Author Topic: Strange occurence at the range today with Encore... (Read 669 times)

Selmer · « **on:** January 11, 2004, 01:10:58 PM »

I was testing some new loads today out of my .454 Casull barrel with my Encore and I ran into a load that did something I'd never seen before. I would shoot, and the muzzle blast was horrendous, even worse than normal, the cases came out sooty, and there was what looked like unburned powder in my barrel. It was a cast, GC 355 gr bullet with 21.5gr. of H110 behind it. It shouldn't be that the bullet was under-sized because I used the same bullet in a AA#9 load and a Unique load and they worked just fine. The group was horrible, and the experience overall scared me a little bit. It's not the heaviest load I've shot in the barrel, nor the heaviest load I shot out of it today, but I know I'll never use it again. For those wondering about the crimp, it was a heavy crimp, one full turn on my Lee Factory Crimp die. Let me know if you have any hypotheses about my experience, I'd love to hear them. I shot quite a few rounds after that set and everything went fine, other than the fact that I determined HS-6 is a horrible powder for my gun!
Selmer

Jeff Vicars · « **Reply #1 on:** January 11, 2004, 01:38:11 PM »

Selmer, H110 needs to be used near max. What happened to you was an incomplete ignition, the powder ignited after it blown from the case, thus reducing the pressure in the case that normally seals the chamber(this caused the sooty case). The powder ignited further down the barrel or or past the muzzle causing the extra muzzleblast. Increase the charge, use magnum primers and a heavier crimp, this should eliminate the problem.

Selmer · « **Reply #2 on:** January 11, 2004, 01:41:42 PM »

That's what I was thinking also Jeff, but I think I'm near max with this weight of bullet. I can't find any load data for the 350 gr. bullet with H110, or any other powder for that matter, so I'm estimating with a little experience. What would you consider a max load with H110? I don't want to get down into that realm of SEE, but I don't want to take my Encore apart either. Seeing as how I had no published data to use, I was estimating on the light side apparently. Also, I fired the 355 gr. loads with 21 gr. H110 and didn't have the same problem, so what else could it be, although I'm not discounting the light load possibility.
Selmer

Bullseye · « **Reply #3 on:** January 11, 2004, 04:34:23 PM »

110 comes with all kinds of warnings about not reducing loads below 10% of max I believe it is, or bad consequences could occur. It is one powder I would not be guessing with if I did not have a published load to use.

Selmer · « **Reply #4 on:** January 11, 2004, 04:45:51 PM »

I whole-heartedly agree with you, but I can't find anyone with published or even private data on these weights of bullets, aside from loadswap, and some of their loads seem a lot on the heavy side when I check them against published data of the same weight bullet and powder type.
If anyone knows where to get heavy bullet data for the .454 Casull, please let me know! I've been asking around for months and looking for months, developing my own in the meantime.
Selmer

MePlat · « **Reply #5 on:** January 11, 2004, 11:21:37 PM »

I found a load in the Hodgdons Annual Manual for a 360 gr Cast Performance bullet that maxed at 43400 CUPS for the 454.

Sometimes one has to look harder. Send Hodgdon an e-mail and see what you get.

Selmer · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2004, 03:37:47 AM »

I have the Annual Manual for this year, arrrgghhhh!!! I don't know how I overlooked that! Thanks!
Selmer

Selmer · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2004, 10:17:41 AM »

I must have had my head up where the sun don't shine the day I was figuring out how much H110 to put in my loads. I went over to loadswap.com, and lo and behold, there are several loads for my cast bullet weights with H110, and I'm nowhere near what they are listing as max, I'm almost 9 gr. under max according to one fellow with an FA revolver. Will the Encore take as much pressure as the FA revolvers will? I've heard the FA are the last word on how much you can ring out, I'm wondering if loads that are safe in their revolvers are safe in my Encore, especially considering the closed breech, let me know what y'all think.
Selmer