Pressure: when is too much and why?

[Choupique]

muzzle brakes can tame a big cartridge

Idk about yall, but i can't keep my eyes open with big braked rifles. You can feel the pressure inside your head, and all the shit flying around, the noise. I'd rather the recoil. I feel like I'm back on target quicker with an unbraked rifle, within reason of course. My only data point for the same rifle braked and bare muzzle is a .300 win mag and a .35 whelen. In both rifles I prefer the recoil to the sinus shock from the brake.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Idk about yall, but i can't keep my eyes open with big braked rifles. You can feel the pressure inside your head, and all the shit flying around, the noise. I'd rather the recoil. I feel like I'm back on target quicker with an unbraked rifle, within reason of course. My only data point for the same rifle braked and bare muzzle is a .300 win mag and a .35 whelen. In both rifles I prefer the recoil to the sinus shock from the brake.

It depends on the brake I think. I had previously used MBM brakes and never experienced pressure as a shooter and didn't know why folks were commenting about it but I used a PVA jet blast this year and noticed that pressure blast as the shooter.

 

[35WhelenAI]

I'm not trying to create a urinary Olympiad or any type of negative debate.

The thread is about pressure and I'm going to stick to it at this point.

 

[bmart2622]

After you came in and stirred the pot now you're all about staying on topic!!!!

 

[jfk69]

Why shoot those calibers?

Because the caliber is excellent when loaded properly. The .280 comes immediately to mind as one of those grossly under loaded cartridges in factory ammo due to the 760 and 7600 being chambered in it for introduction. Great round when loaded for a bolt action. Not everyone wants to shoot the same cartridges as the crowd.

 

[35WhelenAI]

Disagreement is not stirring the pot. Check out the definition, I won't tell you what it is because you wouldn't want to hear it, I'd be putting words in your mouth. There's plenty to back up what I've said about bigger cases, and plenty to back up about the other things I've shared. As well, lots to back up counter points on the other side of some things as well. That's why it's a discussion. I'll keep the discussion to bigger cases for the same caliber instead of more pressure moving forward.

 

[Choupique]

.280 comes immediately to mind as one of those grossly under loaded cartridges in factory ammo due to the 760 and 7600 being chambered in it for introductio

Why not get a 7 mag instead?

I guess I'm just not understanding the logic for venturing off the book. Somebody developed that data with a strain gauge or crush gauges. It's going to be relatively accurate for your rifle. All you've got to go by are visual and tactile clues which are hardly scientific. If book max speed is too slow, why not get something with a bigger case? It's 2024, there's about 18 different options for every caliber we have now.

I'm not arguing that it can't be done safely. I just dont see the reason for doing it.

 

[bmart2622]

Because you can make the given cartridge faster and still be safe if you choose to

 

[Harvey_NW]

Why not get a 7 mag instead?

I guess I'm just not understanding the logic for venturing off the book. Somebody developed that data with a strain gauge or crush gauges. It's going to be relatively accurate for your rifle. All you've got to go by are visual and tactile clues which are hardly scientific. If book max speed is too slow, why not get something with a bigger case? It's 2024, there's about 18 different options for every caliber we have now.

I'm not arguing that it can't be done safely. I just dont see the reason for doing it.

All SAAMI ammo is loaded to a specific functional COAL, you change that dimension and you can change the dynamics of the pressure curve, which they don't publish data for. They also have to make sure that ammo will shoot in every factory cut chamber on the market with tentatively zero risk to the consumer.

Without getting too scientific, most of the time you can seat the bullet much farther out, add more powder, and voila more performance. Also a lot of factory ammo is loaded with available powders that may not be an optimal burn rate for that cartridge, so there's another opportunity to improve.

In some cases (7 PRC and Federal ammo comes to mind) it's pretty good stuff and you might be splitting hairs trying to beat it. But with a lot of older chamber designs the load data is pretty anemic, and you can make big improvements just by loading with optimal components. Especially if you start customizing chamber dimensions for those particular components.