Yes Gary gave me a lesson on how pressure is built and released in a revolver vs. a closed breech gun such as a Contender.
I now know I was in a potentially critical situation using published loads for a 6" S&W Model57 in a 14" Contender. (Thank God for using a chronograph during load development) This information was reinforced by another custom barrel/gun maker, only I went at it from a different angle;just to see if it was the way I asked my questions.
Bottom line is , you can use data for a shorter barrel, different type gun; just don't plan on going to whatever the max charge is listed - it flat out won't be pretty.
Another thing that was interesting is both my sources of information told me what would happen to my cases (before I actually told them what had happened) in a max CUP pressure situation, and both were dead nuts on to exactly what I experienced.
I feel very fortunate as to how this turned out: I learned a little more about reloading, how the components work, and how little pressure actually shows itself. For example, I had no flattened primers, no sticky case removal, and actually no noticable change in gun response (harder recoil). I have seen it posted before that if you see signs of pressure you're already over the threshold, well now I've experienced it - and am finding it very sobering.
Thanks for listening.
