Tallinar
Member
Hey guys,
So I'm working up a deer load with .45 Colt, and elected to use 2400, as it's the most suitable of the two powders I have on hand.
The gun I am loading for is a single shot H&R Classic Carbine with a 20" barrel. I perceive that this gun is strong enough that I should be able to push up into "Ruger Only" loads without any concern. I'm not trying to load anything insanely hot; but I am looking to push past the SAAMI spec for a good, consistent, hot load for this rifle.
I'm working with 250 gr Hornady XTPs, Winchester LP's, and brand new Starline brass.
I've done enough research to learn that 2400 does not perform well if loaded on the anemic side. It sounds like you really have to push it to its pressure "sweet spot" in order to get consistent, clean burns.
So I started at 17.0 grains. This is .5 grains less than the Lyman #49 published max load of 17.5 grains with the same bullet and OAL (1.590"). Results were very disappointing. There was an enormous amount of unburnt powder granules in the bore after each shot, with a lot of residual smoke. I have used powders like Unique and 700X and am familiar with "smokey" dirty-burning powders, but to see this much unburnt granules of powder was concerning. I did not do a rigorous accuracy test, and was not shooting from a solid rest that day, but initial impressions seemed mediocre.
So I made some more test loads. I loaded a handful of 18.0 grains, 19.0 grains, and 19.5 grains. Judging by consensus of forum posts I have read across the web, as well as the old John Linebaugh article, it sounds like 20-20.5 grains is as high as you'd ever want to go with this bullet weight and powder, so I figured I would see how these performed and decide if I even wanted to bother pushing to 20 grains.
Testing these rounds today, the results were fairly quite similar as the 17.0 grains. Without any empirical measurement, I would report that the 18.0 grain loads burned just as inconsistently as the 17.0 grain ones. The 19.0 and 19.5 grain loads seemed to leave noticeably less unburnt granules, but it's still quite a bit. I boresnaked the barrel between test strings to try to get the best feel I could for unburnt powder.
None of these loads showed any sign of high pressure. All the primers looked good. No issue with extraction. Felt recoil was pleasant, and I would comment anecdotally that the 19.0 and 19.5 grain loads did feel to have snappier recoil than the others. But I still just can't get over how incomplete the powder burn seems to be.
My question is simple. What am I doing wrong? Using a 20" rifle like this, I feel like I am giving this powder every possible chance to perform well. I don't have the cylinder gap or short barrel of a revolver to contend with.
Is it possible that I am not crimping hard enough? Or could my chamber be too loose or something? Should I carefully push up to 20 and 20.5 grains and see what happens?
I've uploaded a picture of my loaded rounds. Maybe you guys can tell me if I need a heavier crimp. I'm using RCBS seater with a simple roll crimp. OAL is 1.591". I could probably have seated the bullet a tad bit deeper. Also, I think I belled the case mouths slightly too much, as I had a tiny bit of brass shaving when I crimped (probably visible in picture).
Any suggestions, short of just giving up on 2400 with this cartridge?
So I'm working up a deer load with .45 Colt, and elected to use 2400, as it's the most suitable of the two powders I have on hand.
The gun I am loading for is a single shot H&R Classic Carbine with a 20" barrel. I perceive that this gun is strong enough that I should be able to push up into "Ruger Only" loads without any concern. I'm not trying to load anything insanely hot; but I am looking to push past the SAAMI spec for a good, consistent, hot load for this rifle.
I'm working with 250 gr Hornady XTPs, Winchester LP's, and brand new Starline brass.
I've done enough research to learn that 2400 does not perform well if loaded on the anemic side. It sounds like you really have to push it to its pressure "sweet spot" in order to get consistent, clean burns.
So I started at 17.0 grains. This is .5 grains less than the Lyman #49 published max load of 17.5 grains with the same bullet and OAL (1.590"). Results were very disappointing. There was an enormous amount of unburnt powder granules in the bore after each shot, with a lot of residual smoke. I have used powders like Unique and 700X and am familiar with "smokey" dirty-burning powders, but to see this much unburnt granules of powder was concerning. I did not do a rigorous accuracy test, and was not shooting from a solid rest that day, but initial impressions seemed mediocre.
So I made some more test loads. I loaded a handful of 18.0 grains, 19.0 grains, and 19.5 grains. Judging by consensus of forum posts I have read across the web, as well as the old John Linebaugh article, it sounds like 20-20.5 grains is as high as you'd ever want to go with this bullet weight and powder, so I figured I would see how these performed and decide if I even wanted to bother pushing to 20 grains.
Testing these rounds today, the results were fairly quite similar as the 17.0 grains. Without any empirical measurement, I would report that the 18.0 grain loads burned just as inconsistently as the 17.0 grain ones. The 19.0 and 19.5 grain loads seemed to leave noticeably less unburnt granules, but it's still quite a bit. I boresnaked the barrel between test strings to try to get the best feel I could for unburnt powder.
None of these loads showed any sign of high pressure. All the primers looked good. No issue with extraction. Felt recoil was pleasant, and I would comment anecdotally that the 19.0 and 19.5 grain loads did feel to have snappier recoil than the others. But I still just can't get over how incomplete the powder burn seems to be.
My question is simple. What am I doing wrong? Using a 20" rifle like this, I feel like I am giving this powder every possible chance to perform well. I don't have the cylinder gap or short barrel of a revolver to contend with.
Is it possible that I am not crimping hard enough? Or could my chamber be too loose or something? Should I carefully push up to 20 and 20.5 grains and see what happens?
I've uploaded a picture of my loaded rounds. Maybe you guys can tell me if I need a heavier crimp. I'm using RCBS seater with a simple roll crimp. OAL is 1.591". I could probably have seated the bullet a tad bit deeper. Also, I think I belled the case mouths slightly too much, as I had a tiny bit of brass shaving when I crimped (probably visible in picture).
Any suggestions, short of just giving up on 2400 with this cartridge?
