Quote:
Quote:
|
"Reloading IS rocket science."
|
Not really. Actually it's not even close to a science,
|
Au contraire, mon ami. It is precisely rocket science as an offshoot practice at no less a place than my USAF Rocket Lab high atop the hill at Edwards AFB. All the elements are there from the propellant chemistry, element size, surface area, center core burn rates/pressure acceleration, nozzle effects, containment vessel design, strength of materials, ignition effects.....
(Including a few "...where the $#!^!! did THAT come from...?" moments.)
Getting educated to all the interplaying elements & edge effects of QuickLoad is the next best thing to a chemistry set from the 1950s in that regard, as are some of the new pressure measurement toys discussed here about six months ago... and a chronograph can open up your world, save your life, and extend your barrel time.
Oh, and did I mention metallurgy ?
Now I'll admit that many of the "artful" aspects of reloading in general have been cleaned up, de-tuned and carefully presented in paint-by-the-numbers fashion by the good folks at Lyman, Hornady, Speer,(et al) including no few book & magazine authors (and contributors even here on FiringLine) who have spent their lives checking out the edge of the envelop where that demon lives in a very disciplined fashion
...and don't forget the powder companies too. Those same good folks who mix, pour and shape my solid rocket boosters.
No. It truly is Rocket Science.... but only as much as you educate yourself to want to explore... and clutter up your reloading area spending both time and money your wife has
much better use for.
(And after all that I still can't pin down all the factors that cause my Swift to run hot/fast, or how my 30-06/Model 70 will pitch 180gr pills out at 2,800 w/o breaking a sweat, or where the pesky nodes are on that Mod70's barrel. -- so let's agree to call it "artful science".)
