Good Monday Evening.
We are going to roll out a new database, that will require input from a lot of people to make it worth while. Let me explain.
Load data that is published by Hodgdon, Sierra, Barnes, Western Powders, and the other big manufacturers is typically the results of testing under SAAMI guidelines. The test barrels are manufactured to SAAMI minimum chamber dimensions, and are calibrated with SAAMI Standard ammunition prior to each round of testing. Most rifle barrels are a standard 24in and pistol barrels come in various lengths.
Few rifles today have barrels that are 24 inches, and pistol barrel lengths rarely seem to match up with what the SAAMI test length is. In addition there are gaps in the data, where Barnes may decide to test Powder A, B, and C for a certain load, Sierra may test A, C and D. The reasons for this often come down to the cost of generating the data. When I was working in the industry it was estimated to cost $1.3 Million to produce a new revision to an existing loading Manuel.
Powder Distributors and Bullet Manufactures only test a narrow range of powders that they think will work best for the given load. With new powders and cartridges coming out on a yearly basis companies can’t release updates fast enough. Which is why many companies have gone to releasing the information online rather then printing costly revision of dead tree load manuals.
Part of this website is dedicated to providing a resource for hand loaders, both the hobby level guys and the professionals. With the widespread availability of chronographs, we live in a time where most serious hand loaders have a chronograph, magneto speed, or a Lab Radar. Collectively hand loaders generate more data on load performance then any individual lab. While hand loaders sporadically share data, I haven’t yet found a source that compiles test results from hand loaders into a searchable database. That is what I aim to create.
The link for the page is here: Load Database
If you would like to submit your pet loads the form is on the website, fill it out and email it to myself at Jayandrew338@gmail.com. Once we get 50 loads, we will go live with the database. This is a work in progress as I get input from everyone we will change inputs or try and make things easier/faster. There are a few drop down menus that allow you to make a selection instead of having to type in the data. Data will be presented in a downloadable excel spreadsheet which will be locked for editing, however if we can grow the database we will try and offer both the excel table but also figure out some embedded website database. Any way, let’s see where this goes.
We have made progress on the action design we teased last week. For those who guessed, it is a single shot, falling block action published in The Home Shop Machinist magazine in the 90’s. The series was written by the creator Walter B. Mueller, and thus has been dubbed the Mueller Rifle Action.
So far I have found these prints to be mostly complete, with a few dimensions left to builder discretion. Given it was published in a magazine, they cut the prints down to a couple of views and made the grievous sin of trying to fit to many dimensions into one view (Ok, it’s something I hate, not a grievous sin). So I hope to correct some of that in the redrawn prints. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of this book as Mr. Mueller does an excellent job of laying out some of the math behind the design. Anyone curious in calculating the forces and the resulting minimum material thicknesses required would find this read of interest.
You can pick it up a copy of this print on Amazon.com for about $20 sans tax. Of course I will reference his work in the print, and he gives build details that my print will not.
I think that is all this week. I am still working on flushing out some powder information to add to the burn rate chart. As soon as I get it updated I will release the new version.
Thanks to everyone who has stopped by in the last week. If you have questions, comments or suggestions please email me at jayandrew338@gmail.com. You can also find me at our Facebook Page, and our Instagram page. Looking forward to seeing some load data!
Thanks and Stay Safe Out There!
The Ballistic Assistant