I am looking to duplicate the Hornady 400 gr. softpoint rounds, since my Sabatti is regulated (quite well) with them. Any advice would be appreciated. I was figuring to start with the loads published in the latest version of 'Shooting the british Double Rifle". Does that seem like a reasonable place to start?
thanks ahead of time

Rick

DRSS

76.4 grains of IMR 4831 for 450/400 3"

I just picked up a nice Jeffery sidelock that regulates very well with the Hornady factory RN ammo as well as 80 grs of IMR-4831, Fed 215s and Woodleigh softs.

It's a 55 cordite gun with 24" barrels and that load is going about 2000fps.

When developing your loads, start a little lower and work up over a chronograph.

Let us know how it works out.

I shoot the same load as 470Evans and group about 2" at 50 yards.
Cal

Thanks guys. Saved me a lot of trial and error.
Rick

When I got my 450/400 I called the Hornady ballistics dept. to get the exact load they were using. Very friendly folks, at that time
2 years ago the std load in DGX and DGS was 80 gr. H4831SC with a Federal 215 primer, Hornady brass of course. Each lot of factory ammo is tested for performance with the goal of 2050fps. The 2 lots I had on hand ran out at 2025 and 2040 fps respectively. This result was achieved in a K-gun with 24inch tubes.

Good Shooting

Tetonka
DRSS

Perfect!! Thanks!!
Rick

quote:

Originally posted by tetonka:
When I got my 450/400 I called the Hornady ballistics dept. to get the exact load they were using. Very friendly folks, at that time
2 years ago the std load in DGX and DGS was 80 gr. H4831SC with a Federal 215 primer, Hornady brass of course. Each lot of factory ammo is tested for performance with the goal of 2050fps. The 2 lots I had on hand ran out at 2025 and 2040 fps respectively. This result was achieved in a K-gun with 24inch tubes.

Good Shooting

Tetonka
DRSS

You should be getting the same velocity results with the Hornady DGX and DGS. Have you seen this to be true?

Or is it that you got ~2025 with the DGX and ~2040 with the DGS? Or different lots of powder, or what?

Thanks.

Will,
Sorry for the delay, my monitor fried, had to get a new one.
The velocities listed were from Hornady, Their goal is for 2050 fps. Not all lots shipped for sale make that goal. some are a little less but within their standards. Apparently their plan may be not to exceed 2050fps. I do not know what their test gun is but I am shooting a standard K-gun with the "24" inch tubes. My velocities over an Oehler 35P have been similar to what the factory specs for those lots were.

Based on some old information either from Wrights 3rd edition or A-Square's "Any Shot You Want" I believed the original loads were to around 2125 but don't know with what length bbl. Probably 26 or 28 inches.

Anyway, I started out with H4831SC trying to duplicate factory Hornady loads. It seems their may be a small difference in Canister Grade powders available to us compared to the non-canister bulk used by Hornady. I found 81 gr. H4831SC to give the same results in my K-Gun with good regulation.

Then I started playing with RL#15 to see if the
reduction in felt recoil I had read about is real. IMHO it is real. I now load 70 gr. RL#15 with 400gr bullets by various makers and get 2125fps. with good regulation and much less felt recoil. "No Fillers" used in the 450/400 3in. case. Tried a filler, got stuck cases. Quit real quick.

In Central Texas in August temperatures have been around 100 degrees every day. I have left some rounds lay on the bench in the sun to see if there is any difference after they heat up.
No differences noticed with either powder. I have no way to measure the temp of the round as it goes into the chamber but they are very hot to the touch.

Good shooting
Tetonka

DRSS

Tetonka,

Hornady's nominal velocity is stated to be 2050 with the softs or solids, in qa 24" barrel, so your results duplicate theirs. If they shoot where you want them I'd call it good, for me anyway. They result in the same velocity because, I believe, they are essentially the same bullet.

I think Hornady, and every other manufacturer, is caught between obtaining "original velocities" and staying under specified pressure limits.

Wright's 2nd edition data can be bit misleading because of the barrel length being (I presume) 28". So when the barrels are 24" it becomes somewhat uncertain as to the expected velocities. Some claim that there is less than the typical 25 fps loss per inch with NE cartridges but I don't know.

I'm surprised that you see any difference in recoil between 70 and 80 grains, but obviously you do. Isn't there a bit of air space left with 70 gr. of RL-15? Would not a Kynoch wad be a good idea.

It gets into the rock and the hard place stuff. A wad increases pressure, as you have seen but it typically makes for less erratic velocities and maybe not such wide (dangerous?) pressure excursions as sometimes seen in Alpin's data.

After a bit of thought I think in some situations it is better to fill up the case and forget about the wad, and the increased recoil!

If I was getting 2050 fps with 80 gr. H4831, and they shot well, I'd be happy.

Good luck in your tests.

quote:

Originally posted by tetonka:
When I got my 450/400 I called the Hornady ballistics dept. to get the exact load they were using. Very friendly folks, at that time
2 years ago the std load in DGX and DGS was 80 gr. H4831SC with a Federal 215 primer, Hornady brass of course. Each lot of factory ammo is tested for performance with the goal of 2050fps. The 2 lots I had on hand ran out at 2025 and 2040 fps respectively. This result was achieved in a K-gun with 24inch tubes.

Good Shooting

Tetonka
DRSS

FYI - When I spoke to Hornady a few weeks ago they said a good crimp was necessary to obtain velocities similar to factory with recommended charge weights of 4831SC.

Re-chronoed the following yesterday in my K gun:

400 Hornady DGS - 80 Grains H4831SC/WLRM/Hornady Brass = 2000 f/s (Oehler 35P)

400 Hornady DGX - Ditto = 1981 f/s

85 degree outside temp.

Excellent accuracy and regulates nicely at 50 Yards.

The results are the 6 shot average of each load in both barrels.

My records indicate 2 more grains gives 2050 f/s and same accuracy/regulation.

I like to re-test chrono results at different times of the year to see what affect, if any, the ambient temp has on a given load. These results match those from last Dec in 40 degee weather.