reduced ball powder loads

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Last Post 25 March 2025

Standard Member

timinpa posted this 24 March 2025

Hi, I have a question about reduced loads of ball powders for rifle loads. I asked about this on a different forum a while back and got the answer I expected, don't do it. I was hoping to get some logic, and was disappointed. Now, I know the concensus is don't reduce loads of ball powders with jacketed bullets, but what is different about cast bullets? I've seen loading data in Lyman manuals and Handloader magazine showing light loads with 748 and BL-C2, among others. Do these powders build pressure differently with cast bullets, or is this still a bad idea that's being dragged out over decades?

Tim

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CBA Member

RicinYakima posted this 24 March 2025

The chemistry of all "ball" powders are exactly alike. The "speed" of the ball powders is determined by the coatings and deterrents applied. At cast bullet powder pressures, less than what they were designed for, lead to unburned chemicals in the bore. At pressures used by cast bullets, they foul the bore to reduce precision. That is not dangerous, just not good if you want to hit something.

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CBA Member

delmarskid posted this 24 March 2025

The unburned compounds Ric mentioned are sometimes hygroscopic and darned hard to scrub out if they are allowed to sit for very long.

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Standard Member

timinpa posted this 25 March 2025

Thanks for the replies, but maybe I should have been more specific, my concerns were with erratic ignition and pressure spikes. That, as I understand it, is the reason there are no reduced ball powder loads with jacketed bullets. Do cast bullets generate pressure differently that reduced loads are recommended?

Tim

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CBA Member

Ed Harris posted this 25 March 2025

The pistol and shotgun spheroidal powders such as TiteGroup, 231, WST, 452AA are graphited, but not deterred. They act similarly to flake powders and tolerate low loading densities with no issues.

The problem with reducing speroidal powders occurs when a deterrent coating is used to suppress burning rate, the powder is of fine particle size and the deterrent coating is a significant percentage of total weight of the base grain. Examples are H110, 296, 680 and ALL of the slower rifle powders such as H335, 748, etc. Deterred spheroidal powders should not be loaded below 80% of case capacity.

I call them "spheroidal" because Ball powder is a registered trademark of Winchester-Olin.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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Match Director

linoww posted this 25 March 2025

While not recommended w296 and h110 in the 308 Winchester was the darling load in early CBA matches.IIRC Olin was sent some cast match loads from a CBA member (Might have been Ed?)and they weren't comfortable with the odd pressure curves and didn't recommended it.

The RCBS Cast Bullet Manual had the loads and I can attest is was a wonderfully accurate and clean burning load.

In the 32-40 Ballard 296/110 is a wonderful powder

"if it was easy we'd let women do it" don't tell my wife I said that!

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CBA Member

Ed Harris posted this 25 March 2025

The 18 of H110 in .308 was popular in SoCal and Az. But on a frosty morning at the Nationals in Wapwallopen, PA a Remington 40X had a High pressure event which required a lead hammer to get the bolt open, brass flowed into ejector hole and extractor clearance of bolt face and primer pocket expanded. Shooter unhurt but rifle was out of action until the bolt was replaced.

Temperature stability with Spheroidal powders is an issue.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia