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Okay, I'd like to shoot my Carcano in the next EOHC shoot. I need to work up some loads.
Anyone have any good ones the'd like to share?
I have H414, H335, WC735, IMR4064, IMR4320 for powders...:cheers:
I also have the Hornady 6.5 Carcano only bullets...:dancingbanana:
Gotta luv the extra smilies...
The Hornady .268 bullets are the way to go. The best carcano load data I've seen, believe it or not, is in Richard Lee's "Modern Reloading". As for powders, I use H4895 mainly because I have a lot of it for use in other calibers. Of the powders you listed, I'd recommend IMR4320 as it tends to work well in the 6mm to .30 cal range in bolt guns and gives fairly low pressures.
What manuals do you have to reference for carcano loads? If none, let me know, and I'll dig up some numbers for you.
I have the Lee loading book and a hornady manual.
If I remember later tonight, I'll dig through the Nosler manual, though the loads will be for the smaller .264 bullet, if it's even in that manual at all??? The hornady and Lee manuals are the best options out there anyhow, so stick with those and you won't be led astray :) Just seat the Hornady carcano bullets to the cannelure on properly sized brass and everything should be hunkey-dory with the published data. I assume you also have the Hodgdon pamphlet manual that Andrew gives out at Higginson? Maybe worth a try.
I have .264 Hornady bullets and the Hornady load manual only has data for .268 bullets with Win WLRM primers. I, too, would like to use 4064 and/or 4895 powder. A 1964 Lyman manual has data for 6.5 Car but does not list the bullet size. Can you use .268 data with .264 bullets? Thanks for any help.
I don't see why not, though accuracy might not be great given the bore vs. bullet diameters.
Here are some max loads for the Hornady 160gr 0.268" bullet. A 0.264" of that weight or less could also be used.
IMR 4064 - 31.0 grs
RL-15 - 31.0 grs
Varget - 32.0 grs
H414 - 37.0 grs
WC760 - 39.0 grs
All with WLRM (magnum) primer.
Are Mag primers required?
No, but hte max loads he quoted are with magnum primers. FWIW, I load all my carcano rounds with regular WLR primers.Quote:
Originally Posted by derghost
Thanks. I currently load for 14 different calibers, but this one made me a bit nervous. I am going to try 30 grains of 4064 and large rifle primers. (160 gr .264 Hornady bullets). Thanks again.
The magnum primers just keeps the powder fouling down and makes for more consistant ignition with ball type powders, which can be difficult to ignite and burn consistantly, or so the rumour goes. I've tried some of the ball powders mentioned, in other cartidges, with both standard and magnum primers and don't find much difference, other than a very negligeble velocity increase and unless it's in a rifle accurate enough to make a noticeable difference, like a Hunter Bench Rest or it's ilk. bearhunter
In this case, the load data comes from Dave Emery at Hornady, and he insisted on the WLRM primer with the explanation that non-magnum primers gave inconsistent burns. I am a skeptic at heart, and if something doesn't make sense to me, I believe that I have enough experience reloading dozens of different cartridges to figure out my own loads. I broke with tradition on this one by virtue of the data coming from Dave Emery, a guy I am willing to trust, so I passed the loads along unaltered (except for rounding down to an even grain on the max loads).Quote:
Originally Posted by Claven2
That having been said, like Claven, I use non-magnum primers in all my Carcano loads, including the ones from Hornady and have not encountered inconsistency. Of course it goes without saying that no-one on this or any other board will certify that their loads are safe in your guns, but I can say that the one with H414 and with the CCI BR and CCI 200 primer was safe in my gun (I'm a CCI primer guy).
I have yet to assemble any loads for my 91/41, the limited shooting having been with PP commercial loads. I'll try some Hornady 160gr./.268"s with Varget and report on the results.
I've read & have experienced flattening & primer blow out when NOT using magnum primers with their bullets
Here is some data right from Hornady
https://www.milsurps.com/images/impo...y268data-1.gif
Loaded PP cases with 30gr. Varget, Hornady 160gr. .268" bullets, Fed. GM LR primer. Shot fine, mild recoil, no signs of excessive pressure. Quite accurate, given the problem I have with open sights (middle aged presbyopia - sights just aren't a sharp as they once were). These were not magnum primers, but there was no indication of any problem resulting from the use of standard LRs.
Incidentally, the rifle shoots very high at 100yds., close to 18 inches. Used a second target stapled above the aiming mark to catch the groups. This is with the tip of the front sight snuggled right down in the V of the rear sight, with the rear sight set at 300. I would expect a 300 yard setting would result in a point of impact 6 or 7 inches high at 100. Going to have to make a new front sight that is substantially higher, to get a useful zero.
Research I did while loading for the Carcano indicated the use of ball powder only, specifically H414 or WW760. I did have some funny things happen with this caliber using extruded powder. I did use the .268" Hornady bullet and had my best results with WW 760. Case was designed for a slow ball powder. I will dig up the info and post it.
Andy
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articl...113853252/pg_2