Quote:
Originally Posted by rwsmith
But what do you think Cor bon and the other big boys do to get such high velocities out of their loads?
I'd guess besides a batch of powder being thoroughly tested the charges are weighed much more carefully than typical ammo to get close to the max without going over. What I wonder is what is the nature of the powder they use? I've heard that they may use duplex or triplex charges that the consumer can't do but with their testing but a well equipped lab could test the end product powder to see if it's performing within their parameters.
It is verboten for the handloader today to try duplex or triplex loads but again, that is what Elmer Keith did, and also blew up a lot of guns before coming to any conclusions.
Other possibilities would be to use very consistent brass, bullets and primers. Then I would guess that they test the finished ammo more to make sure it's close to the edge without going over. I suppose all of this extra care is covered by the price tag.
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I think Cor bon and the others just "loaded 'em up" and took their chances. Even a significant overload will not usually catastrophically destroy a revolver, and since most shooters would not use that much high performance ammo anyway, that was a risk the manufactures were willing to take at that time. Continued use of over-pressure ammo will usually just lead to premature wearing and loosening of the gun. Cylinders will probably bulge before blowing up, as another example.
These days, no knowledgeable loader would ever even consider a duplex or triplex load. We know better now.
Commercial loaders have access to powders that are not available to us, but there is nothing "magical" about these powders; if there were, profit could be realized, and the manufacturers would release these powders to handloaders. The powders that commercial loaders have access to are powders that do not fall within manufacturing specifications. The commercial loaders buy these "defective" powders in bulk and have proper pressure testing equipment available, so they can develop their own load data.
I have heard (but have not verified) that Super Vel (and maybe others) used bullets that were a few thousandths of an inch smaller than standard, such as .355" bullets for 357 Magnum and 38 Special, and .427" bullets in 44 magnum, etc. This would help lower pressures