1 CAST BULLETS FOR BEGINNER AND EXPERT SECOND ... - Home

To avoid this problem, I segregate and mark cartridge cases used for light loads, and use
them only for light loads.
Note that cartridges that headspace on the rim (45/70, 25/20) or the belt (300 H&H, 7MM
Rem. Mag.) will not develop excess headspace.
Excess pressure loads
There are numerous ways to cause excess pressure and perhaps damage the gun and / or
shooter. Almost all of them can be overcome by the simple process of avoiding maximum
charges, especially when you are first developing a load. ALWAYS start with the minimum
suggested powder charge. This will give you a safety margin in case one of the following factors
could be in play to cause you problems.
High pressure loads are a snare and a delusion. They produce very little more velocity,
and they stress your gun badly while reducing your safety margin to a razor’s edge. If you really
need more power than your rifle will provide with moderate loads, the answer is not more
powder in the case. The answer is a new rifle chambered for a bigger case that will burn more
powder safely.
The first way to produce excessive pressures is to use more powder than is safe for your
cartridge and bullet. To avoid this, use good reloading handbooks, start with the minimum
recommended loads and never exceed the maximum charges listed. ALWAYS weigh charges, at
least initially to be sure your volumetric measure is set right, and afterwards to be sure it didn’t
change somewhere along the way.
Second is to accidentally use the wrong powder. To avoid this, never load when you're
tired or upset. Never load when you're in a hurry, never load without checking in a written
reference. Never load if something ‘feels wrong’. Check your personal logbook or a reloading
manual. Nobody has a perfectly reliable memory, and I've blown up one gun in over forty years
of shooting; because I was in a hurry, because I didn't check a written reference, and most sadly,
because I didn't stop even when I became suspicious of the load. I don't ever want to do it again.
(Ken Mollohan, editor: ME TOO! And I have the scars to prove it.)
Third is to use the wrong bullet. It’s possible to load, chamber and fire charges with a
200g bullet that were maximum for a 100g bullet. It’s also possible - at least with some guns - to
load an oversized bullet. Examples might be 0.312 or 0.323 bullets in a 0.308 bore rifle that
happens to have a larger than usual chamber neck. Oversized or overweight bullets will cause
serious pressure escalations. Even changing the TYPE of bullet in a load can result in sharp
changes in the pressures developed. Hard, heavy copper jackets will produce higher pressures
than thinner, softer jackets. And the jacketless cast bullet will produce the lowest pressures of
all, all else being equal.
Fourth is to leave your loads in the hot sun for a while. This can easily elevate pressures
into the proof load range. In fact, British proof houses used to - and may still - use standard
factory rounds that have been heated before loading to proof foreign arms for which they have no
conventional proof load.
Fifth is to change the type of primer in a load that is already close to maximum. A hotter
primer will make the powder burn faster, and develop higher pressures. . If ANY component of
a max or near max load is changed, the prudent loader will back off the powder charge at least
10% and work back up slowly.
Sixth is to change the seating depth of your bullet so that it is jammed into the rifling.
While sometimes useful, this practice should not be added to a hot load without changes to
15