I am getting my son to load me some lite loads.any Ideas or recipes
Monty
You can order Hornady brass here:
http://www.midwayusa.com/browse/BrowsePr...**670***9013***Monty:
You said your rifle is a double. I assume you're new to them. It isn't a single barrel rifle, so don't try to treat it like one. Everything changes.
Double rifles are wonderful general purpose hunting rifles. Much of their beauty is in their simplicity. They're regulated for one standard (full power) load. In handloading for one, once you've duplicated the load it was regulated with, you're set. All you have to worry about is that one load, and two bullets - soft and solid - in that one weight. Absent hunting thick-skinned dangerous game, you'll have no need for the solid. Don't start out trying to make light loads work. Barring luck, they won't regulate and will only frustrate you. Yes, reduced loads can be made to work in some double rifles, but that's for later. To start, you need to find the load it was regulated for.
Here's some load data:
http://www.nosler.com/index.php?p=15&b=9.3mm&s=334http://data.hodgdon.com/cartridge_load.asp Just select "rifle" and "9.3X74R"
Since most 9.3X74Rs were regulated with the 286 grain bullet, but not all, I'd start with that weight. I've used 62 grains IMR 4350, and Federal 210 primers with both the Woodleigh and Hornady 286 grain bullets. Also, 65 grains IMR 4831. Woodleigh and Hornady 9.3 bullets are available from Midway and Huntington Die Specialties.
Start a few grains low, and work up shooting over a chronograph. Don't fire multiple rights and then multiple lefts. Fire in pairs in right/left order (that's the order they're regulated with). Note where the rights strike relative to the lefts. Generally, if they consistently strike wide (right on right and left on left, several inches apart), velocity is too low. If they cross (right on left and left on right), the velocity is too high. Assuming 65cm (23.6" barrels), if the barrels are still wide at 2350 fps, STOP, and try another powder. With 286 grain, expect regulation between 2200 and 2300 fps. Perfect regulation puts the rights on the right and the lefts on the left 3/4" apart at 50 yards.
Like I said, everything changes. When handloading for these flanged double rifle cases in drop-down barrel actions, you can't use conventional pressure signs to keep you out of trouble. By the time they appear, you're over proof pressure. I never attempt load development in a double rifle without a chronograph.
Use jacketed lead core bullets in your rifle. DON'T use monometal bullets (Barnes X, etc.). The risk of irreparable damage is too great.
Correct bench rest technique for a double rifle is different as well. Place your sand bags in front of you. Hold the rifle just as you would when shooting off-hand. Grip the barrels (not the fore-end) in the forward hand, and rest the back of the forward hand - not the gun - on the bags. Use no other rest. Just rest your elbows on the top of the bench with hand towels underneath them. Do not use a rest under the butt. Not as steady as what you're used to using with a single barrel rifle, but the double must be allowed to recoil in exactly the same way it does when fired off hand, or you're wasting your time.
