fast vs slow powder. whats this mean to me?

[leverboy]

Nothing wrong with reloading from the online tables that the powder manufacturers have on their sites. You know that all the listed loads are safe. I like Richard Lee's book, because the powders listed for a given bullet weight are listed best velocity to lowest within a given pressure range. That's the difference from fast to slow burning powders - you will get two different velocity readings with a similar pressure. A powder that isn't optimal will give you max pressure but without great velocity. It's still safe to use, but you aren't getting what you could in terms of performance. Like H4831 said, most times the winning combination is the powder that comes closest to completely filling the case. The nice thing about it is, for those of us who aren't scientists, this work has already all been done. . . and it's all in a book. You just need to buy it and read it. . . twice

 

[joe-nwt]

You have pointed out a beef I have with modern loading books and how they have taught the newer generation of reloaders.
From years of reading the posts on CGN it is plain that newer reloaders have not been taught to think things out for themselves. ......

But it's not just the reloading books, it's the internet as well. The internet has current load data, that's all you need, right?

The "gobbledy-gook" at the beginning of every reloading manual gives people the tools to think for themselves, or at least a start. IMHO, someone who has not familiarized themselves with at least the basic theory of reloading and ballistics is no better than someone who knows nothing about cars except where the gas cap is.

 

[iskubits]

How about this:
The larger is the case volume, the slower is the powder required to stabilize the bullet ( I am not taking into count prohib. barrels )

Actually, volume of the the case matters and depends on bullet weight (heavier bullets leave less space in the case for powder). Yes, we are now back to fully filling the case... In general, you do want to use the slowest powder for the case. The issue is that one cannot use a very slow powder for 9mm or 12gage because there is not much space left in the case, so, if slow bullet acceleration is not an option, we need a kick (fast powder). The issue is that kick comes with the pressure...

If you will figure out everything I said above, you will get an answer for your question.

 

[rookie wildcat]

But it's not just the reloading books, it's the internet as well. The internet has current load data, that's all you need, right?

The "gobbledy-gook" at the beginning of every reloading manual gives people the tools to think for themselves, or at least a start. IMHO, someone who has not familiarized themselves with at least the basic theory of reloading and ballistics is no better than someone who knows nothing about cars except where the gas cap is.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Thanks.