Cast bullet pressure
Posted: 29 Jan 2023 03:15
I have the Lee 2016 second edition manual, Lyman 49 manual and the Lyman 4th edition cast bullet handbook.
In the Lee manual he expounds at great length regarding the deformation of the bullet base as pressure increases and exceeds the strength of the bullet which significantly affects accuracy. I load for 308, 30/30, 223 and 357/38S and the number of load data regarding cast bullets is limited at best in the Lee manual.
Both the Lyman publications do not appear to make a detailed reference to this phenomena and, in fact, in the cast handbook lists cast bullet loads way over the Lee imposed limits eg Lee says 19100 psi max for best accuracy for lyman #2 alloy whereas quite a few of the lyman loads are far and away above this.
TBH I don't load for high muzzle velocity preferring to use cast bullets for under 200 yards and am quite happy with velocities below 1800 fps which suit my purpose fine.
My question of the month is how seriously do the more experienced reloaders regard the Lee theory? I ask this as one has no easy method of ascertaining pressure, the Lee method of establishing hardness borders on the subjective and I'm thinking of changing my forum handle to Baffled of Dover.
I'm coming round , slightly tongue in cheek, to the view that this is a sales pitch to sell more of his hardness testing devices, am I wrong?
In the Lee manual he expounds at great length regarding the deformation of the bullet base as pressure increases and exceeds the strength of the bullet which significantly affects accuracy. I load for 308, 30/30, 223 and 357/38S and the number of load data regarding cast bullets is limited at best in the Lee manual.
Both the Lyman publications do not appear to make a detailed reference to this phenomena and, in fact, in the cast handbook lists cast bullet loads way over the Lee imposed limits eg Lee says 19100 psi max for best accuracy for lyman #2 alloy whereas quite a few of the lyman loads are far and away above this.
TBH I don't load for high muzzle velocity preferring to use cast bullets for under 200 yards and am quite happy with velocities below 1800 fps which suit my purpose fine.
My question of the month is how seriously do the more experienced reloaders regard the Lee theory? I ask this as one has no easy method of ascertaining pressure, the Lee method of establishing hardness borders on the subjective and I'm thinking of changing my forum handle to Baffled of Dover.
I'm coming round , slightly tongue in cheek, to the view that this is a sales pitch to sell more of his hardness testing devices, am I wrong?