is this safe?

grade this load

  • should be safe

    Votes: 5 83.3%

  • not safe

    Votes: 1 16.7%

  • great accuracy potential

    Votes: 1 16.7%

  • good accuracy potential

    Votes: 1 16.7%

  • so-so accuracy potential

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • poor accuracy potential

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    6
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FlyinBryan

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after reading "argh!!!!!!!frustration!!!!!!!!!!" i got to wondering if my loads are safe.

i know the book says its safe, but i would like to hear the experts opinions as well.

im thinking about running two part polls where you can stop by a thread, and vote yes or no on its safety, and great, good, so-so, and poor, on its accuracy potential.


the load in question is .223 rem.

68g hornady hpbt match bullet
lake city brass trimmed to 1.755
21g h322
o.a.l. 2.220


p.s. comments welcome.
 
If a load book from a recognized authority says it's safe, what more are we going to add? Beyond that I would be looking for pressure signs, or considering a strain gauge/pressure measuring setup.
 
The load is well below max in my reference material. Since we know nothing about the weapon's chamber dimensions, only firing it will really tell with the info you have given us.
 
Right - you need to include the rifle particulars as well as the load, especially the twist rate of your barrel.

Not knowing that, it's impossible to give any accuracy predictions. However, the load itself should be safe. My manuals don't list H322 with a 68 grain bullet, but they do with several lighter bullets. So doing a little eddycated interpolatin', I would say your load is at or maybe even below a starting weight of H322 for a 68 gr. bullet.
 
I would say that any "middle of the range" load is safe. Not anywhere near max and unless your rifle has severe issues or the brass has been reloaded 2-3 dozen times before it should be just fine.

Accuracy will depend on a lot more factors than just the "load".
 
After I posted above, I became a little angry. Why are so many people doing the “dart board approach” to reloading???

A powder is selected, Min and Max loads are discovered, they fling a dart at those values and say. “I’ll use that load. Giggle snigger gufaugh!” They load it up and the “git replaces the shiggles”. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH Jeeeepers is this a safe load, worry, worry, worry!!!

Why not follow all published recommendations of starting at, “of all gall dern things”, the START LOAD:cuss::banghead::banghead::banghead:! and work up in small increments.

Gee! I feel better now.:D:D
 
Right - you need to include the rifle particulars as well as the load, especially the twist rate of your barrel.

Not knowing that, it's impossible to give any accuracy predictions
Click to expand...

ya, i understand that accuracy would also depend on the rifle from which it was fired and its condition.

thats why it say "accuracy POTENTIAL"

potential being a key word.

the rifle in question will be an ar with a 1:9 heavy barrel.

What is your real question?
Click to expand...

many load manuals dont list certain powders and certain bullets.

i guess my real questions are:

do you think this load is safe?

and whats its accuracy potential?

its just to see what the opinions of the ppl on this board are on this load.

there is another thread here where a person followed the manuals to the t and ended up with a damaged rifle, so i figured it wouldnt hurt to get some folks opinions

the real question is simple:

its grade this load, not grade this thread.
 
After I posted above, I became a little angry. Why are so many people doing the “dart board approach” to reloading???

A powder is selected, Min and Max loads are discovered, they fling a dart at those values and say. “I’ll use that load. Giggle snigger gufaugh!” They load it up and the “git replaces the shiggles”. OOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH Jeeeepers is this a safe load, worry, worry, worry!!!

Why not follow all published recommendations of starting at, “of all gall dern things”, the START LOAD! and work up in small increments.

Gee! I feel better now.
Click to expand...

the load was taken from lees modern reloading second edition.

no darts were thrown.

if all manuals were identical, and had every possible combination of loads, powder, primers and specs, i could see you getting as upset as you said.

they are not.

i have not been reloading long, and have never considered going outside the guidelines in my manuals.

sorry for getting you angry.

bryan.
 
Bryan - every round you can create with reasonable care has accuracy potential. It is the firearm, and the firearm alone, that makes a round realize its actual accuracy.

In other words, asking for accuracy POTENTIAL is ... well, it's nonsensical without knowing what it will be fired in.

I can take your round and plan to fire it in the rifle you described and say the round does have good accuracy potential. I can also plan to fire the same round in a Rem 700 with a 1:14 twist rate and say without fail that the accuracy potential is poor.
 
Brian, the problem with your stated intent is that not a single one of us can predict the "potential" for either accuracy or velocity of any specific load in any specific rifle, even in general terms.

If we, or anyone, could actually do what you seek, the loading manuals could be reduced to one and it would only have to present that single "best" load and be done with it, never mind fooling around with all those other loads with less POTENTIAL! In truth, we can't even make an intelligent guess! All we could give you is a self-appointed expert's WAG (scientific term for a "wild-assed guess") and it will have all the value its name implies.

I don't think Shoney is angry, he's just frustrated by the continueing strings of new loaders who seem to think there are some hidden formulas and tricks that we keep away from newbies. But there aren't any short cuts, we each have to find what works for our own rifles by personal experimentation. No best "potentials" either.
 
Bryan - every round you can create with reasonable care has accuracy potential. It is the firearm, and the firearm alone, that makes a round realize its actual accuracy.

In other words, asking for accuracy POTENTIAL is ... well, it's nonsensical without knowing what it will be fired in.

I can take your round and plan to fire it in the rifle you described and say the round does have good accuracy potential. I can also plan to fire the same round in a Rem 700 with a 1:14 twist rate and say without fail that the accuracy potential is poor.
Click to expand...

its ok mal.

i havent been reloading long (couple of months) and saw another thread where a guys rifle was damaged by a load he got from his manual and it got me to wondering if my loads (from my manual, lees modern reloading, 2nd edition, were questionable) wrere safe.

im now regreting starting the thread because it has made some folks "angry".

im sorry for posting it, and i wont post another one.

i dont want to make enemies here and will bend over backwards to avoid doing so.

my apoligies ppl. and i wont post another, bryan.
 
Pressure, whether derived from testing PSI, CUP, LUP and/or physical signs of the pressure on the brass, is how the manuals determine their minimum and maximum loads. All load manuals have data well under the SAAMI pressure specs (lawyer driven data). Combinations of factors can cause great variances in pressure. Here are a few factors:


Primer: strength, brisance - is a measure of the rapidity with which an explosive develops its maximum pressure
Barrel: length; tightness of chamber; tightness of bore; height of the lands, or no lands if polygonal; distance of bullet to lands; temperature of barrel;
Bullet: diameter; bearing surface of bullet, alloy of bullet; shape of bullet; crimp; seating depth/OAL (affects cartridge volume);
Brass: new/used; elasticity; manufacturer, wall thickness; volume;
Powder: new, aged, old, batch powder was from;
Weather: ambient air temp., barometric pressure, humidity; elevation above sea level
Other: I am sure I have not listed all

Now, mix and match them. Care to calculate the number of possible combinations?

My point here is that published pressure data should be used as a guide, because your weapon and load will be different. Looking for pressure signs in rifle bottleneck cartridges is a good (not foolproof) indicator of safe loads. You have to start low and work up incrementaly, watching for pressure signs as you go.
 
Bryan, I was not mad at you personally, but the continuing “pick a load mentality” that is common and that other people advocate, rather than working up loads. I did not see you say anything about the Lee Load Data prior to the later posts. If you had clarified that ealier, that this was the stating load they recommend, I would have gone right to post #12. Just remember, “The only dumb question is the one unasked!!!!!!!!”
Reloader up!:D Keep on posting!
 
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