BTSDOG
NES Member
Youre still 4000 psi under max according to that. Play with the max load entered until you see a skull and crossbones. I usually do ten steps in .10 of a grain increments.....then work down from there
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Reloading heavy, long .223 for (relatively) long range use.
- Thread starter dcmdon
- Start date
yeah, an interesting tool. but not clear why deviations are so severe and in both ways.
6 dasher load seems to be closer max pressure values wise, but it claims for 105gfr berger on my 30.8gr load a 2743 speed, while in fact it is 2922.
but it is correct there that anything above 31 is overpressure and in reality it does show clear signs of overpressure.
in .223 an actual hornady 75gr varget load i clocked the tool says should be at 2800fps, the reality is - 2650. for 77gr noslers speed deviation delta gets smaller, tool says 2715, my result - 2653.
the 308 load 44gr varget on 175gr nolser rdf actually matches well, it is a slightly hot one, and tool says 2614 - reality is 2618.
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i cannot see on the screenshots what is different, but after i swtiched it back and forth and went backl to 6.5cm it now shows me correct values for reloder 16 and speeds match - 41.9 my load indeed does 2780 what the screeen shows. and pmax absolute went quite the bit up, like it should be - the 43.2gr load is the pmax edge.
beats me, as i cannot see anything different from the previous screen in the post above over than i altered ladder params, but it was telling before the 41gr is max, and now shows same data for 42gr, that is actually correct.
very odd, but heck with it, as long as it is accurate.
dcmdon
NES Member
Paul and BTS.
Have you used ProLoad? How does it compare to Gordon's.
Is it a bunch of macros that run in Excel or is it an application.
I have used pro-load in the past. I haven't used it in probably 5 or 6 years and am now pretty much all Mac. I have an old windows laptop that I can get running to run an internal ballistics app if necessary.
But if Gordon's runs inside Excel, I can run it natively on my Mac.
Have you used ProLoad? How does it compare to Gordon's.
Is it a bunch of macros that run in Excel or is it an application.
I have used pro-load in the past. I haven't used it in probably 5 or 6 years and am now pretty much all Mac. I have an old windows laptop that I can get running to run an internal ballistics app if necessary.
But if Gordon's runs inside Excel, I can run it natively on my Mac.
i did not, frankly i did it all without any apps, only used my own notes and reloading manuals for pmax sanity checks.
gordon`s is nice, but i need to test it more to see how well it will work as a system of records.
i did not have a lot of free time to redo my whole routine with that new garmin device app from the older one i used before.
BTSDOG
NES Member
I havnt used any software until i found this one. But i still work up loads low, and slow until i get physical results on paper to see what works for my rifle. Then i input that data into the program. now i can see more info on a particular load and how it acts. Now if i play with a different powder or bullet of the same weight, ill start loading at the sweet spot for the first one, (as long as its in a safe pressure range) and maybe tweak it a few grains on either side +- to see what kind of results i physically get on paper.
dcmdon
NES Member
I really liked Pro-Load. I don't typically load to anywhere near max. It gave me a good sanity check. It also did a great job of predicting what percent of a load would actually burn before it left the muzzle so it gave great input on how smoky a load would be.
I had used AA5 for heavy 9mm loads and was going to reduce it for some light loads for a static steel competition. Pro load showed me that at the lower pressures, it would only burn like 50% of the powder before the bullet left the barrel. I made up a couple of test rounds and sure enough , it was like shooting black powder. I switched to Clays and alll was good. The only downside to Clays is that the case is much less than 50% filled. So you could double charge and never notice.
I had used AA5 for heavy 9mm loads and was going to reduce it for some light loads for a static steel competition. Pro load showed me that at the lower pressures, it would only burn like 50% of the powder before the bullet left the barrel. I made up a couple of test rounds and sure enough , it was like shooting black powder. I switched to Clays and alll was good. The only downside to Clays is that the case is much less than 50% filled. So you could double charge and never notice.
so, tool is not bad per se, but i just came back, ran a ladder of the nosler 70 RDFs, from 25.9 to 25.2 gr in a 1gr increments - results from the tool differ by quite a bit for .223.
i do not think i saw such big of a deviation for 6.5cm nor .308.
sooo, for my 20" barrel Larue AR15 the tool says at 25.7gr varget the prognosis is for 2913ft/s. factual data from garmin - 2798.
i have no reason not to trust garmin, so far is was quite accurate. that is for 20" barrel.
for 14.5" no name other AR barrel in 25.3gr - tool says 2639, real was 2587. for 25.9 tool says 2707, real was 2640.
dcmdon
NES Member
It would be great if someone could run your data through pro-load to see if it does any better. I've switched to Mac and can't run it right now. looking for a cheap or free PC laptop to run preload.
yeah, go figure.
tool was also considering the 26gr to be at almost 'dangerous' zone overload, and from what i see primers are not really overflattened at all, no signs of running close to max pressure at all.
anyway, well, this gordon thing is better than nothing, and it is free.
what i am thinking about now - do i want to keep that 14"5 barrel (on the left), or swap it for something else.
25.7gr worked well on both rifles, and it is a second try, 25.6 also is acceptable, so i will load that is left of those noslers, about 700 of them, for plinking.
a very inconsistent barrel, that 14.5", results did spread quite a bit across loads. i am not even sure if it`s an aero make, rest of the upper is aero, but the barrel seems to be a mongrel.
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Too bad I missed this thread. I love these threads because I have a ton of experience with the round.
Only Tree long ones I ever loaded with the tracers and they shot great but they come out cranking and I do that because you’re compressing the powder and it make sure they light up for sure
Only Tree long ones I ever loaded with the tracers and they shot great but they come out cranking and I do that because you’re compressing the powder and it make sure they light up for sure
