Newtosavage
Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2015
- Messages
- 2,918
Saw something interesting at the range yesterday...
I've been loading 6.5 Grendel Lapua brass with 28 grains of IMR 8208 XBR and 123 SST's (0.5 grains under Hodgdon's max) after my ladder tests showed the first signs of pressure at 28.5 grains. So backed off to 28, life is good.
I happened to have 20 pieces of brass from some Hornady factory ammo, and I thought what the heck, I'll weigh them and check the volume against my Lapua brass, and load them to see what I get. So I did. To my surprise, the weight and volume was the same as my Lapua brass, to a tenth of a grain. So I started at 27 grains and immediately got flat, cratered primers. I was certainly not expecting that. I tossed the rest of that brass so I wouldn't get it mixed up with my Lapua brass, but it seemed surprising to me that just the brand of brass would make that much difference when the specs seemed the same.
Any thoughts? I'm just curious and trying to learn more about what creates pressure in handloads.
Thanks.
I've been loading 6.5 Grendel Lapua brass with 28 grains of IMR 8208 XBR and 123 SST's (0.5 grains under Hodgdon's max) after my ladder tests showed the first signs of pressure at 28.5 grains. So backed off to 28, life is good.
I happened to have 20 pieces of brass from some Hornady factory ammo, and I thought what the heck, I'll weigh them and check the volume against my Lapua brass, and load them to see what I get. So I did. To my surprise, the weight and volume was the same as my Lapua brass, to a tenth of a grain. So I started at 27 grains and immediately got flat, cratered primers. I was certainly not expecting that. I tossed the rest of that brass so I wouldn't get it mixed up with my Lapua brass, but it seemed surprising to me that just the brand of brass would make that much difference when the specs seemed the same.
Any thoughts? I'm just curious and trying to learn more about what creates pressure in handloads.
Thanks.