Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Helping friend check around for Hornet loads,

I'm reminded again why some people look at handloading and despair.  I was looking at .22 Hornet loads, which led to looking at .22 K-Hornet(interesting history, there), which led to comparing which led to a lot of time wondering "What the hell?" 

For K-Hornet instance, using a 45-grain bullet, Hodgdon shows H110 loads 11.5 to 12.4 grains.  Lyman manual shows 10.0 to 11.2 grains.

With Lil' Gun, Hodgdon shows 12.0 to 13.2 grains, Lyman shows 9.1 to 10.2 grains.

That's a LOT of difference.  And which one should you follow?

May be an extreme example, but you can find some big differences in charges for the same powder from different sources.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to look at hand loading/reloading as a chore mostly done by cheap, crabby old men to save a buck, or by dweeby gun nerds. I had purchased a second-hand Lee Pro-1000 complete with scale, a single stage press, .45ACP dies, and a brass tumbler. It sat in a box for at least 10 years before I decided to jump in and start using it. Boy, was I ever wrong. I find great satisfaction in loading my own ammo and every aspect of coming up with loading recipes that perform the way I want. I load 9mm, .38 Special, .357 Magnum, .45ACP, .45 Colt, and 7.62x54r. Setting up and loading ammo is as much fun for me as actually getting to shoot. As for my US Patriot 1775 Rifle, the precisely loaded 7.62x54r recipe with fire-formed brass allows me to put all the bullets through one hole at 100 yards (provided I time my shots to breathing and heartbeat properly).

Arthur said...

"And which one should you follow?"

The lighter one. *Usually* unless it's a powder that'll detonate with light loads.

Simple!

Honestly though shotgun was the area of reloading where all the options made me dizzy.

Firehand said...

That's my usual solution: if in question, use the lighter load to start.

Witold, if not for handloading there're some firearms I could shoot only rarely. One of the good things about it.

Larry said...

Problem with using the lighter load by default is some powders (H110, for example) detonate when loaded too light. I have some Hornet (not K) loads I did about 15 years ago with 110 and 45s, but my load notebook got soaked in a broken water main flood. I can take one apart and weigh the charge if you want

Firehand said...

I think he's going to start using the Lyman loads, and work up from there.

But do appreciate the offer.

Anonymous said...

I first heard, over four decades ago, that “No one ever blew themselves up using the Lyman Handbook”, and I’ve found no reason to disbelieve it since. John of the GMA

Danny said...

Drop all loads by 10 percent and work up for your gun. Small case pressures go up very fast with small charge increases.