Jones, I think most of us understand that the major ammo manufacturers work for consistent velocity and, as you point out, only worry about staying below the max average service pressure. But I think the Brits may, on average, provide more of a cushion below the allowable service pressure than we do. And I think that's because they have a whole lot more old guns (as a percentage) still in service--including, of course, Damascus--than we do. That probably has something to do with the fact that our guns were designed for rugged use, more on the order of tools, and that they were more likely to be the victims of neglect (not seeing a gunsmith until something broke) than British guns. Vic Venters, in one of his "Gun Craft" columns for Shooting Sportsman (my copy unfortunately "ate" the date of the issue in question!) wrote:
"Although the maximum mean pressures for service loads for standard proof guns are 740 bars, CIP-regulated cartridge manufacturers typically work to far lower pressures--usually between 450 and 650 bars as measured by CIP piezo transducers."
Re my 7200 psi pheasant load: I'm not one who believes in ultra-low pressures for vintage guns. As pointed out above, they can sometimes suffer from inferior performance in cold weather. (I can remember old reloading manuals carrying notations that such and such a load was not a good choice for cold weather.) I've field tested that one down to at least the teens above 0 and it works quite well. Any more, much colder than that and I may very well stay home!
Last edited by L. Brown; 08/02/17 11:51 AM.
