Finding the minimum loads?

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  • Finding the minimum loads?

    I just have a couple questions about working up loads for for the Grendel.

    I have loaded a few hundred 223 and a few hundred 38 spcl and am a lot more comfortable with the process now. I just wanted to ask about minimum loads vs max loads listed in several places.

    From this forum, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...hl=en_US#gid=0

    and from AA - http://alexanderarms.com/grendel_reloading.pdf

    How far (in general, i know) down can i go before it becomes unsafe? Id really like to start lower and work up vs starting with the published max loads.

    I will be reloading wolf brass w/ CCI large rifle primers. I contacted Bill Alexander already and he told me to adjust his loads from his site down .2/.3 to accommodate for the different primer.

  • #2
    You never start with published max loads. There are published starting loads, and they are very mild in my experience. I would also recommend ordering some AA-marked Lapua brass at $64.50 per 100 pieces. Right now, most everyone agrees that Wolf brass is not really worth messing with given the availability of Lapua at AA prices. The Wolf brass will not last as long, and you're limited to firing or pulling factory ammo to get brass that has different volume and pressure limitations. Since the Wolf brass uses large rifle primers, it can't take the pressure that the small rifle primer brass can, by virtue of having less mass = faster plasticity under extreme heat. This will limit what you can do to an even narrower window of min/max loads and bullet weights at halfway decent velocities.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by LRRPF52 View Post
      You never start with published max loads. There are published starting loads, and they are very mild in my experience. I would also recommend ordering some AA-marked Lapua brass at $64.50 per 100 pieces. Right now, most everyone agrees that Wolf brass is not really worth messing with given the availability of Lapua at AA prices. The Wolf brass will not last as long, and you're limited to firing or pulling factory ammo to get brass that has different volume and pressure limitations. Since the Wolf brass uses large rifle primers, it can't take the pressure that the small rifle primer brass can, by virtue of having less mass = faster plasticity under extreme heat. This will limit what you can do to an even narrower window of min/max loads and bullet weights at halfway decent velocities.
      right I agree that i dont want to start w/ max loads, thats why i am asking how to find the minimum.

      for example, on the AA loading info, the 100gr lapua H335 has no starting load.

      the reason why i am loading wolf brass is earlier this year i bought the upper from AA to assemble a prairie dog rifle (it performed awesome btw) and i saw the price difference in the ammo and since i was buying a large quantity (1K) i didn't want to pass it up.

      i didn't find out until after i had it that the primers were different sizes. if i would have known about the primer difference, i would have only bought a couple hundred wolf for the trip and then bought the hornady brass.

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      • #4
        When only the max load is listed the start load is 10% less than max.

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        • rasp65
          Warrior
          • Mar 2011
          • 660

          #5
          Raider
          Since the Grendel is designed for the gas operated AR-15 if you go too low there won't be enough gas to operate the rifle.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by rasp65 View Post
            Raider
            Since the Grendel is designed for the gas operated AR-15 if you go too low there won't be enough gas to operate the rifle.
            OK good, I just wanted to avoid some catastrophic failure. I am still new to reloading and I really want to follow some pre-validated recipes from the manufacturer, but they aren't available for this particular combo.

            I talked to a couple friends and I'm going to adjust per Bill Alexander down .2/.3gr then down 10% as a "starting minimum load" then ill look for any signs of overpressure.

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            • #7
              +1 on the starting with 10% below published max. I will say that my 16" middy Grendel ran fine with the minimum loads and even locked to the rear on last, but I suspect that was because I was using the 123gr Scenars, and the gas port is rather large.

              Now that makes sense if you have 1000 pieces of Wolf (PPU) brass. How did the prairie hunting go?

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