Yeah so I am a newb and I know it. But I got a set up I am proud of. Throw your stones/drop your pearls of wisdom, I listen and think to be sure.
So, the elements of the system so far:
* A lee load master progressive press, 308 win, 5 stations are: lee pistol powder autodisk, lee case flair tool, lee pro autodisk with corn grits (cow), bullet seating, factory crimp.
* Home made interior ballistics spreadsheet optimized for 30-50% powder loads with whatever powder the market provides, special inputs for calculating results based on filler.
* Cast ww'ish 30 call 160 grain Lee alox lubed bullets, bare base.
* deprime and case prep are done manually, sizing is on a single stage, priming is manual.
The load is 17 grains of Accurate 2495 or 15 of Alliant 1200r, 26 grains of hominy grits, which is a compressed load, so the powder stays back at the primer where it belongs. It runs fast and fairly neat, with grits spilling a bit and needing blowing out of the press frequently. I am thinking of mounting a vibrating hair clipper to the grits autoloader to make it load smoother. I have to tap the grits hopper at the bottom of stroke to make sure the cylinder fills perfectly. I like grits because my momma's name is Dixie.. enough said... heh
I am not worried about ringing or solidifying of the grits. The load makes about 18ksi peak pressure, whilst the carbohydrate grits have about 200 psi shear strength, and not much toughness. There is no way that material will plug the chamber or barrel. The case is nearly sealed, perfectly at the bullet with the factory crimp squishing the brass into the lead with wax as a sealer, no sliding to create leak paths. The primer is not a perfect seal, being a slide press, but is small and remote from the grits, closer to teh powder. So, there is NEARLY no way the carbohydrate can swell to create an overpressure. Finished bullets are stored in plastic bags, so additinal sealing is implied.
This system is safer than manual fill systems, and safer than pistol powder systems because a double fill is difficult and immediately evident as the measured grits volume cannot be added due to lack of case volume. Also, no powder cases are obvious since the grits are not evident in the case neck. So a stuck bullet from lack of powder is very unlikely.
I tested the load last weekend, albeit with rice for 2moa results, and about 1450 fps. I am testing about 90 tomorrow. so if they suck, I will fess up and eat my hat. I am studying the effects of mag vs rifle primers, and also fast rifle vs slow rifle powder.
I am still not really happy with the burn model on the spreadsheet. It's going to get more adaptable (complicated) but I have a nice analytical tool created for calculating and analyzing many different loads at once and optimizing the model.
Thx for inputs in advance,
smw