Yeah, newbie needs help. Too much powder?

Had a similar thing happen to me on my first batch of reloads. If I hadn't doublechecked the charge I would have found out what 55+ grains of compressed Varget would have done in a 308. Not good.

I ended up pulling all 50 of the rounds I loaded just to be sure, and starting over. I'll never do that again... I hope.
 
One of the reasons for the charge weight changes in loading manuals over the years is the methods of measuring pressures have changed. They used to use CUP, which was crushing a copper pellet, it worked, but was not overly reliable.
There have since been tests where they found the old CUP data was running pressures a lot higher than they thought they were, and there was also data that was published by measuring case head expansion only. Now they use PSI to measure pressures along with strain gauges and other accessories, they found some of the older data to be up over 70,000 psi., but, with CUP, listed at under 60,000. They found some data was out as much as 15% apparently. Change a powder lot with that kind of an error in the data and you could concievably be in trouble by going back to the same load, or data from an old manual, as you used on the old lot.
And you can't judge what your rifle will tolerate until you have worked it up from the starting load, some guns max out a lot quicker than others, some lots of powders do ,too.
The OP's 45gr load may be OK, it also may not be. His gun is different than the test gun, different than his buddy's gun, and it doesn't sound to me like he was working an OCW ladder from the way he presented what he did.
 
You made a common reloading mistake and caught it - that does not make you an idiot or a fool. As has been said repeatedly, you should pull the bullets, reclaim the powder and start again.

What we don't need, especially for a new reloader, is the drama of stories that he'll dissappear in a red mist of shrapnel if he goes 1.5 grs over a published max. You won't - you and the gun would be fine, but you still need to pull the bullets.
 
if ya cant find a book to read, look online, most powder companies have data on their powder amount and type. so not being able to find a book is no excuse. i just got into reloading as well, first thing i did was buy a hornady manual and read it. then when i was using nosler bullets i looked at the nosler site and read their info on these bullets/ powder. ive narrowed down pretty much 1 powder for my 2 guns i reload, but still revert back to the manual to make sure all is good. do your home work and check out youtube, theres some good info vids on there. go slow, take your time and be safe.
 
Andy said:
You made a common reloading mistake and caught it - that does not make you an idiot or a fool. As has been said repeatedly, you should pull the bullets, reclaim the powder and start again.

What we don't need, especially for a new reloader, is the drama of stories that he'll dissappear in a red mist of shrapnel if he goes 1.5 grs over a published max. You won't - you and the gun would be fine, but you still need to pull the bullets.
Click to expand...

:agree:

Completely! Way too much drama for a simple mistake that was caught.
 
If you run "ladder" tests from min to max to find the place your rifle likes best you will at one time or another need that bullet puller. I have had two occasions where I could not get to the max loads I had prepared for a range session with new to me rifles. Pressure signs became obvious so those rifles had a lower max load based on the bullet, COL, etc. So I pulled those bullets and reloaded the components for the next session. I have also had other rifles where I got to max loads without pressure signs. All that did was give a wider window to find an accurate load. Another excellent tool if you plan to load for a number of rifles is a chronograph. It can help explain flyers, when you are approaching a max load in a rifle and gives you a relative idea of where you might be compared to book values. Being able to see velocity variations is a great thing. But one step at a time.
 
You can pull them with a sidecutter or pliers, when the bullet pokes up through the die hole in the press.

6.5 mm is a bad caliber to fool with. Way to much bullet bearing surface and huge variations in barrel and chamber dimensions.

Start with the start load and work up. I have seen the Start load way to hot in a given rifle.
 
Regarding the 140's and 4064 my Nosler book shows 37 max and 35 as most accurate.
The Nosler book doesn't show H414 with the 140's so I'm assuming it's probably too slow.
Would I be scared to shoot that load, not at all. Being one or 2 grains over is not going
to blow the gun up. The bolt may be stiff to open or you may wrap some of the primer
around the firing pin which will cause a missfire on the next one. At any rate you'll need a bullet puller at some time so you might as well get one now and pull them. Could you
feel the powder crunching when you seated the bullet? I'm sure it's a compressed load but it's not likely you'll blow everything apart.
 
I just love it when someone says the loads in the manuals are conservative because of lawyers!! We are blessed with an organization of professional internal ballisticians called SAAMI. They actually pressure test loads, and specify max pressures for recognized cartridges. Some loading manuals actually list pressure test results of the loads the list.

Of course one can exceed maximum pressures, since clearly, a group of qualified engineers are never going to publish a maximum which is so close to the line that to exceed it by a few hundreds of psi will gut your gun - or you - but once you get past max, the pressure curve is not necessarily smooth. But hey, go ahead. No reason to beleive the publishers of loading manuals, what would they know about handloads?

I loaded with a guy who used the mallet test. Mallet test you say? Yup, he backed off when you needed a mallet to open the bolt! Maybe, some day, one of the overstressed locking lugs will give way on a simple factory load, and he will be wearing his bolt in his skull, but hey, it is his skull!
 
Andy said:
You made a common reloading mistake and caught it - that does not make you an idiot or a fool. As has been said repeatedly, you should pull the bullets, reclaim the powder and start again.

What we don't need, especially for a new reloader, is the drama of stories that he'll dissappear in a red mist of shrapnel if he goes 1.5 grs over a published max. You won't - you and the gun would be fine, but you still need to pull the bullets.
Click to expand...

Hey dude thanks, too many ppl on here with sarcasm and horror scenarios.

Yes I realize I started out ill informed. No I will not shoot these as is. Yes, I am halfway through abc's of reloading now, bought a digital copy on my phone.

I wanna thank everyone who had constructive critisism and helpful suggestions. Not so much thanks to those who would just as soon scare me into giving up...
 
I have 3 pieces of friendly advice.

1. An inertia type bullet puller is an essential tool

2. Don't fire that round - you already know it's over max and you should know what that means. .

3. When you do screw up and then recognise and alleviate the mistake without hurting yourself or damaging any property - then it's not really a mistake. It's "experience", and as long as you learn from it, all is good.
 
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