The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Reloading Eureka! I've learned how to reduce powder and keep velocity the same!Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
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Just make sure your next range session is 80 degrees instead of 40! Works like a charm. You see, Alliant Powder Company has freaked me out by reducing the maximum Reloader 15 load for a 250-grain bullet in the .35 Whelen from 59.5 grains, to 54 grains. 59.5 was in all their reloading data all the way up until 2010 when it suddenly became 54. (We've talked about this here before.) Well, I was horrified to learn that I was shooting a potential nuke in my Whelen with my 59-grain loads, and had been for five years before I read about the reduction. Never mind that I had zero, nada, nyet pressure signs in my load. They said it was dangerous, so it must be dangerous. After all, what would you say to anyone whose hunting load was five full grains over the book max. I know I'd dress them down for unsafe reloading habits. So I decided to act. I reduced my 250 grain loads to 58 grains -- still four grains over today's stated max, but one-and-one-half grains under he old max -- life is a compromise. So I loaded up a box and took them to the range yesterday. Judging from my work-up experience, I expected the load to average about 30-40 fps less than the 59-grain load. With 59 grains and a 250-grain Speer Hot Core, I was getting 2525 to 2550 fps when I last shot it on a cool day last fall. Yesterday, with 58 grains of Re 15, I got 2525 to 2550 fps! That's exactly the same velocity I was getting with one full grain more! The only difference is it was 40 degrees warmer yesterday than it was the last time I shot. So I've made a vow: since I'm absolutely positive that game can tell if that bullet hitting them is traveling at 2550 fps instead of an even 2500, I have vowed only to hunt on hot days. This is going to be tough when I travel to British Columbia for moose in the near future. But I'll simply have to keep the trip on standby until I hear of an approaching warm front. Don't want to screw up and shoot a moose with an squib load! | ||
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Or, for a real shocker, on a hot sunny day at the range set your cartridges out on the blacktop in the sunlight for about 30 minutes before you shoot them. I suggest you do as is done in artillery: call out STANDBY prior to firing. | |||
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Yes heat can have an issue. Had a rancher that had summer loads and winter loads for the same rifle same bullet.  Same guy that said he was getting over 4000fps from his 24" 264Wmag  As usual just my $.02 Paul K | |||
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Doesn't take 30 minutes. I was shooting a 22-250 and had laid a cartridge on the bench prior to loading and shooting. I then got side tracked and it laid there for a few minutes before I fired it. It blew the primer. Long story short, if I left the cartridge in the sun, it would blow the primer but if I simply put a towel over the cartridge, it wouldn't. Also, on the cartridges that performed normally, their was no sign of pressure. And FWIW, the load wasn't max according to the load book. Aim for the exit hole | |||
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The Sniper community have for many years been known to "cook" ammo, as described for greater pressure. Kinda throws the "dope" out the window but sure will work to increase range a bit. Leaving a round in a hot chamber for a bit longer before firing accomplishes the same thing. Not recommending it...just sayin' "The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeably to their conscience, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights." ~George Washington - 1789 | |||
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I know we all start at published minimums and work up every time, but I am not that smart sometimes The "new" Reloader 15 maximum in 35 Whelen really is maximum in mine. Loads other people use in theirs seem like they would do bad things to mine. My time and resources are limited. In an attempt to find a good load fast, I have the bad habit of searching for favorite loads, and seeing if there are common sweet spots. An example was 44g of Varget with 165's in .308 Win. Unfortunately for me, that load was excellent, and reinforced my bad behavior. This is only a reminder that sometimes the books are right, and the start loads really are the place to start. Jason | |||
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Thanks I needed that! I may stop chuckling later today!  Rusty We Band of Brothers! DRSS, NRA & SCI Life Member "I am rejoiced at my fate. Do not be uneasy about me, for I am with my friends." ----- David Crockett in his last letter (to his children), January 9th, 1836 "I will never forsake Texas and her cause. I am her son." ----- Jose Antonio Navarro, from Mexican Prison in 1841 "for I have sworn upon the altar of god eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Thomas Jefferson Declaration of Arbroath April 6, 1320-“. . .It is not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom - for that alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself.” | |||
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Yessss....that would be TERRIBLE!  | |||
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The Accurate Reloading Forums THE ACCURATE RELOADING.COM FORUMS Guns, Politics, Gunsmithing & Reloading Reloading Eureka! I've learned how to reduce powder and keep velocity the same!
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