derbyacresbob
Well-known member
Not to long ago I found out that many of my 12 ga coyote and goose loads that I reloaded using BPI's Handloading Hevi-Shot Fourth Edition manual have way to high of pressures.
I sent off some 12 ga 2-3/4" 1-3/8 oz loads to have tested. I based these loads off of BPI and RSI's Hevi-Shot and Heavyweight shot reloading data for 12 ga 2-3/4" 1-1/4 oz loads. I lowered the powder charge 4.0 grains and raised the shot charge 1/8 of an ounce. The results were 15,808 psi average or 4,308 psi over Max allowable pressure.
That pressure pretty much had me shocked when I saw it.
So I sent off some of the 12 ga 3" Fiocchi 1-1/2 oz loads with 35.0 gr of Steel Powder that the BPI manual shows to have 10,800 psi. I have at least 400 of these shells loaded. These loads averaged 14,918 psi or 3,418 psi over Max allowable pressure.
I have shot hundreds of these loads without any problems.
So now I am in the process of taking hundreds of Steel Powder reloads apart to lower the shot charge weights or lower the powder charges to get the pressures under Max.
Yesterday I sent off some more Alliant Steel Powder loads to be tested at Precision Reloading. I will post the results on this thread when I get the test sheets back in 10 to 14 days.
It looks like quite a few of the guys on Duck Hunting Chat Forums load at least 10% lower than what the data calls for on many of the older data Alliant Steel Powder loads.
I sent off some 12 ga 2-3/4" 1-3/8 oz loads to have tested. I based these loads off of BPI and RSI's Hevi-Shot and Heavyweight shot reloading data for 12 ga 2-3/4" 1-1/4 oz loads. I lowered the powder charge 4.0 grains and raised the shot charge 1/8 of an ounce. The results were 15,808 psi average or 4,308 psi over Max allowable pressure.
That pressure pretty much had me shocked when I saw it.
So I sent off some of the 12 ga 3" Fiocchi 1-1/2 oz loads with 35.0 gr of Steel Powder that the BPI manual shows to have 10,800 psi. I have at least 400 of these shells loaded. These loads averaged 14,918 psi or 3,418 psi over Max allowable pressure.
I have shot hundreds of these loads without any problems.
So now I am in the process of taking hundreds of Steel Powder reloads apart to lower the shot charge weights or lower the powder charges to get the pressures under Max.
Yesterday I sent off some more Alliant Steel Powder loads to be tested at Precision Reloading. I will post the results on this thread when I get the test sheets back in 10 to 14 days.
It looks like quite a few of the guys on Duck Hunting Chat Forums load at least 10% lower than what the data calls for on many of the older data Alliant Steel Powder loads.