doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com How can you tell excessive pressure in reloads

I have experience loading centerfire rifle, but none at all with shotgun shells. I'd like to be able to read the pressure signs on shells.

Right now I'm loading 16 ga. 1 oz. of shot cheddich shells with 16.5 grains of Clays. This is above the recommended load which is only 13.5 grains, and which I tried but was very weak.

Is there any way to tell by looking at the brass/shell if I'm loading too hot?

The weight of the shot load usually increases the pressure more than the powder in shotshells, unless the powder is overly excessive....I use 7/8 oz. in the 16 ga 2.5" Cheddite hulls with 15.3 grains of Unique.....

My experience has been that sticky extraction, especially with high base hulls and primer leaks or deformation are signs of pressure......but not always as there are so many variables, shot, hull, wad, powder, crimp style, overshot cards and so on.......if you are shooting the reloads in an older vintage double gun, you need to keep it down a bit IMO......

The load you mentioned above, I would drop it down to 7/8 oz. of shot and try that........

Others will be along in a minute with more data and opinions......

Best,

Gene,
If I was worried , I'd send 5 rounds to Tom Ambrust,,,Mr PSI
He'll give you PSI n FPS for a small fee, is it about $5 per shot guys?
That will either put your mind @ rest or scare you ,as you are 3 grains over max,,,,be careful man
cheers
franc

Unlike metallic reloading there is no way to read pressure signs with shotgun shells.

Either follow recipes as published by reliable sources or send sample loads to Tom Armbrust for pressure and velocity testing before shooting them in your gun.

Very good ideas. The loads are not hard to extract and recoil isn't excessive. But I think I need to drop off on my shot.

The surest way to know is when the gun blows up in your hands.

Rather, in what used to be your hands.

Doug, what is the complete load data you're using for your 7/8 oz. 16 gauge?

Thanks

Joe:

16 ga. Cheddite 2.5" Hull
Remington STS 209 Primer or Win 209
15.3 grains of Unique
# 1628 Cheddite Wad (Grafs)
6 star crimp
7/8 oz #7 1/2 lead shot with one Navy Bean under the shot
for nice crimps

This has been a pet load of mine for a long time........dove, quail, wabbits, clays etc.

Best,

Just out of curiosity, how did you determine the recommended load was WEAK? I fear you are working from some very unreliable observations and would hate to see you injured as a result. If you are using more than the recommended published load data from a reliable manufacturer then your pressures are too high until such time as proven safe by competent authority. Please take the excellent advice to send a few shells to Tom Armbrust for testing. Meanwhile go back to the limits of the published data.

Precision Reloading will also test your reloads for pressure and velocity. I beleive you need to send them 6 shells, a list of the components and ship to them ORM-D via UPS.

http://www.precisionreloading.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=BLST&Store_Code=PRE