Internet was broke and I have been offline for several days.........In response to all these posts since my last one I have a few questions.....
Where and how does SAAMI determine what the maximum pressure is for each cartridge, using what criteria and how many lawyers sit on the SAAMI board ?
Who says SAAMI is the "end all be all" of all pressure data, cartridge dimensions and manufacturer tolerances ?
I don't buy that newer pressure equipment has reduced loads, Ackley had perfectly accurate pressure equipment in the 40s, if you care to read his works.
I don't care what the pressure numbers are or may be as they are completely irrelevant to my load data and load testing. As long as the pressure is contained by the brass case and the case thereafter is reusable the pressure is within safe limits for that load, that case, in that rifle.......PERIOD. With the steels that our modern rifles are made from, they will contain at least 2-3 times, or more, the absolute maximum a brass case will withstand, without any failure or serious structural damage what so ever.
I do not load for my old Winchesters or any other older firearms the way I do for my modern bolt action rifles........that would be folly and courting disaster. I'm not looking to destroy any rifles these days, but I also do not want to settle for '06 ballistics from my 300 Wby.
Some on here act as though I just fill a case with powder and go from there and nothing could be further from the truth. I have a very strict regime with which I do my load testing and I work up to any load that I settle on, from considerably below in reasonable increments dictated by the overall case capacity and powder burn rate. And have been doing this for over 40 years, without incident......yes there has been the odd blown primer when working with wildcats, but it is not the end of the world, it's back to the loading bench and figure out where I miscalculated. I also pull many test loads as I near maximums and see the signs of stressing the brass, I quit and any loads above this are pulled. I would be willing to bet that I have pulled more loads than some on this site have fired..........
Responsible reloading is just that, approaching it with a strict regime and working to a reasonable conclusion in appropriate increments using all the visual and tactile indicators to determine a maximum safe load within that brass, load and rifle..........Regardless of what anyone says on here, experience and the ability to read the signs of pressure on ones cases is just as safe, actually safer, than the general principals, places like loading manuals and Quickloads use. They are completely unable to take into account the many differences in every chamber, case and powder lot, that are an everyday variable in all rifles. No I do not know what pressure numbers my loads produce, but I do know that they are safe in that rifle, with that case, and with that bullet and lot of powder. I can also tell you that modern rifle steel does not accumulate stress and then all of a sudden fail, for those who think they do because your mind tells you it must be so, because many other things do, I suggest you take a close look at the metallurgy of todays modern action, bolt and barrel steels. If repeated subjection to let's say 75,000 psi will cause them to fail in a certain time frame, then logic dictates that they will also fail at repeated subjection to 65,000 psi impulses just a longer time frame. Now 65,000 psi is within the SAAMI safe limits for many cartridge pressures while 75,000 (which many of you have calculated I must be running) is not. Now given the cartridges and firearms that SAAMI says 65,000 is OK in, it has come to my attention that SAAMIs limitations has more to do with the quality of some manufacturers brass than it has to do with the impending structural failure of a firearm. I mean really guys, the WSMs are some of those 65,000 psi cartridges and they are chambered in leverguns........you mean to tell me your average Win, Rem, Rug, Tik, Sako bolt action isn't at least as strong if not upward of twice that of even the best lever actions out there?
Even if my loads do produce 75,000 psi as some here say they must, they are safe in the rifle and brass cases that I have used to develop them, with procedures that have been accepted for well over 75 years of reloading and load development. Maybe Quikload will be as informed after 75 years.............
