Flyover_Country
Bearcat
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2018
- Messages
- 62
pulaski said:Question for the masses . Why "hot load" a cartridge ?
I see this all the time "interested in a hot load for a (fill in the cartridge).
Why not buy a bigger rifle or pistol ?
If you want to "hot load" a 45 colt why not buy a 454 Casull .
Just asking because I don't understand this concept .
Never "hot loaded" anything . I just went and bought a larger caliber .
Maybe it's just me but if you understand this philosophy enlighten me .
pulaski
I think it is because of four things:
1. Many older cartridges chambered for older firearms have a SAAMI pressure limit that is much less than what the modern firearms they are currently being fired from are capable of. An excellent example is the .45-70, which since it is so old and has been chambered in so many different types of firearms, has book-published loadings of 16k PSI (black powder pressure loads), 28k PSI (SAAMI spec "safe for all rifles" loads), 40k PSI (for modern lever-action .45-70s), and 50k PSI (for Ruger and Browning single-shots.) The .45-70 loaded to 40k PSI has significantly different possible applications than the 16k PSI load so loading to a higher pressure lets them use their firearms safely for different uses than they would have otherwise been able to.
2. Somebody has (or thinks they have) too small of a cartridge to do what they want to do, and instead of buying a new firearm chambered in a larger cartridge, they want to "get more" out of their current firearm.
3. Some people just like to push the envelope.
4. There are very specific cases such as IDPSA where somebody has to comply with a certain set of rules and their current firearm is just short of meeting some breakpoint (e.g. major power level). They would rather push their current firearm/cartridge a little hot to cross that breakpoint than get a different firearm or a different chambering.
Personally, I have never loaded rounds hot. I picked chamberings such that full-power SAAMI spec loads were at least powerful enough for what I wanted to do and if anything, load down rather than up. I reload for all of my centerfire firearms. Virtually all of the rounds fired from my shotguns are "reduced" as full-powered 1 3/4-2 ounce 3" magnum 12 gauge rounds have limited usefulness compared to a standard 2 3/4" 1-1 1/8 ounce load, ditto with the 20 gauge and 1 1/4 ounce 3" magnum vs. 7/8-1 ounce 2 3/4" loads. Most all of my .44 Magnum loads are slightly warmer than a .44 Special and not full-bore rounds. Most of my .30-06 rounds are full power or very close to it since I mainly use my '06 for deer hunting and use the other firearms for lower-powered applications such as pest control, but I still have even loaded the '06 down to .30-30 power levels for some of the range practice (although it shoots 10" low at 100 yards compared to full-speed loads.)