red dot and light loads in 12ga 7/8

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is there anyone else who has to load red dot above max in book to get a complete powder burn, was a grain higher then suggested max at 17.5, rem hull 2.75, cheddite primer, waa12L wad, ever since ive started with red dot i always wondered why i always had tons of unburnt powder in my barrel until i loaded 18.5 grn
 
I never exceed the posted max load. This may be a question to ask Alliant, they have a good website and technical advisors that will answer your question regarding this stuff.
 
I have had to go above max on many occasions with many different powders.

So long as you are running an overbuilt shotgun like an 870, 500, or others you are fine. They are regularly shot with up to 200% pressure loads over on the cast boolit forums. All the paranoia about using EXACT loads and EXACT components is highly excessive unless you are using a thin walled European shotgun, an antique shotgun, or a poorly built shotgun. In my Remington 1900 SxS I would NEVER do anything to exceed max pressure. In my 870's I have loaded ~180% powder charges (Bluedot, slow magnum powder) without hard extracts or any other issues (no idea what pressure it's reaching though.) My ~175% loads with Reddot caused some issues as it's a much faster powder.

Under 1oz loads I have used up to 25gr of Reddot. I tried some with 15gr once and they didn't burn well (lots of unburnt powder in barrel and hull.) Seems to work well at 20gr though. Never tried 7/8oz loads :(

A lot of conventional reloaders will say I'm lying, that I'm crazy, or that I'm going to kill myself one day. Take a look at some of the loads over on the cast boolit forums in the shotgun section and you will see this is all quite common and so long as it's in the correct shotgun are known to work.
 
A lot of conventional reloaders will say I'm lying

Nope most will say you are a fool and your luck will run out. And it will. Perhaps you should pass on your research and testing on the cast boolit forums to the team of engineers that have established the ANSI saam1 standards , etc that every firearm and powder manufacturer has accepted as a base line for their designs. They have obviously wasted millions and millions of dollars in testing and development to ensure exactly what you are doing doesn't occur and undesirable incidents result.
If you like to exceed powder manufacturer's recommended data and some day lose your fingers or worse fill your boots but please don't say it is common in our reloading hobby since it is not.
Bottom line for reloading
NEVER EXCEED MAXIMUM PUBLISHED LOADS!!

Not a pressure failure this time but a pic that was sent to me last week of another one of those SAFE waxed slugs that some do.
3840344f_zpsb681f25d.jpg
 
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with the 17.5 grain red dot in 7/8 12 ga load its well under max pressure in the shotgun reloading book at 7500psi (max shotgun pressure at 11500 sammi spec 2 3/4) Im using a mossburg 500 3" chamber, so only a year old it can take full sammi spec. It just seemed pretty concervative in the book with the low pressure


Ok guys i figured it out, a light turned on and looked right on the Alliant website and there online data says 20.5 grn for 9800psi on the rem hull, rem primer , or win AA hull with a winchester primer was 20 grn at 10200psi, as i have heard the cheddite primer is closely related to winchester primers, my 18.5 grn load is still well under there specs. Both at 1345fps
 
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Have not used any Cheddite since probally 2006 when I had trouble with them but back then they were actually hotter than a win 209 and alliant would recommend cutting back 1/2 grain of powder.
Back then they were closer to a 209A fed. Not sure on what is being sold today
 
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