RL17 in 308 with LC brass

[timmay]

I'm looking to try some 308 loads with RL17. I have brand new Lake City brass and I see some guys load data at max load of 48.7gr under a 178gr bullet (im looking to load up some hornady 178g amax and eld-x bullets).
but they are either not using LC brass or they are crushing that bullet way into the powder because 48.7 grains of RL17 fills the case almost to to brim literally. There is no way you could seat a bullet.
So Im asking if anyone knows what the max weight of RL17 under a 178gr bullet in LC brass?

 

[Trnelson]

LC brass is thick, around 175g. It works reliably in my CETME without any of the extraction issues I routinely get using most commercial spec brass. As opposed to commercial brass that is specified in reloading manuals that run as light as 160g your LC has less volume available due to thicker, tougher construction. I reduce the powder charge by 10 -12% and see similar velocity. A good chronograph will help you figure out what is safe. Velocity is a function of pressure. I haven't played with R-17 in my rifle so I can't tell you how to start, but I can tell you that 43.0g of IMR 4166 pushes a 150g Hornady SST to 2,700fps in my rifle according to my magnetospeed.

 

[timmay]

LC brass is thick, around 175g. It works reliably in my CETME without any of the extraction issues I routinely get using most commercial spec brass. As opposed to commercial brass that is specified in reloading manuals that run as light as 160g your LC has less volume available due to thicker, tougher construction. I reduce the powder charge by 10 -12% and see similar velocity. A good chronograph will help you figure out what is safe. Velocity is a function of pressure. I haven't played with R-17 in my rifle so I can't tell you how to start, but I can tell you that 43.0g of IMR 4166 pushes a 150g Hornady SST to 2,700fps in my rifle according to my magnetospeed.

I have several loadings worked up with IMR 4166 in 308 that I havent fired yet. I havent used 4166 yet so its one that Im going to test and see how it performs.
I also wanted to test out RL17 with the 178gr up to 208gr Hornady bullets.
Im all out of winchester brass and have only military brass left.
Ill start out lower and see how it goes. Thanks for the reply.
And yes velocity is deemed by pressure. Most people think that more powder means higher velocity which is mostly true, but like you said in the thicker less capacity brass it takes less powder to reach those pressures to launch a bullet to those velocities

 

[Trnelson]

R-17 is certainly viable with the bullets you mentioned. If it were me I'd start out at published minimums and chrono before adding any powder. There's some data with similar weight bullets in the Berger manual I think.

 

[jb1023]

I have several loadings worked up with IMR 4166 in 308 that I havent fired yet. I havent used 4166 yet so its one that Im going to test and see how it performs.
I also wanted to test out RL17 with the 178gr up to 208gr Hornady bullets.
Im all out of winchester brass and have only military brass left.
Ill start out lower and see how it goes. Thanks for the reply.
And yes velocity is deemed by pressure. Most people think that more powder means higher velocity which is mostly true, but like you said in the thicker less capacity brass it takes less powder to reach those pressures to launch a bullet to those velocities

Timmay, I wanted to see if you had had a chance to play with RL-17 or 4166 yet? I am actually playing with both of them right now with the 178 A-Max and having some issues so I was curious how you fared?

 

[RMulhern]

Use a droptube to settle the powder!!