A formula that I used years ago is now being questioned.

With 22.9gr of H322 in brass being shot in a Ruger #1 .223 cal rifle the powder fills the brass to the very top. Inserting and seating a bullet would crush the powder. Years ago some larger cal cases also called for 110% capacity.

How rare/common is this and is it dangerous?

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Ken.

something doesn't make sense - i don't know what a 233 is, but if you're talking about a 223, 22.9 gr wouldn't even come near to filling the case. if you're trying to use 32.9 then it is a gross overload. but if using a compressed load the thing you have to be most careful with is that when seating the bullet you don;t bulge the case. compressed load are rather common and provided that it isn't a dangerous load there is nothing wrong with it at all

Sorry, a type. Cal. 223.

Thank you both for catching my type (now corrected) and for the information.

Hodgdon says that 24 grains of H322 will fit under a 50 grain bullet.

Im not sure what you are doing, my load of that very good powder btw, is 24 grs. of H-322. I use that grain of that powder for 40 to 60 gr. bullets to keep life simple..about 92% to 93% case capacity with any brass. You may have to tap your case a bit to let the powder settle is my guess as that happens sometimes with a powder measure for example. Compression is slight but mild at that percentage, compression is a villain some proclaim, but in fact it adds to good accuracy in most cases, just don't over do it as it can cause bullets to push forward overnight and then they jam the rifles throat and you get high pressure and probably some ruined cases with oversize primer pockets..sometimes compression at its worst can swell a case just enough to not feed into the chamber but you should be able to feel that during the reloading process.

Compressions main claim to skull drudgery is in big bore dangerous game rifles wherein the African heat causes high pressure, but I have never noticed that problem in my big bores, even with max loads. Africa does not have an exclusive to hot climes, and I have tested man big bores with overloads in the high desert country of West Texas Big Bend where temps soar to 120 or more degress on ocassion. I concluded that poor reloading practices is probably the real villain, but how many would own up to that??.