Low end loads

[Sasquatch-1]

A newbie question from an old timer.

How light can you load a cartridge when the data only list a max load? I know the suggestion is 10% less then the max. Is it safe to go much less?

I am exclusively loading handgun cartridges with Unique. 9MM, 38spl/357 and 44 mag.

I ask because with swaged bullets I come up with some weights that are not listed anywhere and I am trying to work into them.

[Boolseye]

I will routinely load well below suggested starting loads, particularly in 9mm, as often the starting loads are still too hot for the CBs I'm shooting.

For instance, I recently loaded up a couple blocks of 9mm using Unique under a couple types of CBs, and all were under suggested start loads. Some were well under, 15% or more.

It is only a problem with one or two powder types which can detonate with too light of a load, causing a KB. H110 is one that you can't reduce too much–there may be one other, but none of the commonly used powders (BE, Unique, Universal, 2400 etc. etc.) fall into this category.
The only risks with too light a load with most powders (that I'm aware of) are lodging a bullet in the barrel or failing to cycle the action of a semi-auto.
-jp

[popper]

Unique is fine with reduced loads. If 5 grn will go off in a 30-06 case, it will work in anything. Just have to make sure the bullet leaves the bbl.

[williamwaco]

Unique is one of the MOST documented powders on the planet.
The cartridges you mention are some of the MOST documented cartridges on the planet.

If you are having trouble finding starting loads for the cartridges you mentioned, you are looking in the wrong place.


That said, with Unique, start with the recommended load and reduce it 1/2 grain at a time until the action no longer cycles. That load is too light.

If you are using it in a revolver, reduce it as far as you like but watch closely to be sure the bullet actually exited the barrel. It will eventually stick. It MAY stick half way between the cylinder and the forcing cone. If that happens, you will need to knock it back into the cylinder with a rod before you can open it.

I would say that when the recoil feels like a .22 LR, you have gone too low.


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If you have a bullet that is a non standard weight, start with data for the next heaver weight you can find.

I have gone as low as one grain in the .45acp with a 200 gr swc. My intent was for the bullet to stop in the barrel. It didn't. It penetrated almost six inches into my flower bed. - didn't even begin to cycle the action.


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[fredj338]

The caveats for loading below max are usually w/ jacketed bullets. If you can get a lead bulelt to leave thebbl, it should be fine. Unique though gets real dirty below midrange levels so if I really wanted bunnyfart loads, I would go a bit faster like W231 or WST.

[Wolfer]

I've went as low as 2 grs of clays in my 8 mm Mauser. So quiet you could hear the firing pin fall but the 175 gr boolit still hit the target with a good thump.

[mpmarty]

I was "messing around" one day and decided to put together a cast boolit in my 7.5 Swiss and as I had my Dillon set up for 45acp and was dumping five grains of 700X I put that charge in a case and seated a boolit. Took it out to the backyard and fired it at about fifty yards at a half inch thick steel spinner. The spinner never moved and I figured I had a stuck boolit in the bore. Pulled the bolt and looked through the barrel. Clear not stuck round. Walked up to the targets and was amazed to see a large hole in the bottom of the eight inch round spinner target plate. That little five grains of 700X blew right through the steel without making it swing at all.

[MtGun44]

With SOME powders, they become dangerously unstable below certain pressure levels, and
the manufacturer's state emphatically NOT TO REDUCE these loads lower than the lowest
published loads - H110/W296 is the most prominent example.

Many powders behave well in light loads, for example Bullseye, Titegroup, Red Dot, Unique
are some that I have used at low charge levels.

Bill

[missionary5155]

Good morning
And if you really want to get Scottish on the powder flow try Roundballs instead of boolits. 2 grains of 231 with a .360 RB in a 38 Speacial case will really hurt any bird it touches.
Mike in Peru