300 win mag and 215 Berger questions

[David Emerson]

Sorry, That was not funny. But to the good side. I talked to alliant the other day and 26 is shipping to the distributors now is what I was told.

 

[Creekrat]

Well it was a little funny

 

[Yotehtr1]

I have 16 pounds

Well if you run outta room to store it I'll keep it safe for you.... lol

 

[David Emerson]

lol

 

[David Emerson]

Everybody is having trouble with powder. Hodgdon has to deal with new shipping laws in Australia. Alliant had a shipment coming from Sweden in November but the ship had to turn around because of the hurricane. Vihtavouri I am not sure. But I assume also a few companies got caught off guard because of demand. They just didn,t make enough.

 

[Creekrat]

I believe the VV issue had to do with packaging that met or was approved for the hazmat transport of their powders

 

[Yotehtr1]

I did have a somewhat similar deal with this rifle last year with factory loads. I had just bought the rifle and instead of buying the stuff to load I bought some federal premium factory loads with Berger 185's for deer season. Didn't think I had enough time to work up a load. Anyway the advertised velocity was 2950 but I was consistently getting 3150-3170. I even verified it out to 600 yards with two different ballistic calculators to make sure my chronograph wasn't lying but the velocities it was giving me lined up with the drops on target perfectly. After that I just figured maybe they used a 24" barrel to test or something and my 26" would obviously be faster. Not sure if this is relevant but kinda makes me wonder now

 

[Vol1975]

I was just down at the range this morning to start load development with 215 Berger's in my 300 win mag. What I discovered is much higher velocities than Berger predicted at lower charges. And I saw pressure signs at a fairly mild load in one instance and stopped there. Here's the specifics. According to my comparator my cbto measurement at the lands is 2.871. Berger recommended starting 0.015 off. This made my cbto 2.856 with my comparator set giving me 3.649 total cartridge length base to tip. I'm using once fired federal brass, federal 215M primers, and h1000. The suggested starting load was 70.5 grains at 2632 fps and a max of 74.0 grains at 2772 fps. They used a 26" barrel and so am I. I loaded 11 rounds every half grain from 71.5 to 76.5 to look for pressure signs in my rifle. At 71.5 I matched their max velocity at exactly 2772. 72 grains gave me 2812, 72.5 gave me 2855, 73 gave me (oddly) 2842, 73.5 gave me 2879, and 74 gave me 2917 but with faint ejector marks. All primers were somewhat flat but didn't appear at all alarming and I never got a sticky bolt lift. I then decided to run up with another set every 0.2 grains. First was 72.6 with two shots 2818 and 2836. Second was 72.8 grains with 2842 and 2830. The 72.8 grain load produced very faint ejector marks on one case but not the other. In the first series I didn't see pressure until right about max charge which was understandable and the second set showed up 1.2 grains sooner which was odd. Velocities of the 72.8 charge were in the ball park with the initial 72.5 and 73.0 grain range. What I'm confused on is the much higher than listed velocities. What should I be checking? Generally I've had a hard time matching book velocities let alone exceeding it by a significant amount. I was under the impression seating out longer and increasing case volume would lower pressure but that doesn't seem to fit with what I'm seeing. Sorry for the long read but wanted to be as specific as I could. Temperature today was 32 degrees

Different lot numbers different pressure. Recent experience the same thing with h1000 on pressure and powder charge. From lot to different lot for the same velocity was 2 grains different. Why u should as they recommend to start out lower on different powder charge and work up.
best thing about new powder was it was more accurate than the old powder. I guess burn rate and case fill made a difference.
cheers

 

[jeg52384]

I was splitting cases in my 300 with 200gr bullets well under book max for H1000. Reloader 22 shot fine. Have since moved to reloader 26 and it blows them both out if the water. Sold all the H1000 I had.

 

[tlsmith22]

I use VV N570 and run my 215s at and over 3100 with zero pressure signs. It's a hammer on both ends though.

 

[Deviant]

I was just down at the range this morning to start load development with 215 Berger's in my 300 win mag. What I discovered is much higher velocities than Berger predicted at lower charges. And I saw pressure signs at a fairly mild load in one instance and stopped there. Here's the specifics. According to my comparator my cbto measurement at the lands is 2.871. Berger recommended starting 0.015 off. This made my cbto 2.856 with my comparator set giving me 3.649 total cartridge length base to tip. I'm using once fired federal brass, federal 215M primers, and h1000. The suggested starting load was 70.5 grains at 2632 fps and a max of 74.0 grains at 2772 fps. They used a 26" barrel and so am I. I loaded 11 rounds every half grain from 71.5 to 76.5 to look for pressure signs in my rifle. At 71.5 I matched their max velocity at exactly 2772. 72 grains gave me 2812, 72.5 gave me 2855, 73 gave me (oddly) 2842, 73.5 gave me 2879, and 74 gave me 2917 but with faint ejector marks. All primers were somewhat flat but didn't appear at all alarming and I never got a sticky bolt lift. I then decided to run up with another set every 0.2 grains. First was 72.6 with two shots 2818 and 2836. Second was 72.8 grains with 2842 and 2830. The 72.8 grain load produced very faint ejector marks on one case but not the other. In the first series I didn't see pressure until right about max charge which was understandable and the second set showed up 1.2 grains sooner which was odd. Velocities of the 72.8 charge were in the ball park with the initial 72.5 and 73.0 grain range. What I'm confused on is the much higher than listed velocities. What should I be checking? Generally I've had a hard time matching book velocities let alone exceeding it by a significant amount. I was under the impression seating out longer and increasing case volume would lower pressure but that doesn't seem to fit with what I'm seeing. Sorry for the long read but wanted to be as specific as I could. Temperature today was 32 degrees

Throw away the Federal brass its junk. It is extremely soft and heavy with less capacity in my experience anyway. Primer pockets only lasted 2 firings for me with a mild load and it will show ejector marks early because its so soft.

 

[tlsmith22]

I tested all the different brass I could find. ADG was the best I found.

 

[JakeM300winnie]

I have no idea honestly this is a Christensen Mesa LR still has the factory tube on it

I have a CA Ridgeline in 28nosler. It shows pressure sign early, and even leaves ejector marks on factory ammo. My 2 cousins also have the same rifles. 1 is better as far as not showing pressure and ejector marks, the other is being sent back to Christensen. Factory ammo has sticky bolt, and when trying to handload, he actually to go lower than book recipe because of stuck cases. I'm not bashing CA, but I think they are building them a little too tight. (Headspace and tight bores).

 

[Gcan]

Thank you guys for the replies. I just more than anything wanted to make sure I wasn't potentially overlooking something that may end up being a safety issue. I guess as long as I stay out of pressure signs I'll just run with it. The scale I assume should be good it's a brand new rcbs m500 I believe it's called. A tight bore or hot lot of powder certainly seems reasonable. The brass is federal once fired. I intended to eventually try something else but these were fire formed in my barrel so I figured I'd give them a try first.

While I cannot prove this, logic suggests it's probably true. I have long believed that neck tension, powder charge shape differences ( flat or toward front or back of case) and jump can both create pressure and velocity variations. I have seen similar results to yours. I think bullets from round to round move into the lands at different times.

There have been numerous cases of modern smokeless 45 cal muzzle loader barrels blowing up. Many of us feel the bullets vibrate off the powder column during handling. This creates a pipe bomb. I believe the same thing to be true with some loads in centerfire rifles and can get far worse with jump.

I believe that bullets, particularly heavy for caliber bullets, can jump out of the neck on ignition, then jam into the lands and stall. This gives the powder more time and space to burn and build pressure The pressure builds way past normal levels as it tries to re launch the bullet that is now .020" or more into the lands. For that round you are basically shooting a round that is the same as a jammed load.

this condition varies from round to round and in my opinion can get far worse as jump increases. In a perfect world we imagine a bullet launching like a missile. In this case the bullets stutters.

Ive chased similar moving pressure signs at lower than max loads too in a 50bmg. I trimmed several cases, turned the necks, used a bushing and crimped all the loads. Never saw another spike.

I don't know about your procedures but I am very fussy about inside neck wall prep. Every case is cleaned, sonic washed, I run a rotary brush with acetone inside my necks. My goal is to create exactly the same resistance and tension from round to round.