Carcano Loads

[bearhunter]

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

[Andy]

No, but hte max loads he quoted are with magnum primers. FWIW, I load all my carcano rounds with regular WLR primers.

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).

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).

[tiriaq]

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.

[New Philly Sports]

I've read & have experienced flattening & primer blow out when NOT using magnum primers with their bullets

Here is some data right from Hornady

[tiriaq]

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.

[762nato]

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