloading for about 16 years or so. I do not it all, and I'm probably far from it but, this is the first time I have experinced high pressures W/my reloads that caught me off guard, or at least I think? I normally have always been able to load at max, or at least 2 grains under max published laod W/O any excessive signs of pressure with my other rifles. My Wby Van is fairly new, but what gives?

Anyway, When I examined the brass I found that the brass head had embossed some of the features of the bolt face IE: the pressure extractor button, and some small areas of the bolt's surfaces. When I tried to lift the bolt after firing(s), it had more resistance than normal, but it was not real hard to turn. Also note that the brass did not stick to the inside of the chamber. The primer showed a little bit of cratering around the dent of the firing pin strike, but had no signs of primer flow, nor was it extremly flat. Recoil was heavier than I have felt before, but I was still able to shoot 1" groups off the bench at 100 yards.

I have read in reloading books that this is a very strong serious indicater of excessive pressure. I normally have worked up loads to see the primer get some what flat and stop there, or sometimes even back off .5 of a grain. This of course is done in the summer, so I can make sure a hot day will not ruin my day of shooting.

Anyway, what is happening with this embossing and the primer not being flat, and slightly showing some cratering around the pin strike ? Have I already passed the flat primer stage of signs ?
Dennis

That heavy Lee crimp may be a factor. Try a couple with no crimp and see if there is a difference.

I think it is the Remington brass. The case volume is not near as much as the Weatherby brass is.

A hunting buddy of mine just had exactly the same problem, with exactly the same powder (7828) in his 300 Wby.

Either drop the charge to 80 grains, or go to some Weatherby brass and the problem should go away. The Remington brass will exhibit about as much velocity with an 80 grain charge as the Weatherby cases will with the 82 grain charge, so you're not giving anything up, really.

Yes, the load is overpressure...

Best of luck,

Dan

Interesting,
You know I have heard of the Wby cases regarding that they have more volume before but, it has totally slipped my mind this time for some reason! That must be it, although crimp does have a big factor in pressure(s). I'm one to crimp for the 300 Wby when dealing with heavy recoil for the reason of the bullets slipping deaper inside the case from the recoil effect in the magazine; pressures due really bad things when this occurres.

Yup, I'll believe I'll back off to an 80.0 grain charge and save some powder using Rem-Wby brass.

Thanks guys, much appreciated !
Dennis

Oops, almost forgot, so what stage is the embossing of the bolt on the case head, versus seeing very flattened primers in the pressure curve ?
Dennis

Dmacsimum,
The imprinting of bolt face features on the case depends on how hard the brass is. Which comes first the primer flattening or the case? Primers have different hardness of cups and resistance to deformation. The firing pin hole can affect primer cratering with it's size and finish. The point to remmember is that any of these signs can be signs of pressure. Always error on the side of safety and reduce any load that exhibits signs of over-pressure.

PaulS

The Lee factory crimp will actually reduce pressures. This is in part due to the same thing that Barnes noticed with their X bullets i.e. the bullets with a cannelure consistently produced lower pressures due to less of a bearing surface (hence the new 'triple shock' X bullet). The same idea applies to GS Custom bullets, and the new Groove bullets.

The crimp die also works to build pressures to a slightly higher point before releasing the bullet than does an uncrimped load, which in turn allows for a better run at the lands. In accordance to physics, a faster moving object produces less resistance in terms of friction and drag. So don't concern yourself with the crimp in raising pressures. Look at the cases such as green788 suggested.

Turok

I don't have any belted magnums, but I have overloaded many rimless cases.
I don't get bolt face impressions until after the bolt is sticky and the primer is comming back through the firing pin hole in the bolt.

This leads me to suspect brass with annealed case heads.

Harder bolt lift always makes me suspect excessive pressure, but getting bolt face markings on the case head without a flattened primer may also indicate a headspace issue. You didn't mention whether or not the brass shoulder was sized to a crush fit, or at least set back no more than .001". If not, the firing pin shoves the case forward, only to be slammed back into the bolt face. I'd check the die set-up.

Nice Info:

Here's more: I full length resize my brass every time I reload. I also trim them, clean, and inspect them. On further inspection of the brass, I found out that I had used them previously W/the same load but W/a 81.0 charge. I did not see the slight starting of embossing of the brass and bolt face on the same brass casses ! I stupidly only quickly glanced at the primers for pressure signs! When I observed the new bright embossing it made me look real closely and spotted the other firing. I believe I will go down to a 79.0 weight charge for the prior info was at a range which had an outside temp of 60 degrees.
Thanks all