Post by oldstuffer on Dec 28, 2019 18:11:10 GMT -5
Some really good information.
When I first got into reloading, I was told I needed 4064, Varget and PB. That would cover all my guns. He was correct, and he called out some fine powders.
I use PB for my pistols. Easy to meter and it's a nice soft-shooting powder. Might look into something else though, been having trouble getting it to function 100% reliably in my .45.
Went shooting yesterday. Shot my Garand and had my first failure with a reload. Primer failed to go off, even after multiple attempts to strike it. That and the function issues with my .45 didn't impress my friends very much on my reloading skills.
PB is #23 on Hodgdon's relative speed chart.
I've run powders from Red Dot (#8) to Blue Dot (#50), depending on what I was testing for desired usage.
Was it cleaner burning for shooting hundreds of rounds in competition (R.D., Clays, WST), maximum barrel pressure to work the comp on my Thompson (Power Pistol & Blue Dot), or my Maximum Velocity JHP S.D. ammo (Vectan SP2/Vhitavouri 3N38).
The "standard" for GI Ball 230gr .45 Auto is (as I understand) 5gr (or so) of Bullseye (#13).
A similar load using PB is likely to need about 6gr, possibly 7.
IIRC I ran 7gr of RD under 185gr LSWC for only about 10,000 rounds in the later 1990's/early 2000's shooting IDPA (pre-war).
My IDPA ammo (at the time) had to make 177,000 inertia factor (weight x velocity), IDPA has since reduced that to 165,000.
I currently run 8gr of Power Pistol under a 200gr LRN through that Thompson (1,320fps), anything over 7gr in a 5" 1911 and velocity maxes out (1,007fps), the extra grain only makes noise.
I run ALMOST 11gr (10.8) of SP2 under a 230gr XTP/HP to 1,044fps out of a 5" 1911, 19,000psi.