Reloading confusion

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MilsurpShooter

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I've shot mainly surplus since I got into this... Wow was it three years ago allready? Anyhow. Bought a Lee kit and mainly used it to de-prime the brass I shot at the range that was worth it. I shot alot of surplus ammo so I didn't really re-load like I should have. Read the books, read the instructions, did some dry runs with brass but never actually have reloaded any ammunition for firing purpose, mainly practice rounds. Pull the bullet off a milsurp cartridge, use that powder as the load, reload a spent primer, seat the bullet, crimp, do it all over again. Lately though, I've been looking more for proper shooting and accuracy instead of just firing at the target. Milsurp ammo, just isn't too good for this. My collection has also grown. I've added two Mosins, a Springfield trapdoor and will soon be adding a K31... If I want to shoot the Springfield and K31 I'm definately going to have to reload. That'll make 45-70, 7.92x57 mauser, 7.62x54r and 7.5x55mm.

I've read the second edition Lee handbook and various other things on the internet, I've bookmarked the thread in here showing the pictorial steps on how to re-load (excellent job on that by the way) but there is one thing that continuously frustrates me and intimidates me... All the different powders.

I know, it probably sounds wierd but when I open up the data book, I look on the Hogdon web page and I see all these different numbers... Well I get confused. I see all the different bullet weights, then all the different powders and measurements and ask myself what the heck the difference is between all the powders?

For instance, the Mauser cartridge, Varget and Benchmark can be used for nearly every bullet until you get to the 200+grain bullets, even then Varget is recommended. Same for the Mosin cartridge.

I guess what I'd really like to know, is what is the difference between Varget and Benchmark, what's the difference of those two and say H335 and BL-C(2)? Is it a granular or chemical make up? One burns cleaner then the other? I've read the descriptions on the website, but they just seem to confuse me more lol.

Any lamen terms and simplification would be appreciated :eek:
 
A big difference in powders is the rate at which they burn. Another difference is the amount of energy from a given weight of powder. Another difference is the volume a given weight of powder takes up.

What you want for a given cartridge is a powder that will almost fill up the case and will give optimum velocity and accuracy with acceptable pressures. It's also insurance against putting a double charge of powder in a case. The Hornady and Barnes manuals in many cases give the names of the optimal powders in a given cartridge/bullet combination. In many cases, the recommendations are quite accurate. In some cases, you'll chance upon a bullet/primer/powder/case load that works very well that isn't published in most of the manuals.
 
Thank you kindly Grumulkin. Makes a bit more sense now. Datat book I have is one from Hogden so I'll probably go with the powder that I can use for more then one load, IE a mauser and a mosin powder lol. Definately have some reading and research to do when I get home
 
Art vs Science

Reloading is an Art, not a science. What I mean is that there is no "one right way" to do anything involved with reloading.

If you poll a large enough group of reloaders on any questions, you will find people who support every possible answer.

I know people who check just about every round they load, and people who barely check any. People who do alot of research before choosing a powder, or bullet, and people who buy whatever is on sale or available. About a third of the group will love any specific powder, a third will hate it, and third could care less about it.

One "old guy" from my range, doesn't even measure his powder charges, he "eye balls" the amounts. (please don't do that!)

What I'm getting out is that there is no secret formula for reloading, that you have to discover to make everything right. Some of it is just pick a bullet weight and type, pick a powder, load some rounds in the published range for that bullet & powder and see how they shoot in your gun.

Do you have a specific, critical use for your reloads? Paper targets don't really care if your bullets are super fast, or very slow. Finding a super accurate 1000 yard load is intersting but unnecessary if you only shoot at 100 yards.

You will eventually find several loads that load well (consistently) on your press, and that give you acceptable accuracy (whatever is acceptable to you), resonable recoil etc. Once you do that, you can start "experimenting", and comparing the results to those loads. I.E. switching from powder X to powder Y results in slightly less accuracy but lower cost, or powder Z is more accurate but dirtier. Are the changes worth it? Only you can answer that.

My advise is be safe, stay with published recipes until you are experienced enough to make safe, sound decisions on changes, and go out and reload.
 
Yea, what he said.
Reloading is very "American".
As far as powder and primers. It's mostly availability. I would love to use Power Pistol, all the time. It's hard to find. Order it and there are extra fees.
Or drive an hour away. And it's not economical.
So instead I use Titegroup.:D
 
Read the sections of your...

reloading manual that are in the front of the book. Everything is explained there. Be careful reloading for your trapdoor. There are chapters in loading manuals just for modern rifles that would be very unsafe in a trapdoor. I do not reload for my milsurps, except for 303 and 7.5 Swiss. It is not econimacally worth it, yet........chris3
 
Mainly, the way I've been shooting is in interest of 100 yard grouping. I've recently acquired a Mosin Nagant with a PU sniper mount and scope, that I want to be my most accurate rifle. The milsurp ammo I use is decent, hit the X ring the 10 and parts of the 9, but I have a feeling it's both my shortcomings as a shooter and the ammo doing it. The rifle can do better, of that I'm certain so if possible I'd like to take out the ammunition part of the equation. I'm a piss poor shot. I admit that. I hit the paper each time at 100 with some of my guns but it looks like someone took a shotgun to them lol... Doesn't help that it's a public range so over 50 rounds are fired before we can go put up fresh targets.

Anyhow, the Mosin I plan on mainly target shooting, 100 yard, 200 yard when it opens... MAYBE hunting but I would probably use my Yugo M48 for that (shorter and not as heavy, although the mosin has the wonderful option of Irons or scope.... err n/m)

As it stands right now, I'm leaning towards Benchmark or Varget powder, but this also depends on what type of bullets I can get for them. Having a lot of difficulty finding powder/bullets and the like in my area. After work today I'm taking an hour drive to a place I found on the net and hoping they'll have what I need.

But I'm definately going to try a few different recipes that are in my load book. If I can I'm hoping to find a good target load and a good hunting load that will shoot well in my Mosin and my M48. So 2 loads for each gun. Not really looking for more then that... Well.. I would kind of like to show up some of the fancy rifles at the range and show them what a proper Battle rifle can do :D
 
Here's how I choose a powder.

I look at all the cartridges I intend to reload, and see if one powder does well for all of them. In rifles, I found that H335 and Varget both do well in .223, and in .308. I later tried Varget, for the same reason. Went back to H335 for rifles. I now use H335 for .308, .223, AND for 7.5X55 Swiss.

Probably not optimum, but it keeps the inventory down.
 
Hmm. Interesting point, not just the powder that is the most common between the calibers, the one that works well too... Anyone here reload 8mm or 7.62x54r and has a preffered powder type?
 
"One "old guy" from my range, doesn't even measure his powder charges, he "eye balls" the amounts. (please don't do that!)"

Get your name on his will..sooner or later he's gonna screw up REAL BAD !
 
Get your name on his will..sooner or later he's gonna screw up REAL BAD !
Click to expand...

Actually, if I could have his name, I would like to take out a life insurance policy on him.

I would like to have one powder that was good for all the cartridges I reload for but for most of them, I have found one unique powder that gives the best accuracy in a given cartridge with a given bullet weight. I've found, however, that when given, Barnes and Hornady manual recommendations are generally on target (pun intended).

Another thing I look for are listings in the manuals of compressed charges. If there are some listed I will likely try the powder since it would be impossible to overload a case without knowing it and having no dead space int he case can improve accuracy.
 
the powder thing is REAL confusing at first. There are a lot of powders that will "kinda" work. There are many less that are optimum, but there is still a pretty wide selection even when it's supposedly narrowed down.

As noted, for rifle it's best to have something that fills the case at least 90%. For example, I'd try to find one that lists a starting loads at say 50 grains, and the max load at 58 is compressed. Manuals like the Lyman will show a + sign behind the max charge to show it is compressed. I'd avoid the first powders listed, the ones that use less than the later ones listed. If they use a lot less, it's a faster powder which is less forgiving.

One thing to remember (VERY IMPORTANT) is that the burn rate of smokeless increases dramatically with a pressure/temperature increase. The faster the burn rate, the more dramatic the burn rate (pressure). A faster burn means a faster increase in pressure, which means a faster burn...which means you've got little pieces of metal imbedded in your skull...

Also, there are ball powders, flake, long stick powders, and SC (short cut) stick. Talk to different guys and you'll get different answers to which is "best". I suspect they just started with one (perhaps by accident), got good accuracy, and now it's the best.

Bottom line....find a powder that mostly or totally fills the case. If you use your rifle during the winter and cold temps and again during the hot summer, get a powder that's not temp sensitive. Absolutely follow the loading manual recommendations. You'll be fine.

HTH
 
I'll probably give Varget a go for my first one then. The book I have, which I thought was a Hodgdon book, is actually a book by Lee for Hodgdon powder.

7.62x54r
Case: Norma
PR:Federal 210mm
150 Gr. Nos Bt
Says Varget will have a 50.5

No listing on a 180 gr. bullet though

8x57mm Mauser
Case: Remington
PR: Remington 9 1/2
150 gr. Hdy SP
Varget will be a 52.4 and compressed

With a 170 Grain bullet Varget will be 50.5 so it's generally uniform for both calibers. Now to just find a place where I can get the primers powder and bullets... Swear one day California is gonna annex this county
 
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