The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Cycling Problems

noylj · March 28, 2011, 07:54 PM

Just to beat a dead horse, note that Alliant is clear that the COL is the MINIMUM recommended.
They say, in their manual:
Most pistols and revolvers function best when loaded with a quick burning powder such as Bullseye. Since peak pressure is reached very quickly, the seating depth of the bullet is very important: the deeper the bullet, the higher the pressure. If the bullet is seated too deeply, dangerous pressures will be generated, which could burst the gun and cause severe personal injury (including death)...
A. Prevent deeply seated bulets.
1. Your assembled cartridges MUST be as long as, or longer than, the minimum length for the combination you are loading...
5. Be sure every bullet is held tightly by shell mouth, especially pistol loads (recoil drives magazine against bullet noses of contained cartridges."
Again, I load rounds that fit the magazine (the minimum COL obviously does that) and feeds and chambers reliably. The use of the longest COL that accomplishes that is where I want to be. My first experience reloading was for a Browning Hi-Power. That gun would only feed over a very narrow range of COL and I quickly learned to always make an inert dummy round or two to verify chambering and to ensure that there was no bullet setback after a couple of cycles. This was about 1977, and I have never found a better method.
I'm not telly YOU how to load, I am trying to inform the O.P. that there is NOT one single "perfect" COL that works for all guns. The original post I was commenting on basically said that you should ONLY use the COL listed in the manual, which is NOT a recommendation that any manual makes.

March 28, 2011, 07:54 PM	#18
noylj Senior Member Join Date: October 21, 2007 Location: Between CA and NM Posts: 858	Just to beat a dead horse, note that Alliant is clear that the COL is the MINIMUM recommended. They say, in their manual: Most pistols and revolvers function best when loaded with a quick burning powder such as Bullseye. Since peak pressure is reached very quickly, the seating depth of the bullet is very important: the deeper the bullet, the higher the pressure. If the bullet is seated too deeply, dangerous pressures will be generated, which could burst the gun and cause severe personal injury (including death)... A. Prevent deeply seated bulets. 1. Your assembled cartridges MUST be as long as, or longer than, the minimum length for the combination you are loading... 5. Be sure every bullet is held tightly by shell mouth, especially pistol loads (recoil drives magazine against bullet noses of contained cartridges." Again, I load rounds that fit the magazine (the minimum COL obviously does that) and feeds and chambers reliably. The use of the longest COL that accomplishes that is where I want to be. My first experience reloading was for a Browning Hi-Power. That gun would only feed over a very narrow range of COL and I quickly learned to always make an inert dummy round or two to verify chambering and to ensure that there was no bullet setback after a couple of cycles. This was about 1977, and I have never found a better method. I'm not telly YOU how to load, I am trying to inform the O.P. that there is NOT one single "perfect" COL that works for all guns. The original post I was commenting on basically said that you should ONLY use the COL listed in the manual, which is NOT a recommendation that any manual makes.