I'm relatively new to reloading and am reloading mostly 9.3x74R and have been using IMR4831.

However with the lightest manufacturer's recommended charge of powder and the bullet seated to correct COR there is still space in the cartridge and if I shake it I can hear the powder shaking inside.

Is this normal? Is it OK? I had heard that empty space in a cartridge may cause trouble.

Your experience and advice requested

Thank you

They should give you no problems.Not all loaded cases are quiet.

Air space is normal with most loads in your 9.3x74R. If you look at the Hodgdon website, there are some slow burning, large grain powders, when loaded to maximum, will have a "C" behind the powder charge. The "C" is telling you its a compressed charge. Meaning the base of the bullet will contact the powder charge on seating, and compress the powder. This is ok if shown in the reloading data.

Thank you very much. It's stuff like this that helps us new guys out a lot!

If you're using a load from a powder or bullet manufacturer, don't worry about it. Too little powder in a case can be very dangerous in some circumstances, but bullet and powder manufacturers test their date carefully and extensively.

In fact, sometimes you can find a small volume of powder gives the best results in a certain gun. I finally settled on a load using IMR3031 in my .243. Sounds like the case is maybe 2/3 full, but it's a max charge and shoots better than anything else I tried in the gun.

LWD

It is always best to have two (or more) loading manuals to be able to check one against the other. The danger of relying on one manual is that sometimes (not often but sometimes) missprints happen!

The real danger of using only one manual is not a misprint. It is the fact that different barrels and different component lots will give different pressures and velocities. Let's take the 7mm Remington Magnum with 175-grain bullets as a well known example.

Speer's maximum load with H-1000 is 65.0 grains for 2782 fps
Hornady maximum with the powder is 60.4 grains for 2700 fps

That's a difference of almost 8%! Who is wrong? Neither is. With the barrels and components they used, each data set is correct. How does this effect you? If you had the barrel and components of Hornady but used Speer's data, you would be 'way over-pressured. If you had the barrel and components of Speed but used Hornady's data, you'd be 'way underloaded. The smart thing is to either use the mildest data and work up, or split the difference and be very careful. You DO NOT know which barrel and components you have relative to the manuals. That is the REAL danger.



Speer #14 and Hornady #6 - both data with 24" barrels
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