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h4895 reduced loads


banus02

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all my rifles have 20" barrels . so i would like to use h4895 to load them at reduced velocities. i have had some good results in my 308 150gr and have found reduced loads for 6.5x55 120gr and 243 70gr  but have no expierience using reduced loads in these two rifles and wondered if any one had had success using h4895 reduced loads . <no other powders or calibers thank you > i know h4895 is unavailable to buy now but i have some i want to use. only paper punching so no need for high velocity.

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If you Google 'H4895 Youth Loads', you'll get a great deal of information. Hodgdon promotes them as taking its listed H4895 maximum charge and multiplying by 0.6 to get a starting point.

Long before today's (Thales/ADI manufactured) H4895, the original Dupont Industries IMR-4895 was widely used in reduced loads in USA in the 30-06 and similar using pretty well the same method. As the 'H' version is faster burning, it's actually a bit better suited to the practice.

I've done this occasionally in the past. It works fine except that depending on the brass characteristics / primer brisance / case to chamber fit / amount of resizing / whether it's a full moon or not, you may encounter poor case obturation in the chamber and everything in the vicinity is sooted up. If you're going to make a habit of the practice, it's also a good idea to use thin-walled (ie US Winchester/R-P) cases, neck-size them and use them just for the low-pressure loads. (Shoulders can in some cases be bumped back in the firing process and eventually create an 'excess headspace' fit in the chamber which can allegedly be dangerous if a full-pressure load is subsequently used. This is more of an issue with ultra-light loads, and may be more theoretical than real, but the dangers are highlighted by the older experimenters like George C. Nonte Jr who went in for this sort of thing frequently and fired off thousands of light-load fullbore rounds for plinking and small game/varmint shooting.)  

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good afternoon laurie, i had read the hodgdon reload data  but it does not mention the 6.5x55 and i know that can be an issue with sooty cases even with full power loads and that one is my main concern ,lots of americans have used h4895 reduced loads in the 243 so that one should be ok . thank you for your reply. have a very good christmas.

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19 minutes ago, banus02 said:

but it does not mention the 6.5x55 and i know that can be an issue with sooty cases even with full power loads and that one is my main concern

 

The older Hodgdon data were for a single page of cartridges and their specific recommended loads, these cartridges being those most likely to be of interest to American shooters. The current advice is to use Hodgdon's standard H4895 maximum charge for any cartridge where this powder is specified and multiply by 0.6 to get a new starting load, working up from there until good results are achieved.

Hodgdon's H4895 loads for the 120gn Nosler Ballistic Tip are starting load 34.0gn and maximum 37.8gn and using the reduced load 0.6 multiplier that drops to a new starting load of 22.7gn. (The 37.8gn load is shown as 46,000 C.U.P. pressure, the lower SAAMI Swedish Mauser max, not the higher CIP SE 55,000 psi.)

It may be that the chamber obturation problem proves insurmountable given the cartridge's propensity to suffer it in standard pressure loads, but there's only one way to see ........... When I suffered this problem in slack chamber / long and probably eroded throat surplus military rifles in 6.5X55 and 7X57mm with mild loads of slower burning powders, I often found that changing to a hotter primer cured, or at least alleviated the problem. 

  

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1 hour ago, Laurie said:

 

The older Hodgdon data were for a single page of cartridges and their specific recommended loads, these cartridges being those most likely to be of interest to American shooters. The current advice is to use Hodgdon's standard H4895 maximum charge for any cartridge where this powder is specified and multiply by 0.6 to get a new starting load, working up from there until good results are achieved.

Hodgdon's H4895 loads for the 120gn Nosler Ballistic Tip are starting load 34.0gn and maximum 37.8gn and using the reduced load 0.6 multiplier that drops to a new starting load of 22.7gn. (The 37.8gn load is shown as 46,000 C.U.P. pressure, the lower SAAMI Swedish Mauser max, not the higher CIP SE 55,000 psi.)

It may be that the chamber obturation problem proves insurmountable given the cartridge's propensity to suffer it in standard pressure loads, but there's only one way to see ........... When I suffered this problem in slack chamber / long and probably eroded throat surplus military rifles in 6.5X55 and 7X57mm with mild loads of slower burning powders, I often found that changing to a hotter primer cured, or at least alleviated the problem. 

  

1 hour ago, Laurie said:

 

The older Hodgdon data were for a single page of cartridges and their specific recommended loads, these cartridges being those most likely to be of interest to American shooters. The current advice is to use Hodgdon's standard H4895 maximum charge for any cartridge where this powder is specified and multiply by 0.6 to get a new starting load, working up from there until good results are achieved.

Hodgdon's H4895 loads for the 120gn Nosler Ballistic Tip are starting load 34.0gn and maximum 37.8gn and using the reduced load 0.6 multiplier that drops to a new starting load of 22.7gn. (The 37.8gn load is shown as 46,000 C.U.P. pressure, the lower SAAMI Swedish Mauser max, not the higher CIP SE 55,000 psi.)

It may be that the chamber obturation problem proves insurmountable given the cartridge's propensity to suffer it in standard pressure loads, but there's only one way to see ........... When I suffered this problem in slack chamber / long and probably eroded throat surplus military rifles in 6.5X55 and 7X57mm with mild loads of slower burning powders, I often found that changing to a hotter primer cured, or at least alleviated the problem. 

  thank you ,i will search for some magnum primers before a load any reduced loads for the 6.5x55. 

 

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