Hi

I wonder if anyone can help me. I am in SA i got some 165 grain pmc gold ammunition.

these were loaded with 165 grain barns x bullets.

however PMC do not produce this ammunition anymore. It was extremley accurate in my rifle.

I was wondering if anyone knew what powder they used in this ammunition as well as overall bullet length.

I would like to reload for myself.

quote:

Originally posted by boerbokrib:
Hi

I wonder if anyone can help me. I am in SA i got some 165 grain pmc gold ammunition.

these were loaded with 165 grain barns x bullets.

however PMC do not produce this ammunition anymore. It was extremley accurate in my rifle.

I was wondering if anyone knew what powder they used in this ammunition as well as overall bullet length.

I would like to reload for myself.

1. Can you still buy those bullets? Or would you have to use a TSX or some other newer design??

HERE'S SOMETHING I HAVE DONE, AND I AM NOT RECOMMENDING THAT YOU DO LIKEWISE!! THE REASON IS THAT YOU CANNOT TELL WHAT THE POWDER IN FACTORY LOADS IS JUST BY LOOKING AT IT, AND THE FACTORIES WILL NEVER TELL!!

You COULD pull a couple, and try to identify the powder, and weigh the charges. If you can come up with a probable identity for the powder, and the weight of the charges is in the ballpark per the Barnes reloading manual for the 165-grain Barnes X and what you think that powder is, you could drop the weight 10% for a starting load, and TRY working back up to see if you can develop a similar load. This is IF you can find a supply of those same bullets to use in this quest.

CAUTION! FACTORIES DON'T NECESSARILY USE CANISTER POWDERS FOR THEIR LOADING! SO WHEN YOU ID POWDER TAKEN FROM FACTORY AMMO BY ITS' APPEARANCE, IT MAY OR MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU THINK IT IS!!

TRYING TO DUPLICATE A FACTORY LOAD CAN BE DANGEROUS.


EXAMPLE:

IF the powder LOOKS LIKE IMR 4350, and it weighs what a charge of IMR 4350 SHOULD weigh to give the ballistics you're getting from the factory load, if you use the canister version of IMR 4350 with the same bullets and start with a powder charge 10% below what's in the factory loads, AND ITS' WEIGHT IS UNDER MAXIMUM FOR THAT BULLET PER THE BARNES MANUAL, YOU MIGHT BE SAFE IN USING THAT AS A STARTING LOAD FROM WHICH TO WORK UP TO THE LEVEL THAT IS GIVING YOU THE DESIRED PERFORMANCE. (Notice I said "might be safe.")

I have used this approach to develop a "factory duplication" 180-grain load for my .30/40 Krag, and came up with 46 grains of IMR 4350. This load gave the same MV as the 180-grain Remington factory load, (47 grains of something that looked like IMR 4350!!) and was quite mild in my .30/40. The powder in the factory ammo LOOKED LIKE IMR 4350, and weighed 47 grains, but I cannot swear that it was not something else!

thanks.

I unfortunatley cannot get more of these.

Here was the response from PMC.so not sure i will be able to get it close.

"Wayne,

This product is not available at this time. The powders used were a
commercial blend that is not available to reloaders. My suggestion is to
use the Hornady manual and work up a load using their recommendations.


Best Regards,

Rick Shoupe
PMC Ammunition"

quote:

The powders used were a
commercial blend that is not available to reloaders.

This is generally true of factory ammo. They load to pressure & velocity levels, not powder charge weights.

sounds like he tossed you a softball. find the closest hornady powder and use it to work up.