cljohnson24 wrote:The quote from you Hoot was in my notes, I do wonder why Barnes has their Max with 275 TSX at 33.1 gr of Lil Gun as Max now yet Hogdon lists still at 35.4gr as Max still at 36,200psi. I don't know how Quickload comes up with 57k psi unless something isn't right? But either way I truly appreciate the insight and advice. Did it offer anymore info using the 18" barrel and 1:24 twist?
The 18" barrel is a good compromise between the popular 16" (mortar) barrel and my favorite, the 20" (rifle) barrel. This caliber is amazingly forgiving of variations in reloading technique as well as actual recipes. With over 2k reloads under my belt, some good choices and some bad, I've never seen it go beyond about a 3" group at 100 yds. In my book, that equates to minute of deer regardless of recipe. So, you won't go wrong pushing those 245's over 35.4gr of Lil Gun, though you can do better. Think about it. It takes 38gr of Lil Gun to reproduce the factory 250 FTX ammo velocity. The 245 is only 5gr lighter, so why would it take so much less powder than that? I'll stop now...
I personally would not reuse the pulled down loads without running the cases back through the sizing die. You can remove the decapping stem and not disturb the charges in them. Resizing is important in terms of neck tension. In the case of the 450b, you want all the neck tension that you can get, short of gluing the damned bullets in and even that was once discussed here, believe it or not.
Let us know how the youth hunt went. Remind your 16yr old that good stopping power is no substitute for good shot placement. Even with my 450b in the field, I've passed up shots that I didn't feel would be ethical to take.
Good Luck!
Hoot