Reloading amounts for powders - revolver loadings

[Ohio Rusty]

First off: This is not advising anyone to go above or below powder mins/max's listed in the reloading manuals.

It seems that the reloading manuals I had in the 70's compared to the load recommendations todayare different. It seems the loads published in todays books are lower, giving lower pressures and velocities. For Example ..... the max load for a .38 special using Trail Boss isn't much different recoil wise than a standard wadcutter load using about 2.8 grains of bullseye. .... wimpy .... The recent thread about the 200 grain bullet loading for the .38 special is an excellent example. This was a standard loading for 50 years, and now no company will even publish any data for shooters on this one. Why ??

Have the powder companies reduced powder load volumes over the years due to litigation fears? Gun steels are better and stronger than they ever were, and now there is a wider variety of bullets and calibers. I've shot a few high end loads from some other powders and the impression I have is recommendations for loads are are a lot less powerful than they used to be.
Just observations ..........

Ohio Rusty ><>

[jhrosier]

...
Have the powder companies reduced powder load volumes over the years due to litigation fears? ...

Sort of...

When piezoelectric transducers replaced the old copper crusher method of recording pressures, some of the data showed high pressure spikes with some loads that were not recorded by the older method. The loading data was reduced to keep these maximum pressure spikes within SAAMI limits.

It could easily be argued that the older loads were proven safe over decades of use and the SAAMI limits should be adjusted to reflect this, rather than reducing the loads. However, lawyers drive the decisions of most business these days and the possibility of liability creates a climate that discourages common sense.

I have kept all of my old loading manuals. I compare all of the available data and pick a load, based on all of the data and common sense, that meets my requirements.

Some powders, such as 2400, have changed over the years and it pays to know and understand how to deal with the changes. Some of the older data was also developed using 'balloon head' cases which have significantly greater volume than the current solid head cases.

Jack

[Cactus Farmer]

As an "old" reloader,(been loading since '59 and casting since '61 {I started young}) I have books that go back to the 40's,50's and 60's plus Phil Sharps "Modern Reloader". That said I have shot loads that aren't even mentioned in the newer books and data. 60 grns of 4895 and a 500 grn bullet in my 45-70 Siamese is a little unpleasant to shoot but shows 0 pressure signs. It might cause a Trapdoor springfield to loose it's togetherness however!
I have caused a few primers to flatted and a couple primer pockets to become loose,even locked down a 222 Rem. with a mild cast bullet load{used brass that had been in a fire and cleaned up for sale} but I have never blown a gun up. I had a fellow bring a Rem. 710? that was locked up. Seems his son killed a deer with it but the bolt wouldn't open. After some judicious use of a leather mallet it opened. SUPRIZE......the mangled remains of a 7.62 x 39 case,just the rear of it but still readable. 7.62 squeezed to 6mm, pressure?
All that said, please pay attention to what your doing,use due diligence and ask questions,either here or of your shooting buddies. I have seen loading data published that sounded a bit hot, so I checked other sources. when several agree I begin testing. Some powders aer NOT to be loaded below a certain levels. READ,READ,READ.
37 grns of Blue Dot and 1 1/4 oz of shot make a killer crow load.......much less 452AA does a job on dove with 1 1/8oz.
I even shot some "red dust" single based powder to fire form some cases. The red dust is nitrous oxides and lessen the energy that the powder has, so no danger to shoot just not up to spec for good shooting.
I've been doing this "dangerous" stuff for over 40 years and have yet to loose a body part(although the hearding is a bit damaged). Use common sence,read the books and ask questions.........someone here most likely has done it before or has some data to share.
YMMV

[Rocky Raab]

All the ammo and firearm companies are part of SAAMI, and they all must agree to conform to SAAMI standards. So even if they thought it was probably okay to publish loads that exceed SAAMI standards, they can't.

Loads published in the 70s were sometimes not pressure tested at all. Labs back then used the same crude (and highly inaccurate) methods that handloaders did. They'd eyeball the primer, feel the bolt lift and call a load good. Except that we now know those methods are unreliable at best. Even the loads tested by crusher systems weren't very accurate, as described above. Pressure transients simply do not register on a crusher pellet. At best, a crusher displays something close to a peak pressure, most of the time.

Finally, there's a world of difference between a safe load and a "get away with it" load. Just because a load doesn't burst a gun does not make it a safe one.