SmallCaliberCentral

Has anyone loaded 45 gr. SP's with H322 powder? I have both and want to put them together to see how it works out. Anyone use this combo before? I think I'll start at 22g and work up from there.

Does anyone with a Hornady manual know the max load for this setup? also, does the 7th edition of hornady have the 45 g. sp listed in it for 204? Thanks.

H-322 is a fairly fast burn rate for the 45's. Burn rate charts are notoriously subjective and flucuate all over the place if compared side to side. Lots of salt required when reading them.

Hornady #7 lists no data for H-322 with any bullet. Thats not to say H-322 is not a suitable powder in the 204 it just means Hornady did not test it.

Judging soley by Hodgens data 22.5gns would be a start load for H-322 and 45's.
Use due caution with that combo. Pressures will build and spike fast.

A slower burn rate would be better but one never knows. Maybe you'll find something you like.

Thanks for the info. I'm a bit skittish to start experimenting with this now. Could you elaborate on the statement "Use due caution with that combo. Pressures will build and spike fast." I am not sure I completely understand. Thanks. I'm a relative newbie to reloading and dont want to blow my head off testing anything out.

bmf1321 wrote:Thanks for the info. I'm a bit skittish to start experimenting with this now. Could you elaborate on the statement "Use due caution with that combo. Pressures will build and spike fast." I am not sure I completely understand. Thanks. I'm a relative newbie to reloading and dont want to blow my head off testing anything out.

H-322 is a fast burning powder and is normally used with the smaller wt bullets (32, 30, 26 gr).
With the heavier 45 gr and H-322, pressures at the top end can and will climb rapidly when it's trying to push out the heavier pill due to the quicker burn rate. Personally I would use a slower burning powder with the 45's. I have had good success with RL-10X and H-4895 with RL-10X having a slight edge in accuracy. RL-15 would also be a good one to try.

bmf
Using a fast powder (for cartridge) with a heavy bullet (for cartridge) makes for a somewhat erratic combo as far as pressure is concerned. "Spikey"

I'm having trouble putting this into words.

Example:
Lets say hypothetically safe saami max pressure for that load is 25.0gns. Because your asking a fast powder to push a heavy bullet pressures above 25.0 will build much more rapidly than normal. Still hypothetically you could well be into the danger zone and popping primers at 25.5gns. The pressure can go from sane to dangerous real fast.

Using a more suitable slow burning powder the pressures usually rise slower. You might need to go over safe saami pressures by 2-3gns before reaching the same overpressure levels that pops primers. Hopefully before that time a reloader will realize they are running over pressure and back off.
I do not recommend popping (blanking) primers

Hope thats clear as mud.

Gube beat me to it and did a good job of explaining in less words. Kudos

I will say that 10X is pretty darn close to 322 in burn rate. No doubts it will work but the same caution applies. Sticking with Hodgen products I would go with Varget for a 45 projy.

makes sense. thanks for all the help.