New Benelli MRl Is Varmint-Hunting Ready

(Knowledge that is.)
Sierra's Tcch Support Guys arc
full of all the answers to questions
you have about reloading. As
cxpcricnccd ballistics technicians,
they have the knowledge to help
you choose the right pixxlucts and
methods to improve performance.
Send your questions to
sierra(a sierrabullets.com
or call our Ballistics Hotline
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EWERM
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20 • •! : ' • 1 KimtM
matters, with another
bullet weight in the
same case, I could use
equal charges of 4895
and 4064 and obtain
similar velocities. The
burning rate relationship
of the two powders
had changed even
using the same case.
As strange as this
might seem,
it gets stranger
still. When
working with
the same
case, but in
a .35 caliber
configuration
and using
the same lots
of the same
two powders,
the situation
reversed and
I MR 4895
gave clear signs of being
the faster burning
of the two powders.
Had I begun my load
development for the
.416 based either on
my results with the .35
or based on all published
loading charts, I
could very easily have
loaded a few rounds
with 4064 that would
have proven to Ix? too
hot. Were the loading
charts wrong?
No; the listing from
fastest-burning to
slowest is approximate
only — as stated!
In an earlier column
I exhorted all would-be
reloaders to first buy
at least two different
reloading manuals and
thoroughly read both.
A similar bit of good
advice would be to
thoroughly study both
books as they apply to
whatever cartridge you
are intending to reload.
Only if the powder you
are intending to load
is listed is it advisable
to use that powder in
that cartridge and only
by starting with the
minimum load of any
particular powder and
Two cartridges
In which the
subject powders
have demonstrated
different
burn speeds
in the author's
testing: .220
Swift and the
wildcat .416
WSM. Other
powdcrt will
also exhibit
this "quirk."
increasing
charge weights
slowly and carefully
will you Ix- completely
safe. Just because you
"know" that 11-414
is slower-burning
that H-380, and you
"know" that 40 grains
of H-380 is safe in your
gun, it's not necessarily
safe to assume (remember
how that word
breaks down) that 40
grains of H-414 also
will be safe. Study the
books and pay attention
to what they say!
Finally, we must
consider the lot-tolot
variation in any
given powder. Although
all of tcxlay's
powder manufacturers
exert very strict
quality control over
their manufacturing
operations, we must
We test every powder lot for optimum performance. Chemical composition and bum speed are always consistent
from lot to lot. Propellant density and performance are spot-on. Thanks to test after test, you can exei time after time.
C 2010ATT tso<
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