Howdy all,

Took the PS90 out again today to blow up cantaloupes and watermelons (small watermelon + 12 gauge slug from 3 feet = large wet patch on the ground and watermelon bits all over madoc and shooting partner = hilarious).

Anyway, I had some favorable velocity tests yesterday with the 6.1 grain 3n37 and 40 grain Vmax, so I loaded up another hundred to shoot today. Needless to say, something was amiss, as I was running into FTEs every third round - the round was doing the same sort of failure that was occurring the with lot#16 SS195 - where the empty was partially in the way of the bolt and new round, and got crammed in between. Anyone else runnning into this sort of issue? The fired rounds show little if any primer cratering, but they are filthy The brass is once fired, with no visible defects in the lacquer coating.

Trouble shooting department in my head has come up with several possible reasons
1. I don't know how to handload properly (most likely not this).
2. Sizing lube is gumming up the works - I am using Hornady One shot, and not cleaning the cases after sizing (so it may be #1 after all).
3. The round isn't hot enough to cycle the bolt back hard enough to cause the ejector to push the round away (I doubt this, the load pushes areound 2200fps out the of PS90, which is 400fps faster than what I was clocking the ss196)?
4. The gun hates reloads?
5. ?

I am thinking that the chamber is dirty (it was) and the One Shot (which is basically just wax) is causing some sort of build up that is sticky enough to slow the ejected case down and it just falls into the cranny just below the breech face.

So, next step is to eliminate possiblity 2, and clean the chamber something good, and then post another report.

I use hornady One Shot as well (I also use Lee deep draw lube diluted 1 to 4 with 90% alcohol and sprayed on) and wash my brass with Simple Green after sizing. Works great, leavs no residue, and removes a lot of crap from the inside of the case.

I think that 3N37 is perhaps a little more suitable for heavier projectiles, as this has been my experience.

Yes, this gun is finicky about reloads, its not just you. I have experienced the most reliability with TrueBlue for my lighter/faster loads. 3N37 is quite excellent for my 55grn lower velocity rounds.

Try washing your brass in SG, and test again.. Perhaps there will be a difference. I have noticed reliability problems with a number of cartriges that I have used spray on lube and not removed it before loading. A good lube that doesn't cause reliability problems if not removed is Hornady Unique (essentially mink oil). It stays slick and, I believe, aids in extraction.

PM or e-mail me if you have specific reloading questions about this caliber, I'm glad to help if I can.

Also, you may wish to try brass-lapping your chamber. I did mine and it increased reliability ten-fold.

I wash my brass in SG/water to get the grime off, and then oven dry the brass at 170 degrees for a couple hours. I was resizing and then washing the brass again - then I built a test round, and realized that the should was just a tad bit off, which meant that neither the 5.7 nor the PS90 would go into full battery. So I have respraying and resizing all 500 rounds that I had resized, trimmed, and then washed - the lazy and impatient in me left the lube on for the second go round. I'll add the second wash back into the equation, and hopefully that will take care of the problem.

MO, your posts have been very help, thank you for your input. I'm going to see what I can wring out of the 3n37 before I jump to the next powder.

Cheers,
Madoc

Okay, might have fixed the problem. Sized the brass, cleaned the lube off, trimmed the brass, cleaned it again, loaded up some test rounds. took it out today with the PS90, and cranked off 25 without a hitch. While it doesn't point to anything in particular, I have a feeling the case lube was what was gumming up the works - the brass is much cleaner after firing w/out the lube than with it on the cases.

So, now I have to load up 250 more rounds and treat them the same way to make sure things are working out.

I have noticed that with the 3n37 at 6.2 grains, the PS90 seems to cycle slower - there was what felt like a tenth of a second lag from when I was releasing the trigger to when it reset. Of course, I could be crazy (which is more likely than me noticing a trigger lag).

Keep us posted on what you find out.

will do. Next on the slate will be HS6.