marcus: Unintentional squib load in a hand gun with typical pistol powder... probably not much chance of detonation (notice... I didn't say no chance... maybe no chance but I won't say that) but not the proper way to go about working up a load either and possibly dangerous if the same loose conceptualization is carried over to high power rifles...

Rumbler: I ran this down conceptually when I was working on the heavy-bullet Makarov load but I'm not sure now whether I posted anything about it then... With a high power rifle, pressure signs on the expended brass certainly tell you if you have gone too far, and possibly the same with a high pressure pistol round (I wasn't focused on that so I'm not saying one way or the other for certain), BUT for "ye olde reliable" lower pressure rounds like the Makarov I was working with or the .45 ACP there is a pretty wide band between what is recommended for the design of the gun and a point at which pressure signs would appear on brass. Yeah... engineers and lawyers look at all the old guns in the caliber and at just plain building in an unknown in detail but known-to-exist margin of safety. The main "danger" as I understand it is in slowly, bit by bit, destroying the gun... not catastrophic dissassembly with great hazard to the shooter and others nearby... but still, that doesn't seem like a really good idea to me. Now... everybody here that was paying attention knows that I'm not utterly and always "by the book". That heavy-bullet Makarov load I worked on was outside of any known parameters except certain knowledge that the Ruskies had done done it somehow with JHP... but I was working on it with a lead bullet. But know this too. My SOLE intention is to perfect the load, make a small supply of rounds with that load, then basically set them aside or a VERY rainy day. I have NO intention of feeding a steady diet of them to any Makarov, and in fact I used a CZ82 for my "test gun" because its published pressure limit is higher than the Makarov's. Your hands, your eyes, your other varios tender bits, and your guns... but I would encourage you to rethink a bit some of the loadings that you've been doing... and mostly why you "really need" them. Maybe I'm a hypocrite. Maybe I wax and wane by the shape of the moon. Maybe I'm befuddled one day and sharp as a tack the next. Or maybe I'm just more right than wrong about this. Just think about it. Can't hurt. Much.