Which Reloading data?

18 July 2001, 10:17

Tombo21

I have found that if you are shooting Barnes bullets go with the Barnes manual. I used Hodgons data to load some Barnes bullets. I loaded 10% below Hodgons max and broke the bolt on the rifle. I checked the Barnes data for the same bullets and their max was about 20% below. OK, it might have been a faulty bolt. But I seem to recall that Barnes says in their manual that their bullets can develop higher pressures because of their construction as opposed to jacketed bullets.

18 July 2001, 11:27

Santala

A lot of the problems developed from loading Barnes bullets is that you must check your OAL very carefully. You must seat the bullet .050" from the lands to avoid high preasure.

I have many reloading manuals and use every reference I can because the variance can be extreme. This can be nothing more that a change in lot number when the loads for the manual were written. A good example of this is in Saeed's loading data for the 338/404. In the middle of his testing he changed lot numbers for the H870. You will note that he dropped the load by about 14 grains and increased velocity by almost 200 fps. Always start low with your test loads. Use the chronograph to verify that your rifle is above or below the stated velocities. Then work you way up in velocity accordingly.

Another example of this is found when you load custom chambered rifles. I have rifles that were chambered with very tight chambers. These rifles reach velocity and preasure as much as 2-3 grains of powder before the load manuals state they will.

Use the manuals as a guide, not the gospel. Every rifle is different, powders may vary, as do primers and brass. We also load a multitude of different bullets. The manuals are not written after testing every bullet design manufactured but a sampling.

Steve

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Every man dies, but not every man really lives!!

[This message has been edited by Santala (edited 07-18-2001).]