What first?

[avg. joe]

When working up a load. what is the first thing you look for as a high pressure indicator? I usually use a couple at once. How the shell ejects (on a bolt or slide action) and how the primer looks.

[airedale]

The two indicators you have mentioned are the main ones and will usually start showing up at about the same time when pressures start getting up there, also the shell case head itself will have shiney marks from being pressed hard against the bolt face. Working up a load gradually at half grain intervals the signs will start showing slowly and will increase rapidly if you continue to raise the powder charge.

 

The worst case I have personally witnessed was a friend's 338 Win Mag in a Ruger 77. The handloads were mine that were not even considered to be a hot load and worked perfectly fine in my Sako showing zero signs of high pressure. In the Ruger we had all we could do to to get the bolt open and pull the case, the primers were flat and very bright marks on the case head from the bolt face were very apparent. I backed the load down a grain and a half and there were no pressure signs and the gun shot great.

 

A case of slightly different chamber dimensions that made a big difference in pressures and a good reason to never start with a maximum load in a loading manual.

 

Al