I got bored of reading today, and so I decided to play a little bit with reloading. I had access to a new to me cartridge and gun and thought I'd see what happens with a few oddball parameters for reloading...
So, The rifle was a CZ american in 17 hornady hornet. The brass was Hornady, the primers were remington 7.5 match, and the projectiles were 25 gr hornady hp.
The powder was WC735 which some say is similar to data powder 2200 or AA2200. I don't know about the powder for sure. I've never played with data powder 2200 or AA2200... In my humble opinion, it's been fairly similar to H322... Higginson's says that it's 5% slower than H335. There is no data that I could find for this powder and the 17 hornet...
Anyways, today was a pressure and brass life test.
The first 2 pieces I was working on were destroyed by the mouth of the case not being opened up enough to accept the projectile by the dies. I used a brass rod that I had laying around to widen the very end of the case mouth to make seating easier... As a side note, I kept the brass lightly lubed with lithium grease for firing. The whole test was done with one case until verification...
So, as I figured the powder to be about equivalent to H322, I started out with the hodgedon data for that powder and bullet... 12 gr. I increased that amount by 0.1 gr per shot as that's about a reasonable amount and close to a 1% increase per shot. so, by the time I was maxed out of case capacity, I was at 14.2 gr, and the powder had to be settled by tapping to case to get most of the neck cleared for seating. The case was full length sized between each shot. The COAL was kept about 1.745"-1.752".
I kept an eye on the growth of the case neck after each shot. The case after 27 shots (I repeated a few due to other factors) had grown from 1.345" to 1.362". The primer pockets were still fairly tight. The brass had a reasonable amount of neck tension with out annealing it and wasn't showing signs of cracking, although it was probably hardened somewhat as it was seeming to be springing back when pulled out of the sizing die. I think that with an annealing and a trim, this case will still have a useful life.
This test wasn't about ladder testing, or accuracy. It was purely about pressure.... And the sine wave on the neck.
At 13.3-13.5 gr, it had a perfect sine wave pattern that went from the neck to the very edge of the shoulder. It got lopsided at 13.6 to 14 gr of powder. One side wasn't coming back up as high as the other. At 14 gr, the pattern became more symmetrical, and by 14.2, it was almost symmetrical again...
So, when that was done, I pulled up 5 once fired brass and loaded them at 13.4 gr, and 5 more to be loaded at 14.2 gr. The ones loaded up at 14.2 gr had much fainter carbon markings on the neck of the case, and what seemed to be less black in the mouth of the case.
In the next few days, I'm going to play the the distance off the lands with 14.2 gr of powder, and see what comes of it. First, I have to make a bullet comparitor for my comparitor set...
As for velocity, I have no idea what it was. I may set up my chronograph and test a few of them. If I ever get around to getting a tripod.
The primers weren't flattened. The base wasn't overly expanded. Nothing seems to be really wrong with the case...
As a side note, I don't like these hornady dies. I think they well and thoroughly overwork the neck brass and have an undersized expander ball...
I'd like to see what I could do with this particular gun and RWS brass that I would have to reform. I'm working with a friend in Germany to get me some once fired RWS brass in 22 hornet.
Anyways, I hope you guys who like the hornet find this read enjoyable.
So, The rifle was a CZ american in 17 hornady hornet. The brass was Hornady, the primers were remington 7.5 match, and the projectiles were 25 gr hornady hp.
The powder was WC735 which some say is similar to data powder 2200 or AA2200. I don't know about the powder for sure. I've never played with data powder 2200 or AA2200... In my humble opinion, it's been fairly similar to H322... Higginson's says that it's 5% slower than H335. There is no data that I could find for this powder and the 17 hornet...
Anyways, today was a pressure and brass life test.
The first 2 pieces I was working on were destroyed by the mouth of the case not being opened up enough to accept the projectile by the dies. I used a brass rod that I had laying around to widen the very end of the case mouth to make seating easier... As a side note, I kept the brass lightly lubed with lithium grease for firing. The whole test was done with one case until verification...
So, as I figured the powder to be about equivalent to H322, I started out with the hodgedon data for that powder and bullet... 12 gr. I increased that amount by 0.1 gr per shot as that's about a reasonable amount and close to a 1% increase per shot. so, by the time I was maxed out of case capacity, I was at 14.2 gr, and the powder had to be settled by tapping to case to get most of the neck cleared for seating. The case was full length sized between each shot. The COAL was kept about 1.745"-1.752".
I kept an eye on the growth of the case neck after each shot. The case after 27 shots (I repeated a few due to other factors) had grown from 1.345" to 1.362". The primer pockets were still fairly tight. The brass had a reasonable amount of neck tension with out annealing it and wasn't showing signs of cracking, although it was probably hardened somewhat as it was seeming to be springing back when pulled out of the sizing die. I think that with an annealing and a trim, this case will still have a useful life.
This test wasn't about ladder testing, or accuracy. It was purely about pressure.... And the sine wave on the neck.
At 13.3-13.5 gr, it had a perfect sine wave pattern that went from the neck to the very edge of the shoulder. It got lopsided at 13.6 to 14 gr of powder. One side wasn't coming back up as high as the other. At 14 gr, the pattern became more symmetrical, and by 14.2, it was almost symmetrical again...
So, when that was done, I pulled up 5 once fired brass and loaded them at 13.4 gr, and 5 more to be loaded at 14.2 gr. The ones loaded up at 14.2 gr had much fainter carbon markings on the neck of the case, and what seemed to be less black in the mouth of the case.
In the next few days, I'm going to play the the distance off the lands with 14.2 gr of powder, and see what comes of it. First, I have to make a bullet comparitor for my comparitor set...
As for velocity, I have no idea what it was. I may set up my chronograph and test a few of them. If I ever get around to getting a tripod.
The primers weren't flattened. The base wasn't overly expanded. Nothing seems to be really wrong with the case...
As a side note, I don't like these hornady dies. I think they well and thoroughly overwork the neck brass and have an undersized expander ball...
I'd like to see what I could do with this particular gun and RWS brass that I would have to reform. I'm working with a friend in Germany to get me some once fired RWS brass in 22 hornet.
Anyways, I hope you guys who like the hornet find this read enjoyable.
