Question On Compression....

[goodlookin1]

Forget about case capacity with smokeless powder. Loading to some percentage capacity is a *bad* habit to get into unless you are shooting black powder. In addition, ask yourself...97% capacity of what? A case measured by some guy who lives 1000+ miles away? How does it compare to *your* cases. You don't know. You will not be able to measure your case capacities to any sort of accuracy, because you can't get into the case once you seat your bullets and seat a primer. So referencing to 97% of some case capacity is absolutely meaningless. (Imagine working as a controller but not knowing what currency your monetary figures were referenced to. Dollar? Yen? Peso? Your numbers would be meaningless.)

Focus on powder charge weight. It is *much* easier to measure, and your rifle accuracy is more directly dependent on powder charge for any given cartridge headstamp.

Again, start off 10% below max loads. This is a rule of thumb based on decades of safe reloading by countless reloaders. Another one: if you are using military brass, decrease max load by 1 grain. Decrease max load by another grain if you are using mag primers or CCI military primers.

Increase charges by 0.2 grains while working up your load. Note this is roughly 1% of the charge. Incrementing by ~1% will give you a better indication of approximate accurate loads. Think of it this way: loading by 0.5 gr increments at ~25 grains is like running at top speed through your house with all the lights off. You're going to miss the bathroom and likely bounce off a wall. If you were loading something like 30-06, stepping up by 0.5 gr would make sense (1% of ~50 gr), but it's simply too big an increment to provide you with meaningful results.

Not giving you this advice to make your reloading hobby more complicated. I'm giving you this advice so that you get into good reloading habits, which will keep you from killing or maiming yourself at the worst, and get the most out of your hobby at best.

-Jason

Very solid advice, thank you.

Your point is well taken regarding the size of the steps in grains in smaller loads like the .223. A 0.5 gr increment at 25 gr load (.223) is a 2% change, whereas a 0.5 gr increment at a 55 gr load (30-06) is a 0.9% change. I dont mind doing more work in trying to figure out a good accurate load.....i actually enjoy that part . I actually never went about the case capacity method of trying to figure the proper load.....it was more informational for me: I've always used weight for measuring, as you say it should be done. The "case capacity" I mentioned is what is mentioned in my reloading book, which I realize is a "generalized" number and not exact.

Thanks again!