Mike,
Well first, my knowledge compared to Mr. Barsness is like comparing the volume of a thimble vs a Water Tank...
The only real way I've done it, is to do the opposite of working up, but take a working known load and work down...
different powders can get squirrelly when you start to work down, and will start showing signs of eradic ignition...
all powders will not necessarily work very well...they may get the bullet to shoot, but that isn't accomplishing the objective... you want it to be accurate and safe, and consistent...
I have found shotgun powders work extremely well in many cases...
For a short course in this endeavor, for around $20, or less at a used book store... pick up a current or used Lyman Load Manual for Cast Bullets and work off of that...
Cast bullet loads are no where near what is SAAMI specs, as the most many of them are shot at is about 30/30 speeds...so in many firearms you are nowhere near max pressure, so I have always found using that load data for jacketed bullets work just fine...
but I'll defer that confirmation to Mr Barsness....
but I will point out that many of those shot gun powders have different patterns to them than do regular rifle powders...
an example is that you can take a max load say in a 243, with a 100 grain bullet... with regular rifle powder, you can put more in when using a much lighter bullet and be safe... not so with a shot gun powder...
in a 243, what I found was max with a 100 grain bullet, is also the same charge for max with a 55 or 60 grain bullet....
but follow those Lyman Cast Bullet Manuals and you'll be fine and find a lot of shooting time for cheaper without wearing out your barrel so fast, and also find they are a joy to shoot with how low the recoil is with them...yet with the right bullet they are plenty for deer and smaller at 150 yds or less, 200 or less if you know how to play with your trajectory...
feel free to PM me if you have any questions ever...
best regards
seafire
