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 10 A nice long range rifle with a sad life. (Read 6478 times)
psteinmayer
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #15 - Nov 4th, 2018 at 3:15pm
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Hi all!

FWIW, IMR-4350 is about as close as you can get to the old Laflin & Rand .30 WRA powder that was used in the original .30 Army ammo.  40.0 grains with a 220 RN bullet is the standard load, and I've been shooting this load in matches for years.  Graf and Sons sells new GRAF headstamped brass... and Hornady also offers brass (you can get this from some of the other online places).  Both are excellent quality!  As others said, neck size only after the initial sizing.

Which ship were you stationed aboard?  I did 4 years and 3 deployments on the USS Ranger CV-61 based at NAS North Island during my Naval Career!
  
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Rapidrob
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #16 - Nov 4th, 2018 at 5:11pm
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I was a plank owner and served 5 years on USS Joseph Hewes DE-1078,
Plank owner on USS Hewitt DD-966 three years
Served on USS Paul F. Foster DD-964, USS KinKaid DD-965 and USS Stump DD-978.
I did TAD's on the USS Guam LPH-9 and a couple of old Fram cans later on.
I did the Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club a couple of times.
We sailed with the Ranger,Kitty Hawk, Roosevelt,Midway and the Big E.
I was a Gunnersmate,Guns.
  
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Rapidrob
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #17 - Nov 4th, 2018 at 5:17pm
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As it turns out,the brass is at fault. The Remington brass fails on the 1ST or 2ND loading every time. Winchester brass has been loaded since I first posted this topic five times with no problems at all. I will contact Remington to see if I can get replacement brass or my money back. Since the brass is failing right at the web,I cannot safely anneal the brass cases.
At least now I know it is not my rifles fault.
  
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psteinmayer
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #18 - Nov 6th, 2018 at 11:41pm
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Well... you certainly did chew some ocean! 

By the way, I use a magnum primer with my Krag loads (Hornady 220 gr RN, 40.0 grains of IMR-4350, and a CCI 250 or CCI #34 (mil spec) primer).
  
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Rapidrob
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #19 - Nov 7th, 2018 at 4:38am
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The load I'm using this weekend is 40 grains of 7383 and a Remington magnum primer to see if the load shoots to the same spot.
With 40 grains the powder is slightly compressed. I tried 41 grains,which was more tightly compressed and the primer took on the face of the bolt and was almost completely flat. This is the characteristics of this powder when compressed more that just slightly the pressure will climb sharply in some bottleneck cartridges.
The rule of thumb with IMR-7383 is that you work up the load and keep checking the bore for unburnt powder grains. Once you find none, stop, and go no farther,you found the ideal charge with a given bullet.
As I posted earlier,  I bought the powder to load my magnum rifles. In particular I wanted the powder for my "mile rifle", a custom 8 MM Remington Magnum  with a 32" barrel firing a 220 grain Match King over 3,200 FPS . With today's triple based powders the charge weights were between 100 - 110 grains. No signs of pressure problems as the cartridge operates at 65-68,000 PSI.
With IMR-7383 I had to stop at 89 grains. The case was only 3/4 full but the pressures were getting excessive with the 220 grain bullets. Accuracy was good ,not great because of the low case density.
However, in the smaller over-bore cartridges,the powders works very well indeed. In the 6.5 Swede and the 7.5 Swiss with 160 and 175 grain bullets respectively accuracy is first rate in these rifles.( '91 Swede and M1911 Swiss)
The Dwell time for semi-auto rifles using gas pistons is a little long and I don't use it in them. Gas impingement as in the French 49/56, Swede AG42B, AR-10, AR-15 seem to like this powder and the brass last a long time.
For night time Hog Hunting or the like, this powder is ideal as there is no muzzle flash. A small,dull red glow is seen from a bystander.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #20 - Nov 9th, 2018 at 5:50pm
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Rapidrob wrote on Nov 4th, 2018 at 12:28am:
I have never had to use a magnum primer. It is not a .50 BMG powder and would be very dangerous to use it as such.
Any load over 75 grains in my magnum rifles really changes how it burns.
But in cases from .223 to .300 Win Mag, the powder has worked very well for me. It is close to IMR-4350, just slightly slower, Not 7828 slow.
In cases up to .30-06 and 7.62x54R, a load up to the shoulder of the case is just about right. You can go more but it is really not needed. Just never tightly compress the powder. It will spike like mad if too compressed.
I have many,many loads that work well.


You must have the faster lot.  This slow lot only goes good with a booster that I put in the middle of the charge of 7383.  I've been using it in my K31 more than my Krags.  There were three loadings used in the spotter rifle, thus the three lots.  The slower stuff was for the tracer round that had a flashtube, plus a non-standard (hotter) 50BMG primer.  I haven't worked with any of the faster lots.  Thing is, the nitroguanidine coating needs to explode first.  That explosion consumes all the oxygen, then the remaining nitrocellulose burns without a flame making it flashless.
  
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Rapidrob
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #21 - Nov 9th, 2018 at 10:30pm
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Sorry to hear you have to use an igniter charge, but with powders such as 5744 as the initiator , you'd be fine.you'd only need to use 3-6 grains. A so called "duplex load"
I had to do that using the surplus .50 BMG powders.
  
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madsenshooter
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Re: A nice long range rifle with a sad life.
Reply #22 - Nov 11th, 2018 at 10:56pm
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I use a slightly faster powder.  Big flakes, 10B101 (surplus Vihtavuori powder for 50BMG plastic training ammo).  The flakes pretty much stay in place in the middle of the big logs of 7383.  Very little to no compression, but a caseful with the bullet weights I've so far worked with.  The loads I've worked up are very accurate.  Sorta odd to be able to grab a case as soon as it comes out of the rifle and not get burned by it.  It is a real pain to weigh out three charges per case though!
  
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