what happens if I load to little powder?

[dacaur]

Well I got some new bullets tonight (hornady 165gr sst) for my .308 winchester edge....
I set my scale for the minimum charge weight and loaded 5 rounds, then went to reset it for the next up charge weight, and realised I had set it for 30.3 grains instead of 33 grains... what would happen if I had not noticed and went out and shot them? Would they just not be accurate or something worse?

For now they go into my "need to buy a bullet puller" bin.... ;D

[GaCop]

Hard to say for sure. If a low charge of slow burning powder, detonation has known to occure with below minimum charges. If a fast burning rifle powder, most likely very low velocities. You are right to put them in a "to pull" pile, better safe than sorry.

[dacaur]

oh, detonation doesnt sound good :o .... Its varget, so pretty slow burning I understand....

[earl39]

And Gacop left out the second most dangerous thing right behind detonation which is a squib load leaving the bullet in the barrel without you realizing it and then putting another round down the pipe. This relates to another great chance for your gun to move in many different directions in many different pieces all at once.


Gary

[bootsmcguire]

Well I got some new bullets tonight (hornady 165gr sst) for my .308 winchester edge....

I had set it for 30.3 grains instead of 33 grains




Its varget


I just looked up your load in my book, with a 165gr Jacketed Bullet and Hodgdon Varget, the Starting charge is 42.0grs.

33 grains in the load you described above seems pretty low to me.

Here's a link to Hodgdon's Website with their data.

http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp

Here's their data:


Cartridge: 308 Winchester
Load Type: Rifle
Starting Loads
Maximum Loads

Bullet Weight (Gr.) Manufacturer Powder Bullet Diam. C.O.L. Grs. Vel. (ft/s) Pressure Grs. Vel.(ft/s) Pressure
165 GR. HDY SP Hodgdon Varget .308" 2.750" 42.0 2582 40,800 CUP 46.0C 2773 50,500 CUP

[big honkin jeep]

I'm not sure if it will happen in a .308 case but an undercharge in a .300RUM can lead to serious hang fire. Click 1-2-3-BOOM!

[dacaur]

Yea info was tough to get and varied widley, but the book I have (one book/one caliber, .308 winchester) lists loads directly from hornady from 32.6 to 44grs, which is backed up by a post I found online with info posted from the hornady 7th edition reloading manual which lists the same numbers.

My book also has info from hodgdon, wich lists loads starting at 42 and going to 46 like you have listed, but they dont have the sst listed, only the sp, which is a totaly differnt bullet.

What I DO know is that 46 grains of varget fills a remington .308 case past the neck, and the SST is a long bullet. Even with my die set for an C.O.L of 2.8", and compressing the powder I cant get a C.O.L less than 2.82" with 46 grains so.....

Im just more inclined at this point to go with hornadys data, but since the max load is only 2 grains off between hornady and hodgdon, I think they are probably both right, hornady just has more data points and starts mor conservativly, since they only have to test their own bullets....

I have loads ready to shoot right not from 33 to 39 grains...

Thank you for posting though good to know someone is looking out for me. If you still have concerns after reading my post, let me know...

[dacaur]

Also, looking at hornadys vs hodgdon's data, where they overlap, the velocity is the same in both sets of data... hornadys data just starts at a lower velocity, 2100fps at 32.6 grains vs hodgdons 2582 at 42 grains, but hornadys data at 41.7 grains says 2500fps, so they do match each other, hornady just starts lower and gives a wider range of possible loads....

[bootsmcguire]

Glad you got a handle on it. I just thought that the 33gr you were shooting for (pun intended) was on the light side since I know in my Savage 10twist barrel I am running a 150gr SST with 45.0 grs of Varget and I know that is below max by a couple grains and I would not have thought the there was that much difference in charges between the 165 and the 150.

Either way, good luck with your development. I was just wanting to make sure you were aware of the charge range and it seems like you are more aware than me :D

[dacaur]

Oh no, I'm fumbling here believe me.... I spent about 2 hours on the web verifying the load before I loaded them since my book doesn't list the sst specifically, and another hour after your post. It wasn't until I noticed that the velocity matched where the loads overlapped that I became confident again.
I do appreciate you posting, I was concerned myself since the first load I tried was with 150gr SP's and it called for 38.5-43gr's of varget, I thought this one with the hornady bullets sounded low but since I was able to find a post on the web that agreed with it, I took it on faith it was right, It wasn't till after your post I had the thought that maybe taking these things on blind faith when they dont seem right might not be a good idea. This time it seems it was OK, but who knows in the future, it was a lesson learned actualy.... If the velocities didn't match, most of the rounds I loaded last night would be in the "need to buy a bullet puller" bin too. ;D

As it is, I think I'm OK, but I appreciate you stepping up and making me think twice about what I was doing, lol

[GaCop]

And Gacop left out the second most dangerous thing right behind detonation which is a squib load leaving the bullet in the barrel without you realizing it and then putting another round down the pipe. This relates to another great chance for your gun to move in many different directions in many different pieces all at once.


Gary


Good one, totally forgot about it, thanks.

[bootsmcguire]

Well, glad it helped. I have discovered it never hurts to triple check things, especially when starting with a new load. Safety First, cuz you only have 2 eyes, 8 fingers, and 2 thumbs ;).

[82boy]

Too light of a charge is just as bad as too big of a charge. Low charges can cause excessive pressure, just like to big of a charge.



what would happen if I had not noticed and went out and shot them? Would they just not be accurate or something worse?


It is hard to say what would happen, More than likely you might have blanked primers, or the gun would have just shoot bad. It is fairly difficult to blow up a modern firearm, but it can happen. I don't recamend you shooting them to find out.

IMO every re-loader needs to have a bullet puller, I have had to pull a few in my time. I just use a kinetic hammer, works great.

[dacaur]

IMO every re-loader needs to have a bullet puller, I have had to pull a few in my time. I just use a kinetic hammer, works great.


Yea I do plan to get one, but for now those that i mess up on just go in a bin, 7 in there right now.... I know they are only like $15, but I have a couple home improvment projects going on at the moment too so every dollar counts, had to wait 2 weeks till we had the "extra" $$ to get these new bullets, lol.

[rjtfroggy]

Try this home made puller. Place bullet in shell holder,raise up through press (no die on) clamp on vise grip to head, lower bullet. Head should now be removed.
If you do gently enough the bullet should still be good for use.

[dacaur]

Wow thank you..... Ill give that a try.... Ive got two with the older sp bullets I dont plan to use anymore, ill try those first to get the clamping pressure right so I dont damage the sst's.... I never would have thought of that, I love the internet! lol

[dacaur]

Well I went out shooting today.... The 33gr ones did just fine, in fact they gave the second best groups, after the 39 gr, which is the heavyest one I had loaded... everything between 33 and 39 gave 2-3" groups so I stopped shooting them and will pull the bullets and reload... 39 was just over an inch.... Ill have to load up some more between 39 and 44 for next time and see what happens....... thanks for all the help....