I set out to try a recipe on Hodgdon's site, which calls for a range of 20 to 24.5 grains of 800-x, depending on what velocity the reloader wants.
At 24.5 grains, which was my goal, the pressure is listed at 7,800 psi and velocity is 1250 fps.
During my test batch of 25 rounds, now that the powder is settled in the bottle, the bushing is throwing a huge range of charges, 24.3 grains to 25.5 grains of 800-x. This powder does not meter well, and the bushing is semi-home-made, as I enlarged a smaller bushing using a cone-shaped grinding bit on my drill. I'm sure that's not helping matters in terms of charge consistency.
I am using the new style gray Winchester AA hulls, 1 1/8 oz #9 shot, Winchester 209 primers, and Claybuster wads CB 1118-12 (substitute for Winchester WAA12). This is exactly the set of components in Hodgdon's data and I departed from this recipe only in my powder charge.
I am wondering if the shells that are overcharged by up to 1.0 grain are dangerous in my Remington 1100 (2 3/4 chamber), or if this is within the margin of safety comfort zone, if there is such a thing in 12-gauge reloading.
At 24.5 grains, which was my goal, the pressure is listed at 7,800 psi and velocity is 1250 fps.
During my test batch of 25 rounds, now that the powder is settled in the bottle, the bushing is throwing a huge range of charges, 24.3 grains to 25.5 grains of 800-x. This powder does not meter well, and the bushing is semi-home-made, as I enlarged a smaller bushing using a cone-shaped grinding bit on my drill. I'm sure that's not helping matters in terms of charge consistency.
I am using the new style gray Winchester AA hulls, 1 1/8 oz #9 shot, Winchester 209 primers, and Claybuster wads CB 1118-12 (substitute for Winchester WAA12). This is exactly the set of components in Hodgdon's data and I departed from this recipe only in my powder charge.
I am wondering if the shells that are overcharged by up to 1.0 grain are dangerous in my Remington 1100 (2 3/4 chamber), or if this is within the margin of safety comfort zone, if there is such a thing in 12-gauge reloading.