I have asked Hodgdon if detonation is a problem with reduced loads of
H110 in 44 mag and 357 mag. I have been told the only risk there is a
stuck bullet.
In the February 2001 "Handloader" magazine, John Haviland's article on
reduced loads quotes Ron Rieber of Hodgdon as saying that there is a
problem with reduced loads in cartridges with large powder capacities
compared to their bore. The powder partially ignites sending the bullet
into the bore and then lodging and stopping. The charge then fully
ignites causing a pressure spike. He has been unable to reproduce this
phenomena in the lab with a new barrel, however, in a rough throated
..243 with a slow burning powder and reduced charge can make a pressure
spike that will lock the bolt shut.
I fired 3 shots in a row with the same load in a rough throated .243. I took a picture of the brass. It has been downloaded over 10,000 times at THR. It took me a while to realize that it was not a pinched bullet or detonation that caused the increase in pressure. It was Copper fouling.
If it were detonation, and I could reproduce detonation, I might be the first
There may be some other guys who did this and called it detonation, but I don't think so...