by wildcatter » Fri Nov 26, 2010 9:37 pm
I want to second, third, and fourth everything Hoot, Pittedbore, and BD, just said, except for the thing the Doc said about me, when he wrote the word, "usually"..wink.
Listen guys, if you are new to reloading, I say again, read all the manuals, and make loads that are tame, until you get experience. Keep in mind a load wherein the powders are somewhat slow, in burn rate. Why? Because you can get into serious trouble and slower powders will generally keep you out of trouble. Example, lil-gun is a good choice, and will yield normal pressures, in bullets less than say 250gr+-. If you go to a 296 product, the pressures will drop, but there are some serious problems with using to little powder in the case. My Recommendations, for a new reloader is to go to a good single base powder, something in say, the 4227 arena. This does several things at the same time, the best being, you're "Probably" not going to over pressure it your load, notice the I said Probably, because you you can wreck anything, if you try hard enough. And the slight reduction in speeds won't mean a thing, in reality. Won't kill any less. Won't drop anymore, appreciably. And wind drift won't be a hill of beans more. So, my vote, is to learn what you are doing, by going the safety route first, use a single stage press, like Hoot is recommending, heed the wisdom of the BD crew, and never pay any attention to the Doc when he is teasing me, other than that you'd better heed his counsel..
FYI.. I am working up some loads for Barnes and shipping them a gun, by Monday. This for a hunt for piggies of the 650+- class. I am using their 325gr Barnes Busters, as requested. They are getting 1700fps out of a 45-70, 24" barrel, I suppose and this from their lever gun (I'm at 2100fps, in our rig, 20" barrel, and that might change and I don't know which way yet), but they don't want to use that 45-70 lever action again, because, recoil is way to much and, more importantly, if things aren't settled with one shot, they prolly won't get a second, and get a serious beating from a somewhat unruly, Hogvilla Type, instead. Whereas, I demonstrate five rounds all in the black in much less than 2 seconds, @25yds. This is the safety margin they want for their Executives and our 450b is the only way to go, so they think. Do you think differently?
I mention this as an example to our new guys and not as a Hi-jack. To do this requires much, and you need to not try to duplicate anything I am doing or breaking down factory loads, for to do otherwise is to risk a Hogvilla affair, and destroy your gun or your fingers or worst. Many of us here are experts and are talking back and fourth, you can learn from this chatter, but always treat it as "Chatter" and NOT as Gospel, for we make mistakes too. Go slow, read allot, talk things over, use slow powders at first, to keep the pressures down, but not to slow, for that can get you into trouble too and use a good single stage press, when you finally graduate to a progressive, you won't get rid of the single stage. My RockChucker has the #1 position on my personal bench, and I have a bunch of positions, I got it about 45 years ago. I use just about every press ever made, but my single stage, is what gets used more than any other style. When I'm trying to figure things out, I sure don't want to complicate things any more than they are already, so MR. RCBS RockChucker, is the one that always pulls me through..t
Now go fourth and learn, when you get done learning, learn some more, for the more I think I have it all figured out, I get reminded just how much I don't know! When you get done, teach us the things you have learned, because we don't know it all either..t
Safety First..t
