I hate to read this. I recently loaded minimum loads of 5744 with 400 grain cast bullets for practice rounds in my .404 Jeffery. I have almost 2 lbs. on had to practice loads in my .404 and my .375 H&H. These are a GM DSB '98 Mauser (new) and Win M70 (also new). Should I be greatly alarmed or is this a tempest in a tea cup?
You should be greatly alarmed... if you are prone to being careless during reloading, and likely to double charge your cases. Otherwise, it appears that approved and tested 5744 loads are quite safe. In today's environment of lawsuits for every little thing, it seems very unlikely that published data for 5744 loads would even be printed if it was questionable.
There are many very safe loads for many cartridges that utilize powders that could easily be double-charged, or even quadruple-charged for that matter. Think of the hundreds of millions of 148 gr. target loads in .38 Special that used around 2.8 grs. of Unique for example. The capacity of a .38 Special case is 23.4 grs. of water. The lesson here is to be extra careful with any load that can be double-charged. The advice to avoid distractions while reloading, and to visually check every charged case before bullet seating is vitally important. When the forensic analysis of a firearm blow-up points to a probable double charge, the guy who made the mistake seldom wishes to admit he simply screwed up. The blame is then frequently placed upon the powder, the components, or the heat-treatment of the firearm.
