why hot loads?

Hot loads? Do you mean loading above published data and above recommended pressures?

Folks like hot loads for the same reason they like fast cars.

I'm wondering the same thing as Parasite also.

I generally only load mid to upper range for all my guns.
Just my preference, nothing more.

The only time I will load at or around min load is for short barreled revolvers for my wife. The odds of sticking a bullet in a snub from a light load isn't near as great as it is in 6"or 8"barrel. There are some bullseye recipes in one of my Lyman manuals that isn't recomended for use "longer barreled revolvers".

As far as my carry rounds, I shoot what I carry, and I don't carry light loads for self protection.

In the case of handguns, some believe that which is the most powerful will also guarantee a certain stop in a shooting incident. This isn't necessarily true, but it's core to their thinking and acts somewhat like a security blanket.

(I can't hit the broadside of a barn at 10 feet, but the propwash from my super-load will knock the bad guy down.)

A load "Hotter" than factory is usually way above SAAMI recomended pressures.
Thats just foolish and will get the loader/shooter the Darwin Award sooner or later.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought just about all factory ammo in all calibers was loaded at or very close to max pressures. I know this is the case in 44 Mag, but 10mm may be different; never shot any.

Depends on what you are calling factory. I have some 9mm FMJ that only go about 400 fps. I use 125xtp that need pushed above +P to open up.

A possilble reduction in shooter margin for error. Lighter bullets fly flatter and have less drop to a point. Another aspect is certain load/gun combos have different nodes and sometimes that is hot, and above hot, although more often than not this is not the case-

Some people may not have a little"Captain in em", but they seem to have a little "Elmer Keith" in em.

I've been reloading a long time, and I wonder the same thing myself. Unless one's hunting deer, etc., the ONLY reason I can think of for loading nuclear is to have something to post about on forums like this!

What's the point of having a 44 Magnum or 10mm if you aren't going to load it hot?

hentown said:

the ONLY reason I can think of for loading nuclear is to have something to post about on forums like this!

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Sometimes those posts go like this ... "Funny thing happened at the range today"

I reserve known once-fired brass for max loads and typically use mid-to-high range load data for mixed range brass with unknown reload history. YMMV

56hawk said:

What's the point of having a 44 Magnum or 10mm if you aren't going to load it hot?

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"Hot" is a relative term. To some it means max loads, to some it means above max. Most factory loads are not loaded to max, but are at just below and lower so they are safe to shoot in ALL firearms. Some folks feel the need to load to max and above because they feel their firearm is inadequate for the intended purpose. I load for accuracy, and whether or not the most accurate load is hot or not does not matter. If I hit the boiler room with a medium velocity .44 mag and a proper bullet, I have a dead animal. If I don't hit the boiler room with a super hot .44 or any other caliber....odds are I have a wounded animal. Instead of loading a caliber hot to make it something it isn't, one should just move up in caliber and load appropriately.

Scuba_Steve said:

I'm new to reloading and during my research I keep reading about people developing hot loads, especially in .44 and 10mm.

aside from hunting, I'm wondering what appeals is for hot loads. do some of you use them for purposes other than hunting or self defense?

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In the specific case of the 10mm Auto, ammunition from the Big 3 makers are loaded to well below the capabilities of the cartridge. There is little point in accepting the cost and gun selection for this cartridge and accepting .40 S&W ballistics. That doesn't mean using fullbore loads all the time: for paper punching I use 180gr FMJ bullets at 1050fps., which in a full size steel gun is a pussycat. Full charge such as 155gr at 1400fps. is not over pressure in a properly designed pistol will full chamber support.

buck460XVR said:

"Hot" is a relative term. To some it means max loads, to some it means above max. Most factory loads are not loaded to max, but are at just below and lower so they are safe to shoot in ALL firearms. Some folks feel the need to load to max and above because they feel their firearm is inadequate for the intended purpose.

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He did say keeping it within recommended pressures. I load all my magnum rounds to book max, and sometimes above if it is obvious that the book load is well below SAAMI max. I try to keep below SAAMI max though.

To load above SAAMI max would compare to driving a car that has bald tires at 120 mph, sooner or later something bad is going to happen. So no, I don't load hot if this is the analogy your applying. But since I load exclusively with JHP's and slow burning powder for all my handguns, I push them as high velocity as the data and cartridge will safely support. In other words, if I'm not seeing any signs of excessive pressures, I'll continue increasing the powder charge. To some this would be referred to as hot loading, or hot rodding.

However, I have been known to work up slow burning powders to above published data in my high powered rifle cartridges, but that's a slightly different story. "Slow burning powders" and high powered rifle will allow one to safely "work up" to well over the published data in many cartridges, but the key words here are "work up" and "slow burning powder".
GS

Hot and fast aren't interchangeable terms either. A fast powder and a slow powder can both be loaded to maximum published load data, safely I might add, and give completely different levels of velocity and recoil. Following that logic there is nothing unsafe about exceeding factory velocities. A lot of that stuff isn't even loaded for the purpose of maximizing velocity, instead being loaded to a velocity the factory feels bests suits the needs of the shooter. Some companies load strictly for maximizing velocity or muzzle energy but not everyone does.

I think someone people become over cautious as well and start confusing book max with hot, which is silly. There are a variety of reasons to either use a maximum load or a reduced load, but if you know how to reload and are shooting a modern firearm then safety isn't actually one of them (even if you think it is).

"I was thinking in terms of hotter than factory rounds. "

Well, as explained above, what's 'hot' varies and may not obtain higher speeds anyway.

Most guns, including handguns, can survive hotter than "max" SAAMI pressures without coming apart - for awhile; that's what proof loads are all about. Loading hot tends to attract half-arsed loaders who are sure their weapons are stronger than others and want to think they know better than all the more cautious experts. What real experts know is that the pressure to obtain small speed increases beyond normal is not linear. Powders are made to burn best - most consistantly - in the normal pressure range for their intended use. It may take a 20% increase in pressure to obtain another 3-5% of speed. That extra pressure can be twitchy from round to round; proof powders are NOT what we buy at the store, those powders are made to burn consistantly at much higher test pressures. Meaning, what may be 'safe' for one of us (only meaning the gun has held together) for ninety nine shots by over loading a standard canister powder may not be safe on shot one hundred!

Small increments of speed are pointless in application anyway; a check of Hornady's ballistic tables or a ballistic program will show what a tiny effective difference another 100 fps from a handgun or 200 fps from a rifle means so the only real gain from deliberatly pounding our weapons into an early grave - and maybe ourselves too - is just a warm fuzzy dum azz self image based on a fallacy of being 'smarter' than other reloaders.

IMHO, of course. OMMV.

Overloading is unnecessary and dangerous. I have a friend who loaded his 22-250 so hot the bullets burned up before getting to the 100 yard target. That is rediculous.

Loading to the listed max is ok if you work up to it. All guns are not made equal, so use ultimate caution when going hot. Your vision or life may depend on it.

In many or most pistol loads, the hottest possible load is NOT the most accurate load.

The absolute hottest load may be able to reach an "orbit", but it may be orbiting the wrong planet.

I load for accuracy. Sometimes a given combo needs to be hot.

The only instances that I personally have loaded a couple of times above max recommended published loads is where a certain firearm is deemed to handle higher pressures and the cartridge itself is designed to handle the higher pressure loads. Such cases in point would be the old venerable .32-20 where it was progated long ago as a universal pistol and rifle load and the published data is very low to accomodate use in all firearms both old and new where some old firearms were too weak to handle stronger loads. A few lever guns as well as bolt action firearms were made to handle loads well above standard. Another example would be for certain older military firearms such as the Mosin Nagant 7.62x54R where the bore diameters varied as did the construction of the firearms rendering some of them strong and some weak. If you have a good one checked by a reputable gun smith here too you can push the envelope .

***** In any of these cases or similar cases you always start well below max published load parameters and work up slowly monitoring signs of increase in pressures and if they arise reduce your loads accordingly *****