no recipe reloading

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been thinking about something.
what would one do if they cannot find reloading data for a particular caliber or bullet weight or both?
or even for a particular powder you want to use but no recipe for the bullet?

I have cast 200g RNFP for my .45C
I've had my fun loading with black powder subs, now I want to try smokeless. I have everything except the powder to start.
Looking at the various load data I have (I bought the booklet of .45C from Midway) and I'm not sure where to start.
Obviously I can avoid anything Ruger/TC related as my SAA wont handle those loads. but looking at the rest of the cast loads, I am confused.

If I was to pick a powder, say Universal, and start with the lowest grain load listed, as I work up the load, how will I know I reached the max?

The more confused I get the more I think I'll be better off using the rest of the cast bullets I have for BP only (altho not terribly happy with results using 777) and buying bullets I have published data for.
 
Snice you are a Black Powder fan and want to now load smokeless loads I would highly recommend Trail Boss. You can't get enough Trail Boss into the case to harm your revolver (like BP) as long as you don't compress TB. If you want a more conventional powder Universal, Unique, W231, HS-6 or AA#5 will all work well.
 
I think anyone could offer better initial advice than ArchAngelCD has for new metallic reloader. One of, if not the most common mistakes made by new, and even seasoned reloader's, is accidental double charges.

However, I would like to add one more tip about such powders as Trail Boss and other slow burning powders. Don't reduce the charge to below minimum published data. Even though Trail Boss is less an issue in this manner than are some of the other slow burner's, it can still produce low pressures, and generally perform poorly when reduced below minimum.
 
the speer #14 manual has load data for your bullet. the data is for a semi-wadcutter, but should suffice for your needs.

murf
 
I cast and shoot the .45 Colt 200 gr. RNFP bullet by the thousands. In fact, I just finished sizing and lubing another 3,000 of them this evening. I shoot smokeless exclusively in all my firearms. With this bullet I use Trail Boss. It's very accurate, though it's not a barn burner when it comes to velocity, but it will put the bullet where you want it to go. The Hodgdon manual has lots of loads for this bullet, including Trail Boss data. Just look under Cowboy Loads.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
Gamestalker, did you proofread your post?

gamestalker said:
I think anyone could offer better initial advice than ArchAngelCD has for new metallic reloader. One of, if not the most common mistakes made by new, and even seasoned reloader's, is accidental double charges.

However, I would like to add one more tip about such powders as Trail Boss and other slow burning powders. Don't reduce the charge to below minimum published data. Even though Trail Boss is less an issue in this manner than are some of the other slow burner's, it can still produce low pressures, and generally perform poorly when reduced below minimum.
Click to expand...
Gamestalker, did you proofread your post?

Lost Sheep
 
If I was to pick a powder, say Universal, and start with the lowest grain load listed, as I work up the load, how will I know I reached the max?
Click to expand...
You know you reached the max when you get to the max listed in the load data.

Hodgdon says your 200 LRNFP bullet uses a Starting load of Universal of 6.4 grains.
It also says the MAX is 8.8 grains.

So that right there is how you know.

http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

rc
 
how will I know I reached the max
Click to expand...

When you've reached the published maximum for that set of components or you have signs of pressure (hard extaction and case head growth). With no published data for a particular bullet, say a 200 LRNFP from MBC (awesome company) you can use the mic method but you are going to be hard pressed to uncover an issue in the 45Colt, even with published maxes given the low spec and high quality new revolvers compared to old SAAs.

Trail Boss and other slow burning powders.
Click to expand...

Trail Boss is a fast powder, do I win the Lost Sheep award?
 
I'll take a look for Trail Boss.
Until I can find another shop that carries powder, I'm limited to what my local bass pro carries.
 
To try to answer the actual question asked. I assume your still using load data. You find the best match & it doesn't hurt to start lower. You might stick a bullet if you go to low but that is hard to do with lead.

Stop if cases get hard to extraxt but at that point your way over pressure.
 
gamestalker said:
I think anyone could offer better initial advice than ArchAngelCD has for new metallic reloader. One of, if not the most common mistakes made by new, and even seasoned reloader's, is accidental double charges.

However, I would like to add one more tip about such powders as Trail Boss and other slow burning powders. Don't reduce the charge to below minimum published data. Even though Trail Boss is less an issue in this manner than are some of the other slow burner's, it can still produce low pressures, and generally perform poorly when reduced below minimum.
Click to expand...
Lost Sheep said:
Gamestalker, did you proofread your post?
Click to expand...
Deavis said:
Trail Boss is a fast powder, do I win the Lost Sheep award?
Click to expand...
Along with Trail Boss being a fast powder I truly hope the award would go to a missing word, Don't... As in "I Don't think anyone could offer better initial advice than ArchAngelCD has for new metallic reloader." :p
 
Can't find information for a bullet/powder combo?

Plenty of choices . . .

Buy a loading manual
Get a powder manufacturer's promotional flyer
Go to a powder manufacturer's website and get the data on-line

MidwayUSA's load books are OK, but I've found the data to be dated. I don't know the last time they updated what they compiled into it, but the ones I looked at didn't include any recently introduced powder.

Lyman's manual has a lot of cast bullet data. And so do Hodgdon and Accurate Arms manuals. Don't buy a bullet manufacturer's manual hoping for lead data.
 
I've found Speer's data to be limited to only the lead bullets in the weights they produce.

If what you've got is in there, great. If not, it's not. Lyman's manual has always catered to casters.


A good, one-size-fits-all book is Richard Lee's Modern Reloading.
 
I have the RCBS (Speer) lead load book and it is limited to their bullets and there is not a lot of data. The Lyman is far superior.
 
Back when I used Precision Delta 9mm 124gr fmjrn bullets, I had the same problem.

I used the "seating depth" off another bullet of the same weight and nose type. I seated the PD to the same depth, loaded light and worked up.

It worked very well. A chrono helps verify the results.
 
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