New Benelli MRl Is Varmint-Hunting Ready

FROM THE BENCH J.C. Munnell
POWDER BURNING RATES
It might be printed in the reloading manual,
but that doesn't make it gospel.
The above three powders can and do switch positions in any list of powder
burning rates, depending upon the case they are used in and even the weight
of the bullet used in the same case. Actually, any two or more powders close in
burn speed are likely to exhibit different quicknesses in different cartridges.
PRO-STAJF
J.C.MUNNEU:
IC. Munnell has been
an avid bandleader
for over 30 years. His
interest spans European
combination guns to the
most powerful revolvers,
and includes all facets
of predator and varmint
cartridges. His loading
room houses over 150 sets
of dies from conventional
to exotic. He is first and
foremost a pass»onate
experimenter who takes
the art of rolling your
own to a new level
18 ,• - •! ••: : • • • Kimm
I'M SURE MOST READERS .ire familiar with
the powder burning rate charts included
in most reloading manuals, or at least are
aware of their existence. If you have read the
entire chapter on gunpowders also usually
found in these manuals, you have probably
seen the disclaimer of sorts that such charts
are approximate only. It is very ini|X)rtant
that we fully realize what is meant by this
caution and how to deal with this fact.
To begin with, we must realize how these
burning rates are established in the first
place. Without getting too technical and
discussing "closed bomb" testing and all
that, suffice it to state that the testing done
to determine the relative burning speeds —
what is often referred to as relative "quickness"
— is highly controlled. A definite
protocol has long been established, and
this protocol is strictly followed each time
a new powder is Introduced to reloaders in
order to determine where it fits within the
burning rate range. However, the results
obtained with this testing are only valid for
the same conditions. Further, it
must Ik* remembered that you
and I do not — and cannot —
adhere to the same precisely
controlled environmental conditions
as the test protocol.
What all this means is that it
is not safe to simply look at any
of the burning rate charts published
and note that IMR 4895,
for instance, is faster-burning
than IMR 4064 and conclude
that an acceptable charge of
the former is also an acceptable
charge of the latter or, even
worse, that if a charge of 48.5
grains of IMR 4895 is perfectly
safe in your rifle, then 49.5 grains
of 4064 will Ix.- equally safe.
Recently I was working up
loads for a .416 wildcat round
and testing bullets weighing from
300 to 4(H) grains. Because of the
capacity of the case I was using (a
Winchester Short Magnum case),
I knew powders of a burning rate
around 4895 and 4064 should be
ideal. However, whereas normally
4064 is the slower of the
two, I found that a charge of as
much as two to three grains less
of 4064 would produce the same
velocity as did the higher charge
of 4895 when firing bullets
weighing a certain weight. Since
there is no such thing as a free
lunch when it comes to internal
iKtllistics and cartridge reloading,
this also meant that pressures
of the two loads giving similar
velocities would be approximately
the same, and this, in
turn, meant that in this instance
4064 was the faster-burning of
the two powders. To complicate
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