shoelessjoe
"I took out a Chihuahua!"
Last week at the club I was putting a couple of the 1911s thru their paces & while firing the Colt 38 Super, I experienced some FTFs … stopped shooting & upon inspection discovered signs of primer flow - there was no case bulging, which surprised me as the Colt’s barrel isn’t fully supported.
Via the Sierra manual, whose max WSF charge is 8.1grs (1350 fps), I had worked up to 7.5 grains (125gr HAP/1300fps) before experiencing any issues. Upon returning home, I went directly to Hodgdon’s website & to my surprise discovered that their Max (WSF/124gr) Load is only 6.6 grains! After a few minutes spent perusing reloading sub-forums, I ran across a couple of, and I paraphrase: Beware of Sierra’s max charge listings, which seemingly are all over the place.
Fast forward to this past Tues. & I’m at the club again, this time with the 357 Magnums. First revolver up was my late-2nd cousin’s Chicago PD S&W 586. Again, (last fall) via the Sierra manual I had worked the 125 grain rounds up to a (Sierra) mid-range H110 18.4gr/1350 fps load (Sierra’s Max H110 is 19.8gr @ 1450fps). Not a recoil sensitive sort, I stopped shooting after only three rounds, due to the rather potent recoil. The spent cases ejected without issue & showed zero signs of excessive pressure, but still. Grabbed my phone & went to Hodgdon’s website … again, to my shock, Hodgdon listed their Max (125gr/357Mag) H110 charge @ 15.5 grains!
So, I say all that just to say be careful with Sierra’s higher-end load data listings … better yet, go directly to the powder manufacturer’s sites for load recipes.
Via the Sierra manual, whose max WSF charge is 8.1grs (1350 fps), I had worked up to 7.5 grains (125gr HAP/1300fps) before experiencing any issues. Upon returning home, I went directly to Hodgdon’s website & to my surprise discovered that their Max (WSF/124gr) Load is only 6.6 grains! After a few minutes spent perusing reloading sub-forums, I ran across a couple of, and I paraphrase: Beware of Sierra’s max charge listings, which seemingly are all over the place.
Fast forward to this past Tues. & I’m at the club again, this time with the 357 Magnums. First revolver up was my late-2nd cousin’s Chicago PD S&W 586. Again, (last fall) via the Sierra manual I had worked the 125 grain rounds up to a (Sierra) mid-range H110 18.4gr/1350 fps load (Sierra’s Max H110 is 19.8gr @ 1450fps). Not a recoil sensitive sort, I stopped shooting after only three rounds, due to the rather potent recoil. The spent cases ejected without issue & showed zero signs of excessive pressure, but still. Grabbed my phone & went to Hodgdon’s website … again, to my shock, Hodgdon listed their Max (125gr/357Mag) H110 charge @ 15.5 grains!
So, I say all that just to say be careful with Sierra’s higher-end load data listings … better yet, go directly to the powder manufacturer’s sites for load recipes.
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