AA 5477 , safe load ?

[edwin41]

hello,
ive got some questions about my favorite load , since ive bee reading some post about reduced loads an accidents that occured with them.
over here in holland we cant buy AA powders no more , but for the european market this AA powder was manufactured
by a compagnie called lovex , and they brought out the powder under their own name.
AA 5477 is now called lovex d060 here , the can says "similar to AA 5477" , so i think its safe to think its the same.

so , now for the actual question , i patch my bullet , and seat them out some 3 mm more than usual , so that when i close the bold the bullet will slide back in the casing for final size , no problem with this.
my load is 19.5 gr of powder in the 6.5x55 mm cartridge.
ive shot some 700 shots with this combination , mild recoil and an exellent cartridge for my 100 mtr shooting.
the casings when fired show no signs of over-or underpressure and actually come out very clean.
my lyman reloading handbook gives me a startingload of 18.5 gr powder , so i think my load is okay , but i would like to hear from the more experienced reloader what you think of this load.
in my book its better to be safe than sorry .

[TheCelt]

You are close to the published starting load and have no pressure signs in 700 rounds, I think you are good to go. Do you recover any patch material after firing??? Have you shot any through a chrony? Great pic BTW, what kind of groups are you getting??

[edwin41]

no thecelt, i havent got a chrony , but i have recoverd patchmaterial after firing, its shredded in tiny pieces.
as for the groups this cartridge is capable of , far better than me !
actually this evening i let a more experienced shooter shoot with my rifle and cartridges.
he was sitting on a bench , with the rifle on a rest , and shot a five shot group within a 2" area .
as mentioned , far better than me !

[TheCelt]

Sounds like you have it "dialed in"!!!! Paper looks like 100% cotton 16 lb., that paper is hard to get anymore!! I'd be happy with a 5-shot 2" group @ 100m all day.

[pdawg_shooter]

Nice job on the patch. I have been patching for 40+ years and that is as good a looking patch as I have ever seen. Kind of addictive, isn't it?

[edwin41]

thanks pdawg...
ive learned a lot by reading and asking around on this forum .
thats why i got such great results in such a short time... !

[dromia]

What is your boolit weight and COL when the boolit is fully seated?

The load should be safe enough as has been already postulated, reduced load accidents or secondary explosion effect (SEE) pertains to reduced loads with slower rifle powders. For an informed discussion on this I would recommend the series of articles by Lloyd E Brownell Ph.D in the Wolfe publication "Firearm Pressure Factors".

[edwin41]

so , back from my holiday , i went to england for two weeks of vacation.

well dromia , my bullets weigh 143 gr , i dont know the exact OAL when fully seated , but it should be some 73 mm.

[pdawg_shooter]

MM ???? you lost me there !!

[dromia]

MM, I think it is a type of sweet.

[s mac]

73mm equals 2.874 in

[pdawg_shooter]

MM, I think it is a type of sweet.

Melts in your mouth, not in your hand!

[Smokepole50]

From discussions with AA when testing loads in the 8x58RD, AA5744 powder leaves unburned powder in the barrel until after you reach 20,000 psi. I have done some pressure trace testing on the 8x57RD cartridge and the data can be found on Gunboards under the Swedish rifle section. This data is for a completely different cartridge but the pressures are quite low needed to stay below 28,000 psi for the Swedish RB rifle. Here is the link to my testing data.
http://forums.gunboards.com/showthre...ss-Help-needed

Smokepole50

[edwin41]

thanks for the info smokepole.
due to some current changes in my family i lost some interest for a while...that would explain this late reaction.
after reading these reactions i think i would be okay with my favorit load , thanks for the information shared !

[WILCO]

i dont know the exact OAL when fully seated , but it should be some 73 mm.

I found this to be a bit disturbing. Actually the whole process of leaving the boolit loose in the cartridge neck and butted against the rifle lands when the bolt is closed, is at odds with standard practices. Am I missing something because this is paper patching?

[fouronesix]

Ya, I think WILCO is concerned about the bullet falling down into the case body if it's too loose . I assume there is at a least a little neck tension- even though the bullet moves slightly rearward (lightly breech seats) when chambered. It's a trick employed by many BPCR shooters for best accuracy.

I use 17-19 gr of 5744 with all manner of bottlenecks in that case capacity and bullet weight range- some with dacron filler and some with no filler. I have not noticed any squirrely pressure signs or odd chronograph readings with any of them... including those loads where the bullet is pushed up against the lands when chambered. That powder behaves well with light to moderate cast loads in a wide range of applications.

[pdawg_shooter]

I always get my best accuracy letting the leade finish seating the bullet.

[geargnasher]

I found this to be a bit disturbing. Actually the whole process of leaving the boolit loose in the cartridge neck and butted against the rifle lands when the bolt is closed, is at odds with standard practices. Am I missing something because this is paper patching?

Quite acceptable when using paper jackets, many of us do this deliberately. There should be sufficient neck tension to prevent the boolit from falling in easily, but no crimp is used and the boolit can be pushed in with firm thumb pressure.

Gear

[WILCO]

Thanks for the answers guys. Something else to ponder when thinking about paper patch activites.

[pcmacd]

Ya, I think WILCO is concerned about the bullet falling down into the case body if it's too loose . I assume there is at a least a little neck tension- even though the bullet moves slightly rearward (lightly breech seats) when chambered. It's a trick employed by many BPCR shooters for best accuracy.

I use 17-19 gr of 5744 with all manner of bottlenecks in that case capacity and bullet weight range- some with dacron filler and some with no filler. I have not noticed any squirrely pressure signs or odd chronograph readings with any of them... including those loads where the bullet is pushed up against the lands when chambered. That powder behaves well with light to moderate cast loads in a wide range of applications.

I have read over and over again about ringed barrels with non-natural fillers such as Dacron.

Was a study done in Precision Shooting years ago, where the author could not find evidence of a ringed barrel or chamber when natural fillers (cotton, kapok, etc.) were used, but found many instances of such when man made fillers were used.

Best collective guess [not mine, but it makes sense or I would not repeat it] is the plastic (that's what Dacron is?) stuff SOMETIMES/OCCASIONALLY solidifies into a clump on pressure/heating and becomes a projectile in and of itself, seriously loading up the barrel pressure.

Mind yall, I have no personal experience in this matter. I am merely repeating what I have read over and over in various firearms journals.

I am sure there are many of you have used Dacron and such fillers w/o issues. That is not the point here.

---->>> From what I can tell, y'all have been fortunate if you have not ruint a barrel? <<<-----

I'm wondering if stuffing a cotton ball into the much less than full case (of pure cotton, of course, and not fake cotton) would not make an excellent filler?