Case fill

[rp-]

I'm loading some 38s tonight with 7 grains of lovex powder under a 158gr plated bullet. I can't help but notice it hardly takes up any room in the case. I've shot this load before and know it's safe to shoot and all but it got me curious. When is there too little powder in a case? And yes, I know I could use a fluffier powder but I'm using what I have because I have a lot of it.

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[plinkr]

I'm loading some 38s tonight with 7 grains of lovex powder under a 158gr plated bullet. I can't help but notice it hardly takes up any room in the case. I've shot this load before and know it's safe to shoot and all but it got me curious. When is there too little powder in a case? And yes, I know I could use a fluffier powder but I'm using what I have because I have a lot of it.

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Some powders are more position sensitive than others, and this is also affected by what primers you use. I don't know about Iovex powder. I once tried using a filler with Titegroup, found no effect, but TG is not very position sensitive. YMMV.

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[dee]

I've found case fill percentage versus burn rate in bottle neck rounds can be somewhat finicky. Anything under 80% is a no go but I typically won't try anything under 90% fill. Now this is in consideration with burn rate as sub loads are obviously extremely low case fill scenarios but its only safe with certain powders and their specific burning properties.

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[rp-]

These are 38s I'm loading though so they're straight wall. I did read somewhere long ago that when developing sub loads not to go under 30% case fill. I'm not sure where my 38 loads are. Maybe I'll measure tonight when I get home.

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[Deavis]

For 38 Special, too little is when the bullet wont clear the barrel. It's not like you are under loading H110 or something wierd. Besides, except for cowboy action shooters, who down loads 38 special? Oh, the horror of that recoil!

Titegeoup max on a 158 is 3.9gr, talk about a tiny charge in that big old case. Trailboss is your only option to fill it. You can test powder position sensitivity by pointing the gun up or down (safely please) to move the powder. 231 will change spread by over 100FPS from front to back position.

 

[rp-]

This isnt even a light load though. it's a +p load. I did mark a case tonight and it looks like 7 grains is right about 40% fill.

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[Texasjack]

Some powders - like Titegroup - are designed to work no matter how full the case or how it may be slanted. Pistol cases are so small that it's not likely that you'll see issues with a partially full case. If a rifle case was only 1/3 filled, it might affect the accuracy. If you go to the manufacturer's web site and look at the description of their powders, they seem to very similar to American (or Australian, as many of the new powders are coming from there) powders and shouldn't be a problem.