hmm, would this be the case with the 375/3855? aswell, or any cartridge in general?
i ran 270 wuth varget an 130gr, alot of case space?
also with my 375 running 20gr 2207 theres a fair bit of space... i guess it doesnt matter in my situation. just a good observation you found mate
As long as your powder charge covers the flash hole, you should be good to go.
Pistol cases are a bit different but some of the issues, especially with fast or very slow powders are similar.
When it comes to bottle neck rifle cartridges, less than a 90% fill can often effect accuracy. Straight wall cases not quite as fussy, but still need to have the flash hole covered.
I have a long time friend from 60 years back that has a lovely old Winchester 94, given to him by his grandfather. It's chambered for the 38-55 cartridge.
He doesn't want to handload for it so it doesn't get much use.
About a decade ago, we took the rifle to the range on a fun shoot. He had an old box of ammo, made by CIL. When we fired the rifle, TWICE, both cartridges hang fired.
When we got the rifle home, all of the mechanicals were functioning properly.
Then we pulled the bullets from the cases.
The cartridges had been stored on a shelf, under good conditions for well over ten years, that the owner could remember.
The powder had clumped under the bullet, leaving about 15% of the case empty at its base. No powder directly in contact with the flash hole. The powder didn't appear to be breaking down but we tossed it anyway.
We dumped the powder, replaced it with new powder and reinserted the bullets. We didn't replace the primers. Don't remember why not.
We took the rifle back to the range and everything functioned perfectly.
We did save one of the original cartridges. After it was tapped sharply against the wood topped shooting bench and loaded into the rifle, it fired without a hangfire.
