Determining Pressure

[fshaw]

Other than using reloading manual published maximum load data, how do you personally determine when you’re approaching maximum pressure for a given load combination you’re working up for your bolt action rifle? Do you use bolt lift feel, primer appearance, case head expansion, or some other method. Just curious what most guys are using. I don’t have a chronograph and am not interested in purchasing one. Where I hunt (Adirondacks), velocity is of little importance other than obtaining the minimum required to ensure bullet performance.

Thanks.

Frank

 

[Bluefish]

Imho velocity and quickload are probably the best ways to estimate pressure. I found that you can back into pressure in QL by looking at velocity with a given charge weight, then adjusting case volume until you get the predicted velocity to match actual. Is it perfect, no. With that said, I still look at primers, bolt face imprint, and hard to extract, but those can often only show up until way over pressure. Especially when I am working on cartridges with lower pressure limits