Elkins45
10-02-2012, 12:33 PM
Experimenting with plain based boolets in the 300 AAC has led me down the path that slower burning powders that gently accelerate the projectile are more conducive to accuracy that fast burners that WHACK the boolet out of the case and into the leade.
So that gets me to thinking about my new fun rifle cartridge, the 358 Winchester. I have access to a good quantity of IMR 4831, which is generally regarded as being too slow for a 30 caliber or larger boolet in a 308-sized case. There's plenty of load data for it in 243, but not its brethren with bigger mouths. My understanding is that there wouldn't be a SAFETY issue with such a use, just the fact that velocities would be lower than could otherwise be realized from faster burning powders.
But let's just say that maximum velocity isn't my goal---slowly accelerating a lead boolet for maximum accuracy is. Is there any pressing safety reason not to fill a few 358 cases with 4831 up to the base of the neck and send a few downrange?
So that gets me to thinking about my new fun rifle cartridge, the 358 Winchester. I have access to a good quantity of IMR 4831, which is generally regarded as being too slow for a 30 caliber or larger boolet in a 308-sized case. There's plenty of load data for it in 243, but not its brethren with bigger mouths. My understanding is that there wouldn't be a SAFETY issue with such a use, just the fact that velocities would be lower than could otherwise be realized from faster burning powders.
But let's just say that maximum velocity isn't my goal---slowly accelerating a lead boolet for maximum accuracy is. Is there any pressing safety reason not to fill a few 358 cases with 4831 up to the base of the neck and send a few downrange?