Quickload Water Volume

[bob_dobalina]

I'm hoping to have someone give me some more accurate load info from QuickLoad for a load so I want to take the water volume of a fired case (well, the average of say 5). The thing I don't get and can't find anywhere specify is - isn't the water volume assuming a specific case length? I would think you would have to trim all cases to a specific length - probably the "trim to" length, and always trim to this same length when loading, for the data to be accurate. Thoughts? What has everyone else done for the water volume measurement?

 

[Dwh7271]

That's right.
Also let the water sit for a while. Overnight would be about right. Weigh the empty then add water to fill. I forget what Dr Mike called it, I believe a concave meniscus? Add water.
Weigh again and there you go.

 

[kraky1]

As a long time quickload user I can say the water stuff can be meaningful...or pretty much meaningless. First off you have to assume that quickload will hit your powder lot on the head. In many cases it will be close...in some right on...in some way off.
And, quickload has no way of knowing your chamber or if you have freebore. Best thing I have found is to go to the range and chrono a medium to medium warm load and then take it to quickloads standard settings and see what it thinks. The velocity will probably tell you alot more about your potential pressure than anything.
And every gun is different. I have a rem vtr 308 that gives quite different velocity between roomy win brass and rem brass. But I also have a tight chamber savage LE series that gives the exact same speed between exactly the same powder charges whether I run win brass, lapua or norma. (And there are big diffs in case capacity amongst these).
Once you know the speeds you can start making changes to quickload that seem in line with what you are using for components till you get a match...then you can use it to predict your work up from there.
I guess what I'm trying to say is don't let quickload totally predict your results. Show it your results and then let it predict a work up from there.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

Agreed completely...an example I've found already in QuickLoad is bullet length.

It lists 160 Accubonds at 1.41"....I measured 50 of mine, they're 1.405".

.005" here, .005" there...before long you have a lot of tolerance stacking....bullet length, powder burn rate, case capacity, case length, bullet weight, etc.

Double check everything...then edit the program to match what you have.


Also, QuickLoad says Norma MRP powder heat of explosion is 4020...Norma says its 3873....this number matters, A LOT....makes a 5 grain difference in the predictions.

That number varies from lot to lot of powder...

The powder bulk density is also different than what Norma says...which effects load density, and also varies from lot to lot.

QuickLoad is great, and potentially highly accurate....but you must tell it "exactly" what you're working with.

 

[Ridgerunner665]

QuickLoad also makes a few assumptions...barrel friction, primer power, and throat length.

There is an adjustment for barrel friction...but I haven't played with it yet.

 

[kraky1]

Just yesterday a guy I was chatting with said he had worked up to 77 grains of re17 under a 130 ttsx in a 300 wsm tikka. He was getting 3560 fps.
So you go try this info on quickload and you get a BIG RED FLAG......
It thinks that load should be doing 3745 at 76k pressure.
Well....I suppose a guy could take a look at case capacity to explain some of it away. But the real truth is ql isn't necessarily a perfect match to his powder, it doesn't know that tikkas have pretty good freebore, and it cant take into effect the grooves on the bullet.
BUT...you can take that result and go to the "step chart" and you will find that the entire combination of everything according to speed is acting 5% milder than the initial prediction....and because of that chrono reading and cross referencing the step chart we find that in reality he's probably really running 60-64k which is right in the limits of the casing.
This fellow was a VERY experienced reloader....not sure how he got there to that load...but he's got a lazer beam load for shooting out to 400 yds AND he said it was incredibly accurate.

 

[RiverRider]

Good stuff, kraky. That's one reason I think that QuickLOAD is most useful when used in conjunction with a chronograph.

 

[SJB358]

Good stuff, kraky. That's one reason I think that QuickLOAD is most useful when used in conjunction with a chronograph.

It works very well in conjunction with a chrono, almost gets to be sort of a science when you reduce the variables as much as possible. I really enjoy QL. It has been EXCELLENT for using RL17 with the 35 Newton and 338 Win Mag.

 

[bob_dobalina]

Thanks for the help