Well, I am among those who have over charged something and lived to tell about it.

I loaded some Full Power H110 loads for a Ruger Blackhawk 44 Mag about 3 years ago. I have NO idea where I got the 27.5 grs of H110 from although I am having trouble believing I made it up out of thin air. Max loads for H110 in my current manuals stop at 24.5grs I believe.

I loaded these rounds over a friend's house who had several manuals that I/he would have checked this against. The ONLY thing I can think of is that we picked up something in that book from the wrong page/wrong caliber etc. Notes on the load card say Speer/Hornady.

Question: Is it possible that some previous edition of either of these manuals had a higher max charge for H110 listed????

Question #2: I believe I did shoot at least a few of these loads through a newer Super Blackhawk. Do you think I have done permanent damage to the gun? I haven't noticed any abnormalities with it though. I have heard gun makers test their guns with an over charge, but is 27.5 grs beyond any levels they would test at?

Thanks...and I freely admit my stupidity here!

AJ

Better check your manuals again. What bullet weight were you using? Lyman's 47th lists up to 32.3 grs of H110 in the 44 Mag depending on the bullet weight.

Lyman is the one manual I wasn't able to check. That could have possibly been what we refenced against.

The bullet was a Nosler 240 JHP. Can you tell me what their max charge for 110 is with that bullet?

Thanks!

H-110 From 19.3 grains to 25.9 grains
CCI-350 Primer

I wouldn't worry about a couple grains over max for a few shots. I seriously doubt those few hotter loads did anything damaging to the gun. Though I wouldn't make a habit of it if you like your guns to last a while. Shit, I bet there are guys here who have a hot load like that as standard for their gun.

FURocious is right about some loading up as a norm. There was a couple of guys(really idiots) who loaded a 357 mag up with triple charges and took pictures at night of the flames coming out the barrel. it was a SW so didn't hurt it. I was at the range awhile back and a person who has reloaded and shot for years made the mistake and put 60 grains of some powder in his short barreled .308. It busted the bolt face. He said he had read of the load somewhere but should have known after loading for so many years. I don't see the need for max loads in anything myself. I loaded up a .41 magnum pistol at almost max and the accuracy went away quick. At a much lower load a milk jug didn't have a chance at 100 yards shooting free hand.

quote:

Originally posted by Blob1:
FURocious is right about some loading up as a norm. There was a couple of guys(really idiots) who loaded a 357 mag up with triple charges and took pictures at night of the flames coming out the barrel. it was a SW so didn't hurt it. I was at the range awhile back and a person who has reloaded and shot for years made the mistake and put 60 grains of some powder in his short barreled .308. It busted the bolt face. He said he had read of the load somewhere but should have known after loading for so many years. I don't see the need for max loads in anything myself. I loaded up a .41 magnum pistol at almost max and the accuracy went away quick. At a much lower load a milk jug didn't have a chance at 100 yards shooting free hand.

What I'd like to know is what powder did this guy at the range use to get 60grs of it in a 308? With 52grs of H380 you have a hard time seating a 165 Hornady in the case. Jay

Well, you might have gotten something mixed up, like using a 180 grain load with a 240 bullet, but the information you used might have been out to lunch too. I have kept some older manuals around for the load info. on older calibers and some of those loads are really hot when compared with the new additions of the same manuals! Many of the older manuals used case head expantion as a test of pressure and that is not the way to go! The new additions feature pressure tested loads and guess what? Using the same components the load is now 2 or 3 grains less!

Be safe, buy some newer additons that feature pressure tested data.

Minor changes in components can give radically different results. This seems especially true with brass. I had a 45-70 load that was fine with Remington brass (not even a full power load in any manual) and when I used some Winchester brass it bulged out and when sectioned had thinned dangerously at the head after only one firing! (I sectioned some several times fired Remington cases and found no problems.)

I shoot my Ruger Super Blackhawks quite a bit and have never found that super hot loads performed better. If you put your hot load over a chronograph some time you might find that there is little difference between it and a safe max load.

PS. You were lucky you didn't make that mistake with a S&W 29 or you might be still picking steal out of your forehead.

Don't know what powder he was using but will see him at he range soon and ask him as I know he is a very honest person. I did a double take when I heard it.

I shoot a S&W 629 Classic. When I used 240 gr bullets, my load was 23.0 grs. Nosler #5 shows 23.8 Max load.
I now use the 250 gr PT with a Max load of 21.0 grs of H110.

I always refer to my loading manual prior to loading any ammo.

Regards,

JD338

I know one of those idiots that loads real hot .
His Idea of a good load is max + 2 gr.
In his Ruger Super Redhawlk he shoots 26.5 gr of H 110 with a Hornady 240 gr XTP
He then complains his brass only lasts 2 or 3 shots and has to be trimed after every shot.
If I remember right ( and I would check if I was to load ) Hornady lists 24.5 gr of H 110 as max with the 240 gr XTP.

Johnch

There's a LOT of suspicious data out there for the .44 Mag.

For many years my standard load for the .44 Mag WAS 22.0 grs of 2400 with the 240 gr. Hornady JHP. Then I read an article where a magazine I trust had sent that very load to H.P. White for lab pressure testing.

H.P. White reported back to them that their load was generating occasional peak pressure results of just over 60,000 p.s.i. (!!) with that lot of 2400. Not with every round fired, but occasionally.

White recommended no more than 19.6 grs as an absolute MAX load for regular, continuous use in the Redhawk.

In-so-far as I can't pressure-test my own lots of 2400, I now have reduced my working load to 19.5 grs. of 2400.

And, I stick with a "rule-of-thumb" of no more than 2 grs more W-296 or H-110 than I use of 2400, in any caliber. Works for me. Others can do whatever they want.

If I want to play the lottery, I'll buy a ticket.

I assume your shooting 240gr XTP. I see serious pressure at 24.5gr of H110. If you are shooting 200gr, you will be ok.

Did you work up the load a few years ago? Or just load to max? I hate to preach but even pistols you need to work up loads.

Mystery solved!

Once I looked through my manuals I noticed that the 200gr Nosler COULD be charged up quite a bit MORE than 27.5grs SO I decided to weigh the actual BULLET.

Turns out that the bullet I had used was a 200gr Nosler JHP and NOT a 240gr NoslerJHP like what I wrote on the data load sheet.

SO, the load was not over-charged at 27.5 grs, I simply had mis-wrote the bullet weight. I am at least at peace now because I KNEW there had to be SOME rational answer for that charge weight.

SO, I thank all of you for your input. I feel 1000 times better now knowing that I did not put an over-charge load through one of my guns.

IC

Its none of my business bud, but are you working up your loads or just loading max loads? A manual isn't a guarntee that you can shoot a load without going over pressure.

Well, this shouldn't be a MAX load, so no, I did not "work-up" to this. According to the Hornady manual (which I don't have in front of me now) you can go well beyond 27.5grs to hit the MAX load listed.

I understand you should "work-up" loads but I don't feel that this is a MAX load, it's FULL POWER, however, I would not call it MAXIMUM.

I thought it was OVER-Charged because I MIS-labeled the data tag a 240gr Nosler JHP instead of writing the 200gr Nosler JHP that it actually was.

IC

Well, I understand what your saying. But, for me and the 44mag, I hit trouble. I worked up the H110 load years ago with 240gr bullet. I went from 21gr, 22gr, 23gr, and then 24gr, (I am sure same manual you use). Well I had no problems initially, but then after several years I noticed extreme cratering on my primers, tough extraction for the 24gr load. All my screws were loose on my 44. And it rocked my world. I went back down to 23gr to be safe. Anyway it goes, I know alot of people shooting 26gr H110 with 240gr XTP with no issues, but I couldn't do that. So every since then, I realized you got to respect pistol loads as much as you do rifle.