All, I've been loading for 7.62x51Nato for a while. It was one of the first rounds I reloaded. I have been trying to put together a really accurate "M-80 Ball Duplicate", and I've just had some startling results, regarding powders.
You see, I came into an 8lb. jug of reclaimed WC846 powder. It's pulldown, meaning cartridges were disassembled, and the powder reclaimed. It says clearly on the bottle to treat like Hodgdon BLC-2(Ball-2). Well, it's nothing like BLC-2. Thankfully, I only loaded 10 rounds, so I only have 8 to disassemble.
Let me explain:
I perused old military load data, the interwebs, even talked to a ballistician at a major U.S. Army installation(Hummer70 knows this place like the back of his hand), as well as any other load data I could find. I even reviewed the data from development of the t-65 cartridge. O.k., I thought, I should be in somewhat calm water here........
I understand that WC846, being a non-canister powder, has much "looser" burn rate identification than canister powders available to handloaders. I also know that the specs for WC846 were split into fast and slow lots, and this is where WC-844 came from, being a faster burning lot of WC-846. Therefore, when "SWAGGING" load data for this pulldown powder, my thoughts were to stay well under the BLC-2 max, as well as the H-335(WC-844) max.
44.5 grains, under a 150 grn FMJ should be about correct, out of a M1A. This is below the starting load(Hodgdon) of BLC-2, and below max for H-335(WC-844). I used CCI #34 primers, as this was recommended, as well.
For testing, I chrono'd some regular old M80 ball ammo, and got 2793 FPS at the muzzle, average and in line with M-80 ball velocities from a 22" M1A barrel.
The I fired one of my handloads with 44.5 grains of pulldown WC-846. I got 2980 FPS. Thinking that my chrono was stupid(although also verified w/ a labradar), I loaded 1 more and got 2986 FPS.
A 2 shot average of about 185 FPS over what M80 ball should run. I stopped at that and called it a day for that rifle. The moral of the story is that no load data, new or old, from trusted friends or strangers, will work with powder that isn't 100% known. I don't know exactly what powder I have, but the Army manual states 46 grains with a 147 grain ball fmj bullet. I probably would have wrecked the rifle with that charge, I'm glad I started low, as even my "low" charge was way too hot.
You see, I came into an 8lb. jug of reclaimed WC846 powder. It's pulldown, meaning cartridges were disassembled, and the powder reclaimed. It says clearly on the bottle to treat like Hodgdon BLC-2(Ball-2). Well, it's nothing like BLC-2. Thankfully, I only loaded 10 rounds, so I only have 8 to disassemble.
Let me explain:
I perused old military load data, the interwebs, even talked to a ballistician at a major U.S. Army installation(Hummer70 knows this place like the back of his hand), as well as any other load data I could find. I even reviewed the data from development of the t-65 cartridge. O.k., I thought, I should be in somewhat calm water here........
I understand that WC846, being a non-canister powder, has much "looser" burn rate identification than canister powders available to handloaders. I also know that the specs for WC846 were split into fast and slow lots, and this is where WC-844 came from, being a faster burning lot of WC-846. Therefore, when "SWAGGING" load data for this pulldown powder, my thoughts were to stay well under the BLC-2 max, as well as the H-335(WC-844) max.
44.5 grains, under a 150 grn FMJ should be about correct, out of a M1A. This is below the starting load(Hodgdon) of BLC-2, and below max for H-335(WC-844). I used CCI #34 primers, as this was recommended, as well.
For testing, I chrono'd some regular old M80 ball ammo, and got 2793 FPS at the muzzle, average and in line with M-80 ball velocities from a 22" M1A barrel.
The I fired one of my handloads with 44.5 grains of pulldown WC-846. I got 2980 FPS. Thinking that my chrono was stupid(although also verified w/ a labradar), I loaded 1 more and got 2986 FPS.
A 2 shot average of about 185 FPS over what M80 ball should run. I stopped at that and called it a day for that rifle. The moral of the story is that no load data, new or old, from trusted friends or strangers, will work with powder that isn't 100% known. I don't know exactly what powder I have, but the Army manual states 46 grains with a 147 grain ball fmj bullet. I probably would have wrecked the rifle with that charge, I'm glad I started low, as even my "low" charge was way too hot.