The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Max Load Gone Wrong

wncchester · August 29, 2008, 10:18 AM

""The first set of three all left very faint impressions of the ejector slot on the case head. I knew that wasn't a good sign, but I carefully examined each case and primer and didn't see any other signs of excessive pressure"

Goodness. I remember an old hand being asked once "how do you learn what's a max load?" He responed that you simply "add a half grain at a time until something blows up, then back off a half grain." He made his point but ... that advice ain't quite worth following!

What you are experiencing is what is meant by starting low and ONLY MOVE UP IF CONDITIONS ALLOW. If conditions don't "allow", don't keep moving up!

We should take any one sign of overpressure as sufficent, not to try for three out of four. Ejector marks, however faint, mean a LOT of pressure. BACK OFF, at least a full grain. I'd go down two full grains myself.

August 29, 2008, 10:18 AM	#12
wncchester Senior Member Join Date: December 1, 2002 Posts: 2,832	""The first set of three all left very faint impressions of the ejector slot on the case head. I knew that wasn't a good sign, but I carefully examined each case and primer and didn't see any other signs of excessive pressure" Goodness. I remember an old hand being asked once "how do you learn what's a max load?" He responed that you simply "add a half grain at a time until something blows up, then back off a half grain." He made his point but ... that advice ain't quite worth following! What you are experiencing is what is meant by starting low and ONLY MOVE UP IF CONDITIONS ALLOW. If conditions don't "allow", don't keep moving up! We should take any one sign of overpressure as sufficent, not to try for three out of four. Ejector marks, however faint, mean a LOT of pressure. BACK OFF, at least a full grain. I'd go down two full grains myself.