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4 Handloader 263

December 2009Volume 44, Number 6

ISSN 0017-7393 Issue No. 263

Background Photo: © 2009 Royal Tine Images

22 Die AdjustmentTipsFrom the Hip -Brian Pearce

26 Trigger TimePistol Pointers -Charles E. Petty

30 Hodgdon H-335Propellant Profiles -R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

34 New Powders inthe .220 SwiftSpeed and AccuracyJohn Haviland

42 Cast BulletMyth BustingNothing butthe TruthMike Venturino

52 Ruger LCRLittle Guns,Big BusinessCharles E. Petty

60 3 SixgunCartridges.45 Colt, .44 Special,.44 MagnumBrian Pearce

8 Personal BestReloader’s Press -Dave Scovill

12 .300 WeatherbyMagnumBullets & Brass -Brian Pearce

16 The Vernacular ofBPCR SilhouetteMike’s Shootin’ Shack -Mike Venturino

18 .275 H&HBelted MagnumCartridge Board -Gil Sengel

Page 42 . . .

Page 60 . . .

Page 52 . . .

70 .22 Remington JetT/C rescues defuncthandgun cartridgein rifles.Stan Trzoniec

78 Rampro AmmoCheckUniversal ReloaderGaugeProduct Tests -R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

82 Sierra MatchKingPalma BulletInside Product News -Clair Rees

86 Gun Digest 2009Book Reviews -R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

90 Is Bigger Better?In Range -Terry Wieland

Publisher of Handloader™ is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of publishedloading data or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproducedwithout written permission from the publisher. Publisher assumes all North American Rights upon acceptance andpayment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility forlost or mutilated manuscripts.

Issue No. 263 December 2009

AMMUNAMMUNITITIONON REL RELOADING NG JOJOURURNAL AL Publisher/President – Don Polacek

Associate Publisher – Mark Harris

Editor in Chief – Dave Scovill

Managing Editor – Roberta Scovill

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Contributing EditorsAssociate Editor – Al Miller

John Haviland Ron SpomerBrian Pearce Stan TrzoniecCharles E. Petty R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.Clair Rees Mike VenturinoGil Sengel Ken Waters

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Handloader® (ISSN 0017-7393) is published bi-monthly by Polacek Publishing Corporation, dbaWolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek, Pres -ident), 2625 Stearman Rd., Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona86301 (also publisher of Rifle® magazine). Tele -phone: (928) 445-7810. Periodical Postage paid atPrescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices.Subscription prices: U.S. possessions – single issue,$5.99; 6 issues, $22.97; 12 issues, $39.00. Foreignand Canada – single issue, $5.99; 6 issues $29.00; 12issues, $51.00. Please allow 8-10 weeks for firstissue. Advertising rates furnished on request. Allrights reserved.Change of address: Please give six weeks notice.

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Wolfe Publishing Co.2625 Stearman Rd., Ste. APrescott, AZ 86301Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124© Polacek Publishing Corporation

Page 52Page 42Page 34

Background Photo: © 2009 Royal Tine Images6 Handloader 263

On the cover . . .The Thompson/Center Contender rifleis chambered for the .22 Remington Jet.Photo by Stan Trzoniec

Page 82 . . .

8 Handloader 263

ber of one of the great trackteams of the 1960s and 70s; itwas clearly another to be embed-ded in the tradition of world-

class distance

runners who competed at the Uof O.

During my undergraduate andgraduate years at Oregon, Iwatched Kenny overcome thedread of his greatest fear . . . losing. Not just losing, but doingso in front of the home-towncrowd. The entire nation knewthe “Ducks” were the team to

beat. We owned the legend, andlike it or not, Kenny was a part of it.

What Kenny and most of us atOregon ultimately learned is that there was no use in makingexcuses since no one on the

team would listen,least of all CoachBill Bowerman. Hewas a task master,a tyrant and tomost, a masterfulcoach. Those whochanced to admitdefeat were, asKenny put in hisbook, Bowerman

and the Men of

Oregon , “disap-peared.” One daythey were there,gone the next.

Kenny went on to become aworld-class distance runner atOregon, olympic marathon run-ner, writer for Sports Illustrated

and, during various track andfield events, a sportscaster. Heeven managed a passable appear-ance in Personal Best, oppositeMariel Hemingway, that wasfilmed on the Oregon campus.

So it was that I overheard thenotion on national televisionnews that it was important forfolks to know that the presenteconomic condition was “inher-ited” from the previous adminis-tration. It made no sense. Whowould offer a precursor to covera win or a loss but a politician?

www.handloadermagazine.com

In this politically charged

societal evolution, I’ve noticeda curious phenomenon – the artof “scape goating.” It doesn’t mat-ter if we win or lose, either way we must re-mind folks that we havea scapegoat. Nowadays,it’s the former presi-dent. So, the current ad-ministration rarely, ifever, misses the oppor-tunity to mention thatdifficulties were inher-ited.

And before anyonegets the wrong idea,this is about a mindsetnot any particular pol -itician or the present administra-tion.

Many years ago, I noticed truewinners never quit, never offeredexcuses and never blamed some-one else for a loss. Kenny Moore,a distance runner out of SouthEugene High School was a clas-sic example. In high school, Kenwas not a serious challenger totop-notch runners. As a freshmanat the University of Oregon, how-ever, he changed. It was nolonger enough to just be a mem-

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The answer is simple enough.Those who continue to shirk re-sponsibility with an “inherited”caveat are building a case for ascapegoat and are not fully com-mitted to the task.

So it is with most of life. Notlong ago, as this is written, Iwatched the host on a TV hunt-ing program shoot two differentanimals three times before bring-ing them to the ground. In theroundup with the talking head(the host), he said he was simplytrying to prevent needless suf -fering by following up on thewounded animal as quickly aspossible. Noble possibly, but shorton commitment.

If the host had been a seriousstudent of the rifle and hunting, afollow-up should not have beennecessary.

I’ve also heard a great dealabout the necessity for a “clean,one-shot kill.” If a hunter is seri-ous about such morality, it’s easyenough to produce results, notplatitudes. Any hunter with half abrain is aware that a clean kill isparticularly desirable. Having toexplain one’s moral high groundis superfluous, unless of course,it is simply an effort to conjure ascapegoat for lousy shooting, i.e.,a distraction to divert attentionfrom responsibility.

I suppose the point of all this isthat it is possible to be a lousyshooter/hunter and still be “seenon TV.” And, it is possible thatthe host is so busy with produc-tion, etc., that it never occurs tohim that the success of the showmight include being responsibleenough to put in some “serious”rifle practice – offhand, kneeling,shooting sticks or whatever – sohe doesn’t have to be concernedabout “needless suffering,” andhe darn sure won’t have to ex-plain himself to his audience.

* * *

The following comments were

December-January 2010 9www.handloadermagazine.com

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Handloader 263

recently received from Dr. DonHeath of Norma Precision:

A Reloading Warning

Reputable companies that sellbullets or powder go to a lot ofeffort to produce reloading man-uals. There is a reason for this,namely so customers can reloadsafely. Almost all manuals con-tain a warning along the lines of:“These loads were safe with thecomponents listed.” If you changeanything, you should reduce thecharge by 10 percent and workup. There are also a lot of folkswith a CNC lathe who think theycan make bullets.

Yesterday a fairly well knownScandinavian journalist came tosee me with a new brand of bul-lets available in Norway. He hadloaded some in a .300 WinchesterMagnum and wanted them pres-sure tested and accuracy meas-ured in test barrels. “The reportson these bullets are fantastic.They are shooting sub-1⁄2-MOAgroups with them. You guysshould seriously consider loadingthem in some of your lineup.”Hmmm, I thought, we’ll see. Ihave seen many such bullets, andit takes a lot to impress me.

I set up a pressure barrel andfired a round. “Err, sir, better not fire another.” came from thetechnician. Pressure was a ratherenthusiastic 81,000 psi. Theequipment is only rated up to65,200 psi! It says a lot for the old1896 Swedish Mauser action thatthe pressure barrel is screwedinto that it didn’t let go, and therewas only a little stickiness when Iopened the bolt.

“What load did you put in there?”I asked.

“Oh, the max listed in your manual for that bullet weight.”Hmmm. I pulled a few bulletsand weighed the charge. Asstated, it was the maximum listed– 81.3 grains of MRP powder –but for the 150-grain FMJ trainingbullet. Maximum loads for the150-grain Nosler Partition andBST (Ballistic Tip) are a couple

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of grains less. I dropped thecharge to the recommendedstarting load for the Nosler Parti-tion. Pressure was still over68,000 psi, but the velocity was alackluster 3,000 fps. Interestingly,there were almost no visiblepressure signs on the case orprimer. I needed a magnifyingglass to see the cratering aroundthe edge of the primer. I camedown another grain, and al-though pressures were at “Weath-erby maximum,” velocity wasdown to 2,980 fps.

“Great bullet,” I said. “At maxi-mum loadings, you can get it togo as fast as a .30-06 will drive a150-grain bullet!”

There could be little arguingabout the equipment. I test fireda few CIP (European equivalentof SAAMI) “proof” rounds to cali-brate the equipment, then tookthe load that was judged safewith the new bullet (74 grains ofMRP) and stuck a Barnes TSX inthe case. Velocity was over 3,000fps, but pressure was a very re-laxed 48,500 psi. The journalistwas a little put out (to put itmildly). We then wandered overto the lab and took a rough scanof the new bullets (rough – downto 1⁄4 of a thousandth of an inch).It showed that the grooves werecosmetic (They were too shallowto relive the pressure.) and notoverly uniform! The bullets werealso fatter than any other “mono-lithic” hollowpoint in .30 caliberwe have ever measured. Theywere just within CIP maximum,but nobody (in the know, any-way) makes bullets that fat!

It showed both of us just howdramatically changing a singlecomponent can alter pressures –and precisely why there are dif-ferent loads for bullets of thesame weight in a given cartridge.It also showed the journalistthere is a lot more “science” toproducing a good bullet than aCAD program, an idea and a CNClathe.

– Dr. Don Heath,D.Sc., Technical Support,

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12 Handloader 263

Q: I am a new handloader

with many questions, buttoday I am looking for data for aWeatherby Mark V .300 Magnumrifle. I have already purchasedfour boxes of 168-grain BarnesTriple-Shock X-Bullets and amready to go. My goal is to dupli-cate Weatherby factory loads

load? Your comments will be ap-preciated.

– J.F., Meadville PA

A: Weatherby lists the .300

Weatherby Magnum with a 165-

grain Barnes Triple-Shock X-

Bullet at 3,330 fps when fired

from a 26-inch barrel, which

clocked 3,295 fps from my per-

sonal rifle.

I am unaware of the what pow-

der Weatherby is currently us -

ing in factory ammunition, but

using 86.0 grains of Alliant

Reloder 22 behind the slightly

heavier 168-grain Triple-Shock

X-Bullet will reach 3,300+ fps

from a 26-inch barrel, even ex-

ceeding factory load velocities.

That load was developed in

Weatherby cases capped with

Federal 215 Large Rifle Mag-

num primers.

.300 SAVAGE

Q: More than 30 years ago, my fa-ther gave me a Savage Model 99.300 Savage, which remains myfavorite deer rifle. In my part ofthe country, a long shot is 150yards with typical distancesbeing between 50 to 75 yards. Isighted in that rifle with 180-grain Winchester roundnose bul-lets and have never had to adjustthe sights in the years since.

I am planning a mule deer huntin Montana and expect distanceswill be significantly farther so amswitching to a lighter 150-grainbullet (either Hornady or Sierraspitzers) to increase velocity andflatten the trajectory. With 180-grain bullets I always used IMR-4895 powder. Can you suggesthow much powder to use, or isthere a better powder for thelighter bullets?

– T.L., Montgomery AL

in both accuracy and velocity. I have researched the subjectsome but am getting conflictinginformation. And none of my re-loading manuals contain data forthat bullet. Can you suggest a

A: IMR-4895 is a good powder

in the .300 Savage, but it will

not achieve the highest velocities

with 150-grain bullets. Should

you choose to stick with that

powder, start with 39.0 grains

and work up to a maximum

charge of 42.0 grains while

watching for signs of excess

pressure.

Powders that are ideal for the

.300 Savage are the same ones

producing superb results in the

.308 Winchester and in many

instances the .223 Remington.

The point being, because of those

two cartridges’ extreme popular-


BULLETS & BRASS by Brian Pearce • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

.300 WEATHERBY MAGNUM

Alliant Reloder 22 will duplicate.300 Weatherby Magnum factoryload velocities.

Hodgdon Varget will produce accuracy and near top velocitiesin the .300 Savage with 150-grainbullets.

Brian uses IMR-4350 inthe .300 H&H Magnum,which duplicates orexceeds factory ammuni-tion velocities and hasproven accurate.

ity worldwide, there have been

many excellent powders devel-

oped for them. I would suggest

trying 42.0 grains of Hodgdon

Varget with either of the 150-

grain bullets you mention. This

load is compressed and should

be ignited with a large rifle

primer. Velocity is over 2,700

fps from a 26-inch barrel, which

should help extend the effective

range of your old “favorite deer

rifle.” Good luck on your mule

deer hunt.

.300 H&H

Q: I read with interest your hunt-ing Africa with a .300 H&H Mag-num in hand. I saved that articlefor the purpose of duplicatingyour handloads in my Ruger No.1 but have temporarily misplacedit. My old handloads (developedmany years ago) are finally de-pleted, and I’m starting over with500 new Winchester cases. If I recall correctly, you used both180- and 200-grain bullets. Canyou suggest powder charges withthe 180- and 200-grain NoslerPartition bullets? And which ofthose two do you prefer as thebest general-purpose bullet forhunting western deer, pronghorn,elk or black bear?

– J.H., Boise ID

A: Long before the huge wave of

new powders that have become

available the last couple of

decades, I developed many loads

with the best powders of the era

for the old .300 H&H Magnum.

IMR-4350 was a top choice, and

I suspect it will still hold its

own in terms of accuracy and

in producing similar velocities

as factory fodder. Using the 180-

grain Nosler bullet, 68.0 grains

delivered 3,118 fps from the

26-inch barrel of a Winchester

Model 70 pre-64 type, the same

barrel length Ruger installed

on its No. 1s. Switching to the

200-grain Partition, 66.0 grains

gives an honest 2,900 fps. A

Federal 215 Large Rifle Magnum

primer is suggested. Both loads

will easily group under one inch


for five shots, with three or four

shots often touching.

As to which bullet weight is

best for western hunting, either

will do the job very well, but the

180-grain version would likely

get the nod as most versatile,

while the 200-grain bullet is

preferred for larger species such

as bull elk, moose, etc.

.300 WSM

Q: I have a Browning A-Bolt riflechambered in .300 WSM. Usingmy handloads it regularly blowsprimers and case extraction isdifficult. The load I am using ispublished and includes a 180-grain bullet with 66.0 grains ofHodgdon H-380 powder. Theprimers are CCI 250 Large Rifle

cannot find any credible sources

that list a 66.0-grain charge of

Hodgdon H-380 powder with a

180-grain bullet. Some manuals

list up to 65.0 grains with a

150-grain bullet, but not 180

grainers, which will certainly

generate greater pressures. Your

powder charge should be re-

duced at least 5.0 to 7.0 grains,

which should solve your sticky

extraction and blown primer is-

sues. Or you could switch to a

slower-burning powder such as

70.5 grains of Alliant RL-19

(2,994 fps), 70.0 grains of Win-

chester WXR (3,000 fps) or 68.0

grains of IMR-4831 (2,960 fps),

all used in conjunction with

180-grain Nosler Partitions.

None of the above loads exceed

SAAMI pressure limits of 65,000

psi, while yielding significantly

greater velocity than your com-

paratively high-pressure loads.

For reference, velocities were ob-

tained from a Winchester Model

70 with a 24-inch barrel using

Winchester cases and Winches-

ter WLRM primers.

The advice that you received

on die adjustment is wrong, as

the 35-degree .300 WSM shoul-

der does not require special or

unusual die adjustment.

Handloader 263

Magnum. A guy that works at thelocal sporting goods store tellsme I don’t have my dies adjustedcorrectly for the cartridge’s sharpshoulder. He suggested screwingthe sizing die down until it justtouches the shellholder, thenback it off one full turn and setthe lock ring. I have tried that,but sized cases are difficult tochamber and extraction remainshard. I would like your opinionas to why the problems.

– T.L., Salt Lake City UT

A: Your load is clearly produc-

ing excessive pressures, and I


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16 Handloader 263

When newcomers watch their first BPCR Sil-houette match, they invariably get puzzled

looks on their faces upon hearing shooters andspotters conversing or listening to the banter fromshooter to shooter.

Here is one example: Spotter to shooter: “Give mea half-right, because you only helicoptered thatone.” Shooter back to spotter, “I don’t care. Nozeros!” Here is another example: Shooter #1, “Goodscore, but you got Mary Poppins.” Shooter #2, “Yes,I did, but you John Deered that chicken.” As can beseen, the participants of this shooting disciplinehave developed their own vernacular, and it makeslittle sense to outsiders.

I’ll explain some of it starting with the terms thatactually are based on reality. When a spotter tells ashooter to give him a half, one, two and so forthwith a direction such as right or up, the spotter issimply giving sight corrections in minutes of angle(MOA) as read on the sight. “Give me two right,”means only to move the sight two one hundredthsof an inch to the right. An MOA is roughly one inchat 100 yards. Therefore, if the shooter’s last shot im-pacted on a 300 meter distant pig silhouette about 6inches left of center, that’s the amount of move-ment the spotter would have the shooter dial in tocenter him better for the next shot. An aid to this isthat the spotter uses a plotting board with an MOAgrid overlaid on it.

Next is “No Zeros!” That shouldn’t be confusedwith “go to zero.” The first is an exclamation oftensaid in relief when a shooter is having difficulty inhitting the offhand chickens at 200 meters. Missingthem all means a zero will be placed on the score-board for all to see. When a shooter is having a badday and finally hits a chicken, he is relieved he willbe saved from having that embarrassing zero nextto his name.

On the other hand, “go to zero” is a direction thespotter gives a shooter when wind or mirage condi-tions have reversed. Since all experienced BPCRSilhouette shooters have their rifles and sights setto hit dead center under calm conditions, going tozero with the windage adjustment of the rear sightmeans sights are now centered. Then the spotterwill usually follow that up with a “give me two,”three or whatever and to the right or left as the casemay be. If that sort of sight correction is made andthe shot following is a hit, it means the spotter isvery, very good.

“Lay down loads” and “lay down targets” arepretty simple. Three-quarters of a BPCR Silhouettematch can be fired from prone position usingwooden cross sticks for support. The targets thenare pigs at 300 meters, turkeys at 385 meters and


MIKE’S SHOOTIN’ SHACK by Mike Venturino • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

THE VERNACULAR OF

BPCR SILHOUETTE

“Lay-down targets” refers to those three in BPCRSilhouette fired at from prone position over cross-sticks. They are shown here: pigs at 300 meters,turkeys at 385 meters and rams at 500 meters.Note the wind flags are blowing hard to the left,meaning this is not a “Mary Poppins” relay.

One-fourth of every BPCR Silhouette event is firedoffhand, and that’s when targets get “John Deered.”Note how the wind has Mike’s hair and his spotter,Darrell Smithson’s hair standing straight up.

©2009 P

hoto by John Worthington

©20

09 P

hoto

by

Ted

Tom

pkin

s

rams at 500 meters. Most com-petitors use a different load forthose targets than for the 200-meter chickens, which are firedat, from a standing, offhand posi-tion. In fact some competitorswill have a different load foreach distance. The difference isthat usually the offhand chickenload will be lighter in regards to bullet weight and/or powdercharge so that recoil is milder.Hence the term “lay down loads”refers to those used for the tar-gets fired at from prone, whichare in turn “lay down targets.”

Helicoptered – as in “You heli-coptered that one.” – is alsopretty simple. Because of theirshape and lighter weight, chickenand turkey silhouettes some-times spin when hit around theedge. If the bullet is heavy enoughand the hit just right, the amountof spin can be dramatic, hencethe simile to helicopter rotors. Itis very difficult for a spotter to actually see a hit on a “heli-coptering” target.

“Trust the rifle.” Now that mayseem like an odd phrase. Whatwe’re saying here is that if a rifleof known accuracy suddenly hasa shift in point of impact during a relay, then rest assured thatsomething has changed. Thatsomething could be wind, mirageor even the rifle’s barrel heating.Whatever it is, “trust the rifle”means to adjust for the shift be-fore shooting the next round.Just last weekend I was spottingfor my shooting partner. His first,second and third shots on the500-meter rams were dead center.Then his fourth shot hit low andright in the front leg. I couldn’tsee a change in conditions butadvised him to “trust the rifle.”He didn’t and his fifth shot was a miss right under the ram’s bellyline.

Now we get to the really ob-scure terms. What does it meanwhen a shooter John Deeres atarget? In the various silhouettegames, if a bullet ricochets offthe ground but still manages to

the secondary projectiles actu-ally knocked it over. This gen -erally happens with chickentargets, because they are fired atfrom standing offhand position.If a shooter gives the trigger a se-vere jerk, the bullet can hit so farlow as to “John Deere” a chicken.

Lastly, what on earth could itmean if a shooter “got Mary Poppins?” A movie by that namestarring Julie Andrews had herfloating about supported by anumbrella. Naturally she wouldn’tbe floating so gently if dealingwith considerable winds. Somebright wit of a silhouette shooterfigured that when the conditionswere extremely gentle, that was“Mary Poppins weather.” Windand mirage conditions can varyenormously in a match. It canwork out that with some relaysthe wind dies down completelybut then comes up on others.Hence those people shooting inworse winds accuse the others ofgetting “Mary Poppins.”

The above are just some exam-ples of the language developed in the BPCR Silhouette game sofar. They mean little to the unini-tiated, but experienced competi-tors understand.

knock over the proper target, itcounts as a hit. It also counts as a hit if secondary fragments such as gravel or dirt knock overthe target, as long as it’s theproper one in sequence. Machinesmade by the John Deere Com-pany are usually designed tomove dirt by one method or an-other. Therefore to “John Deere”a target means that your bulletplowed up so much ground infront of the intended target that


©2009 P

hoto by Yvonne V

enturino

“Spotting boards” such as thesehelp the BPCR Silhouette spottergive corrections to his shooter. Thegrid is in minutes of angle for thespecific targets and ranges – thisone being pigs at 300 meters.

•

18 Handloader 263

It is amazing the amount of

knowledge folks can have,how much they can know withabsolute certainty, if they justdon’t let any facts get in the way.This is most obvious in the cur-rent political mess we have got-ten ourselves into and fromwhich our republic may not sur-vive. Yet it also applies in asmaller way to cartridge history.

For example, we often read thatthe 7mm Remington Magnumwas the first 7mm belted huntingcartridge, developed after exten-sive experimenting by a few well-known riflemen. Wrong. Thereisn’t 4¢ worth of difference be-tween that round and the 7mmWeatherby of 1944. So the 7mmWeatherby Magnum was reallythe first modern 7mm magnum?No. That title belongs to thismonth’s cartridge, the .275 H&HBelted Magnum, and then onlybecause the .280 Ross wasn’tquite a 7mm.

Another “fact” we hear is thatthe great .375 H&H was the firstuse of a belted case. Wrong again.It wasn’t even the second use of abelted case! First goes to an ob-

scure number called the .400/375H&H Belted Nitro Express. Itscase derived from Henry Hol-land’s British patent No. 27,912 of20 Dec 1904. The round’s baseand belt diameters were, how-ever, slightly smaller than today’s“standard” figures; essentially thesame as the modern .240 Weath-erby; the date was 1905.

Now about that second beltedcase. You guessed it – the .275H&H in late 1910. There can be

no doubt about this date, as thefirst .275 Belted was recorded byH&H as a magazine rifle com-pleted in October 1910 for theCrown Prince of Bhopal.

Our story begins in 1906 withSir Charles Ross. Ross was a rifledesigner who had emigrated fromScotland to Canada. His intentionwas to produce a military rifle.Like many at the time, he was afirm believer in small bores andsmokeless powder, even thoughboth were plagued by numerousproblems.

Ross contracted Eley Bros, Ltd.to develop his idea of a propercartridge. The first attempt wasto neck the U.S. .30 Government1903 (or 1906) case to .280 cal-iber. Highest velocity possiblewas in the 2,700-fps range using abullet of about 140 grains. Rosswanted 3,000 fps or more, soEley ballistition F.W. Jones thendesigned a larger case. The de-sired result was more or lessachieved.

While military usage was elusive,sporting rifles were moderately


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successful. The then incrediblevelocity simply demanded therifle be hauled off to Africa andIndia and applied to all mannerof four-legged creatures – ani-mals often far too large for thecartridge.

Just like the later .22 Savage Hi-Power, .250-3000 and .220 Swift,the light, high-speed bullet some-times killed like lightning – andsometimes didn’t. If placed by an experienced game shot whoavoided bone and hit heart orlungs, shock caused by the rap-idly expanding (or disintegrating)bullet was amazing. Strike boneor thick hide, especially at veryclose range, and someone was in trouble. There was no end oftestimonials and tombstones toprove it.

Nevertheless, a comparativelysmall diameter bullet at near3,000 fps velocity was selling new hunting rifles. British rifle-makers, however, had another

Velocity was held back a bit aswell.

The final design was a belted,rimless case of 2.5 inch length,which was a bit less than theRoss but whose base diameterswere about equal. Case capaci-ties were also essentially thesame. This is probably the reasonfor the slightly increased belt andbase dimensions of Holland’s sec-ond belted case.

Bullet diameter was somethingelse. While the .280 Ross was atrue .28 caliber – .280-inch borediameter, .287/.288-inch grooves– H&H employed a .275 caliber.Of course, a .275-inch bore meant.284-inch grooves or simply a7mm. Thus the new round’s titleof .275 H&H Belted Magnum.

Original loadings show a 140-grain bullet at 2,650 fps, a 160-grainer at 2,675 fps and a175-grain slug recording 2,680fps, all muzzle velocities. The

problem. Their early smokelesspowder was quite temperaturesensitive, not exactly what waswanted in Africa or India wheretemperatures were often highand animals large and dangerous.If pressure increased too much, a fired case would stick in thechamber. Even if the problemwas cleared quickly, it still gave abig, mean animal an opportunityto get in a shot at the hunter.Claws, hooves, horns and teeth –singly or in combination – sel-dom miss.

Holland & Holland, being amaker of premier double andmagazine (bolt-action) hunting rifles, obviously desired to offer arifle hunters wanted. Still, therewas the temperature thing. H&Hwisely decided to experimentwith large cases having a goodbit of body taper and a slop -ing shoulder. The large case vol-ume kept pressure down whilethe body taper helped extraction.


Handloader 263

similar speeds for varying bulletweights show someone under-stood the limitations of the gamebullets available at the time. Allslugs were available at varioustimes as softpoints, solids and va-rieties of tipped and capped de-signs, probably some of the sameused in the 7x57mm. Several dif-ferent powders are listed earlyon, apparently in an effort tomoderate the temperature/pres-sure situation.

Eley Bros. loaded the first car-tridge with headstamps showingHolland .275 Magnum ELEY.After the merger of British am-munition companies followingWorld War I, the waters get verymuddy. Specimens exist bearingthe Kynoch name as well. Therewas also a rimmed version of the.275 produced for double rifleshaving both the Eley and Kynochheadstamps but containing onlythe cartridge identification of.275 Magnum; the Holland namewas omitted.

For some unknown reason,Western Cartridge Co. also beganloading the .275 H&H and contin-ued until at least 1938. Only onebullet weight was offered, a 175-grain softpoint boat-tail achiev-ing 2,680 fps at the muzzle of anunspecified length barrel. Sam-ples of this load in my collectionhave rather blunt points withonly a tiny bit of lead exposed.British bullets can be blunt orpointed and generally have morelead visible.

An undated Holland & Hollandcatalog in my library shows the.275 and speaks of 3,000 fps muzzle velocities, but no bulletweight is given. A 1925 Nobel In-dustries, Ltd. (Kynoch) cataloglists 100-grain softpoints and cop-per-tipped bullets at 2,950 fps.This may have been the loadingreferred to by the H&H publica-tion. Also shown are a 160-grainsoftpoint and copper-tipped sluglisted at 2,800 fps. A flanged(rimmed) version of the .275 isshown with the same bullets but100 fps lower velocities. Kynoch


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ammunition in some form ex-isted until at least 1940.

Despite all the ammunition vari -ations, the .275 H&H was doomedfrom the day it was born. Pow-ders, pressure concerns and thefact that just anyone couldn’t af-ford a new Holland & Hollandmagazine rifle had little to dowith it. The small diameter cup-and-lead-core bullets just couldnot survive close-range impactwith tough hide and thick bonesof big game animals – not at thevelocity achieved by the .275,.280 Ross or like rounds. Folkswere carrying a rifle capable ofkilling moderately large game at350 to 400 yards but generally fir-ing at creatures only 100 yards orless distant. The bullets brokeup, didn’t penetrate and animalssometimes got away.

One also had to realize that car-rying such an arm in places thatheld really big stuff could be

fatal unless someone was imme-diately available with a real rifle.Suddenly coming across a recal-citrant buffalo, rhino, lion, tigeror other such beast at a range ofonly a few yards, and the out-come favored the animal. Itmight eventually die, but not be-fore dashing up to the shooterand introducing itself in a violentmanner.

Today, with the trick bulletsnow available, those 80-yard deerand elk shots (no mean stuff,please) just result in a lot ofeatin’ meat being reduced toblood-shot worm food. Such bul-lets will penetrate enough to getin and finish the job, though per-haps not instantaneously.

Strangely, the .275 H&H seemsto have had somewhat of a fol-lowing for long-range use amongcertain U.S. hunters. One getsbits and pieces of comments onthe “British 7mm” or “7mm H&H”or “the magnum .275” and such in

American literature between thewars. This was when importedtelescope sights were beginningto be favored by those who couldafford them. Noted gun writer ofthe time Phil Sharpe even men-tioned that Winchester had con-sidered chambering the Model 70for the .275 H&H after World WarII. Perhaps this is what attractedRoy Weatherby’s attention to the7mm so early.

Therefore, since the .275 H&His just a slightly deformed 7mmRemington Magnum or 7mmWeatherby, if one has the oppor-tunity to possess a fine Holland &Holland magazine rifle, don’t turnit down. The same goes for anoriginal Griffin & Howe or Hoff-man Arms rifle. A set of loadingdies, a bit of case forming, mod-ern powder and bullets now givethe cartridge the performanceHolland & Holland had hoped for– but could not obtain – right on100 years ago. •

22 Handloader 263

In the past few months, it

has become clear that manystruggle with adjusting dies, andin many instances, they are notbeginners. For example I was re-cently on a handloading “semi-nar,” for lack of a better way todescribe it, wherein at least onewriter and a couple of employeesof the sponsors struggled theirway through what was a simpleand easy die adjustment. In dis-cussing processes and tech-niques, it becomes clear thatmany have not mastered die ad-justment. Based on those obser-vations, I’ll share the methods Iuse for setting and adjustingthree-die revolver and pistol re-loading dies, which if followedcorrectly, will produce perfectcartridges the first try withoutdamaging a case or bullet.

The sizer die is probably leastproblematic. Insert the shell-holder into the ram and raise it to

its highest point, or top of thepress stroke, then screw the dieinto the press until it just barelytouches the shellholder. If youare using carbide dies, insert apiece of paper between the shell-holder and the bottom of the die. While holding the die body to keep it from turning, turn thelock ring, aka 7⁄8 x14 locknut, downuntil it firmly contacts the press,and then tighten the setscrew.Carbide is hard but also brittle,and contacting the hardenedshellholder may cause it to break,therefore a sheet of paper helpsestablish a .002- to .003-inch gap.

Most modern dies feature a de-capping unit as part of the sizerdie. This unit should be adjustedso that the decapping pin ex-tends below the bottom of thedie about 3⁄16 inch. The pin shouldextend just far enough to reliablypunch out spent primers. If thepin extends too far below the die,it may break or the decapping

assembly may contact the insidehead area of the case, which mightbend or cause damage to the as-sembly. Now tighten the locknutof the decapping assembly, whichis found at the top of the die. Thesizer die is now set, which willprobably never need adjustingagain, as long as it is used in con-junction with the same press andshellholder and the locking de-vices remain tight.

The expander die is also easy toadjust. Some die manufacturerssuggest screwing the die bodydown until it contacts the shell-holder when the ram is raised to its highest point, but somepress/die combinations do notallow enough adjustment for theexpander to be properly ad-justed. If this is the case, keep inmind that it is not necessary forthe expander die to contact theshellholder, and it may need to


FROM THE HIP by Brian Pearce • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

DIE ADJUSTMENT TIPS

The decapping pin should extendbelow the die body around 3⁄16

inch, or just enough to reliablypunch out spent primers. If itprotrudes excessively, it maycause breakage or can bend thedecapping assembly.

Sizer dies featuring a carbide ringshould be adjusted so they don’tcontact the shellholder, or break-age can occur.

The case mouth should only beexpanded around 1⁄16 inch, or justenough to allow the bullet toseat without catching on thesides of the case.

Handloader 263

previously been sized, neck ex-panded, primed and charged withpowder into the shellholder, thenraise the ram to its highest point.Screw the seat/crimp die into thepress, stopping before the diebody begins to contact the case.Lower the ram (or case) and in-sert a bullet into the case mouth.Unscrew the seating plug to itshighest possible setting, thenraise the ram to its highest point,with the cartridge present, until it is fully inserted into the die.Now screw the seating plug downuntil it touches the bullet, thenlower the ram slightly and screwthe seating plug down slightly,then raise the ram to begin seating the bullet. Examine the“started” cartridge to determinehow far the bullet has begun toseat. Repeat the above in small“steps” until the bullet is seatedto its proper depth. Make the adjustments slowly to preventseating the bullet too deeply.Jacketed revolver bullets usuallyfeature a cannelure, and themouth of the case should be onthe upper portion of it. Likewisemost cast bullets for revolverswill feature a crimp groove, andthe bullet should be seated sothat the case mouth is on theupper portion of the groove.

With the bullet seated to the

be locked with as much as 1⁄4 inchor more space between it and the shellholder. Once the ex-pander die is locked in place, theexpander can be adjusted toproperly flare the case mouth.This should be accomplished in“steps,” so to speak. With the ex-pander adjusted high in the diebody, high enough that it ab-solutely cannot expand the casemouth, place a sized case in theshellholder and raise the ram toits highest point, then screw theexpander downward until it be-gins to enter the case mouth,which can be felt. Lower the ramand inspect the case, which isprobably not expanded enoughto accept the bullet. Adjust (orlower) the expander a smallamount and again insert thesame case, inspect and repeat insmall steps until the case just be-gins expanding. The case mouthshould only be expanded, orbelled, just enough to allow thebullet to “start” seating withoutcatching on the sides of the case,which is usually around 1⁄16 inch.If expansion is excessive, caselife will be shortened due to split-ting at the mouth, and it may bedifficult for cases with the widemouth to enter the seat/crimpdie. Once it is properly adjusted,tighten the locknut on top of thedie. That die is now set and willprobably never need adjusting,but if it does, it will only requirea slight change to the depth ofthe expander.

The bullet seating and crimp dieis the one that often gives themost trouble, but it is also verysimple to adjust. Before begin-ning it is important to understandthat the die body applies thecrimp, while the seating plugcontrols the bullet seating depth.Begin by placing a case that has


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Once dies are correctly adjusted,the setscrew locks the lock ring.

the case and ruins it.When loading jacketedbullets, the flare doesnot need to be great, butwhen loading swagedlead or cast bullets, itmust be adequate to prevent the case mouthfrom shaving lead fromthe side of the bullet. Toobtain consistent crimps,uniform case length iscritical.

Continual die adjust-ment is necessary, prima-rily with the seat/crimpdie, due to variations incase length or the type ofbullet being loaded. Dif-ferent bullet designs re-

quire seating depth adjustmentsand even how much crimp is applied. Once the prin ciples ofdie adjustment are learned, ittakes only a few seconds to setthe die and begin loading first-rate ammunition.

correct depth or overallcartridge length, un-screw the seating plug.With the above cartridgein the shellholder andthe ram fully raised, turnthe die body down untilit begins to contact thecase mouth. Raise andlower the press handlewhile screwing the diebody down in very smallincrements until the de-sired amount of crimp isapplied. The die shouldonly be turned slightlyfor each try, as an over-crimp will cause thecase to buckle below thecrimp, which can pre-vent the cartridge fromchambering. Once the correctamount of crimp is obtained,hold the die body to keep it fromturning and turn the lock ringdown against the press andtighten the setscrew.

With the die body set for thecorrect crimp, again raise thecartridge all the way into the die(the highest point), then screwthe seating plug down until itfirmly contacts the bullet and set the locknut on top of the die.The adjustments are complete,and you are ready to seat bulletsand crimp in one step. The aboveadjustment method eliminatesthe need for “dummy” cartridgesand, once it is mastered, can beaccomplished much quicker thaneven a speed-reader can skimthese paragraphs. Trust me, thisis far more difficult to put intowords than it is to do.

It is beneficial for some car-tridges to seat bullets and applythe crimp as separate steps. Inthese instances simply seat thebullet to the correct depth butwithout a crimp, then apply thecrimp as a separate step using theabove die adjustment methods.

MISCELLANEOUS TIPS

Cases tend to “shorten” uponcrimping. The point being, thecase mouth should be on the


upper side of the crimp groove orcannelure before the crimp is applied. The case mouth is flared to prevent the bullet from catch-ing on the edge of the case dur-ing the seating operation, whichif it does, almost always buckles •

When setting the seat/crimp die, bullets should beseated in small increments until the desired overallcartridge length is achieved. After that is accom-plished, the crimp (far right) can be applied.

1930s, but it is only recently thatwe have seen conversions forother “duty” type pistols such asthe Beretta (Taurus), Glock andHi-Power from Jonathan ArthurCeiner (www.22lrconversions.com). I have used his 1911 unitsseveral times with success andhave heard favorable reports onthe others but have no personalexperience. Advantage Arms(www.advantagearms.com) alsohas the same units of its own

manufacture. I have hap -pily shot one of CZ’sunits for the CZ-75.

SIG Sauer has taken aslightly different tack.You can buy rimfire versions of its popularP220, P226, P228 andP229 as complete gunsand later add a conver-sion to the appropriatecenterfire caliber. Theframes are identical, sotactical accessories willfit, but the rimfires usean alloy slide. Or if youalready have a center-fire version, .22 conver-sion kits are available.Recently I’ve been able

The first time I ever heard

anyone use the term “triggertime” was in a class I was takingfrom Ken Hackathorn back in the 1980s. When I was a bullseyeshooter, we called it practice;when I visited the Olympic Train-ing Center, they called it “train-ing.” But the more I think aboutit, “trigger time” is the best of all.

All shooting skills are perish-able, and you maintain them onlyby regular use, but the ever in-creasing cost of ammunition orcomponents can put a real crimpin anyone’s shooting style. Be-cause of this we’re seeing moreand more use of the lowly .22rimfire for things other than high-volume blasting. Using averagemass merchant prices, you canshoot the .22 for a nickel or less around. The only way anythingcenterfire can compete is if youcast your own bullets and getfree lead.

The real question that comes to mind is whether or not youcan use, or substitute, a rimfireas a training tool for a duty or de fensive pistol. Theanswer to that is obvi-ously yes . . . and no.The minimal recoiland muzzle blast ofthe rimfire can behighly beneficial inlearning to control the trigger and avoidflinching. A studentwho has trouble withthose two can profitenormously from arimfire’s ease of shoot-ing and then be gentlytransitioned back tothe service cartridge.Individuals who al-ready have those skillscan polish them and

26 Handloader 263

work on the muscle memory ele-ments of presentation and firstshot accuracy. Good training pol-icy should seek to duplicate realworld situations, which almostalways involve drawing from aholster, and the slight differencein weight is not an issue.

As a devoted fan of the 1911, Ihappen to know that .22 conver-sion units or dedicated pistolshave been available since the late


PISTOL POINTERS by Charles E. Petty • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

TRIGGER TIME

The Tactical Solutions .22 conversion unit is on a Taurus 1911 frame.

The SIG P226R can handle all rail-mounted accessories.

the initial “pre-load” con-dition and still haveenough left to strip a car-tridge and finish closingthe slide. I know enoughabout springs and mass/balance relationships tobe the first to admit thatthis sort of work is farabove my skill level, but Ido not believe it to be aninsurmountable problem.Both Ceiner and Advan-tage Arms already offerconversions for the vari-ous Glocks, but at this

time none are available for theXD or M&P. Little birds tell methat will change in due time.When it’s done it sure should be abetter mousetrap, and all themaker has to do is sit back andwait for the world to beat a pathto his door.

I’m sure that, by now, some ofyou are thinking that a .22 is nota substitute for full-load training.

to shoot a new P226Rand found it to be com-pletely reliable and veryaccurate.

Within the law enforce-ment community, therehas been a dramaticshift toward polymer-frame pistols for dutyuse. The various Glocks,Springfield XDs and S&WM&Ps present some dif-ferent problems to solvebecause of the mechan-ics of striker fired pis-tols. They involve massand springs. With conversions itis very common to use an alloyslide to work nicely with the re-duced recoil of the .22, and that’sfine because a relatively light-weight recoil spring will serve toprotect the slide from batteringon the way back and still haveenough oomph to close the slideand chamber a round. Conven-tional hammers are usuallycocked by the very first recoil im-

pulse where the slide has barelymoved, so the hammer does notmarkedly impede slide velocity.

The hammer is not an issuewith strikers, so the slide –whether aluminum or steel – cantravel back with relative ease.The hang-up is on the closingstroke where the recoil springmust provide enough energy tobe sure that the striker achieves


The rimfire version is the spitting image of the 9mmP226 but is just a bit lighter due to the alloy slide.

Handloader 263

masks them. I’ve had more than afew students argue with mewhen I tell them they’re commit-ting one or both of those sins.But targets don’t lie and the holein the target is judge and jury.For a right-handed shooter, jerk-ing the trigger will produce ashot that lands in the lower leftquadrant of the target. Flinching– also called anticipating recoilor “heeling” – will find the roundin the upper right. For left-handed shooters those are simplyreversed.

It is surely true that large-cal-iber, heavy-recoil cartridges aremore likely to result in shootererrors, but those are just normalhuman reflexes. All of us possessthe startle reflex that causes usto jump on hearing a loud noiseor to pull away from somethingpainful. Guns can qualify forboth. And until we can train our-selves to control those, we aredoomed to mediocrity in theshooting world. The good newsis that reflex responses are pro-portional to the stimulus, so eventhough a .22 can still elicit thosereactions, they won’t be as se-vere as they are with a .44 Mag-num. To me that makes the .22 anideal training platform. Over theyears I’ve worked with any num-ber of people who are shooting ahandgun for the first time. Withthe exception of law enforce-ment recruits, all have startedwith a .22 – and if I were king,the cops-to-be would too.

Back in the day when revolversruled, there was a .22 equivalentfor every service revolver, andbetween conversion units anddedicated pistols, we’re gettingclose with automatics. If theexact gun you want is not avail-able, the chances are you canfind something close. For duty orCCW training, the most impor-tant thing is that first shot, so besure to use something that is sim-ilar. However, the importantthing to remember is that .22s arenot only economical they arealso great training aids.

You’re right, but that doesn’tmean it can’t be beneficial. Thetwo fatal errors in shooting arejerking the trigger and flinching.Both of those become errors insight alignment. When I was ayoung shooter in the USAF, mycoach would say, “I can tell youhow to shoot 2,600 in 25 wordsor less: Align the sights with thetarget and cause the gun to go offwithout disturbing that align-ment.” For those of you unfamil-iar with bullseye pistol, a scoreof 2,600 out of a possible 2,700points for a complete match isthe holy grail, shooting’s equiva-lent to the 4-minute mile.

Sadly, new shooters cannot tellthat they are making those errorsbecause the recoil of the gun


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30 Handloader 263

many of us would naturally con-clude that magnum strengthprimers are automatically calledfor. This is because such pow-ders are known for being moredifficult to ignite as they tend tobe more heavily coated as ameans of controlling burningspeed than are extruded pow-ders. The most recent Speer Re-

loading Manual, No. 14

agrees with this reasoningas it calls for magnumprimers almost exclu-sively when using H-335. The exceptionsseem to be with the.22 PPC and 6mmPPC cartridges whereSpeer calls for its CCIBR4 primers and the6.8 Remington SPCwhere the standardlarge rifle primer isemployed. In handguncartridges Speer usesstandard primers withH-335 in the 7mm TCUand 7mm BR. Notably, mostother reloading manuals do notmake such distinctions for H-335,using standard strength, or possi-bly magnum, primers for all thepowders listed for a given car-tridge, extruded or spherical.

Because I tend tofavor the Speer ap-proach and employmagnum strengthprimers when load-ing spherical pow-ders, I used themthroughout thesetests. I did, however,decide to try a com-parative test with acartridge admittedlynot best suited forthe powder – the .30-

06. I loaded Federalcases with both Federal 210 and215 primers, 51.0 grains H-335and Hornady 150-grain jacketedbullets. According to Hodgdondata with its 24-inch barrel, Ishould have gotten about 2,950fps. With my 22-inch tube, Irecorded 2,858 fps with an ex-treme spread of 8 fps for fiveshots with the standard primers.Distance from the muzzle to themidpoint of the start-stop screenswas about 12 feet. The magnumprimers clocked 2,896 fps with anextreme spread of 37 fps. Bothloads shot into about 11⁄2 inches at 100 yards – pretty typical forthat rifle with that bullet. Thetemperature was about 70 de-grees Fahrenheit. I dare say theresults would have been differentif it had been 20 degrees orlower. Still, I’ll stick with the


Hodgdon’s spherical reload-

ing powder H-335 has beenavailable to handloaders sinceapproximately 1963. It was orig -inally developed by the Olin Cor-poration for the military as apropellant for the 5.56 NATO cartridge. Its earliest reloadingcommentary suggested it wasparticularly well suited for use inthe .222 Remington and the .308Winchester.

The late Bob Hagel reviewed H-335 in Handloader No. 94, No-vember-December 1981. As thatis closing in on 30 years ago, andwith the extraordinary array ofcanister powders available to ustoday, it is perhaps time to revisitthis fine, old powder.

The powder is the same: spheri-cal, double-based, meaning it iscomprised of both nitrocelluloseand nitroglycerin, of fine gran-ules with an exceptional meter-ing capability. It would be ratedas a fast-burning rifle powder.Somewhat slower burning thanIMR-3031, it compares favorablywith the various 4895s. AlthoughHodgdon purchases H-335 fromthe former Olin facility in St.Marks, Florida, there is no com-parable Winchester propellant.W-748 is close but somewhatslower burning in most applica-tions. Today, H-335 is popular ina wide variety of cartridges but ismost at home in small-capacitycases or in larger-capacity caseswith a high expansion ratio. Con-sequently, it can be completelysatisfactory in cartridges as di-verse as the .222 Remington, the.30-30 Winchester and the .45-70.

Before we get into a review ofsome of the cartridges for whichH-335 is suited, we need to con-sider the matter of primers. Be-cause H-335 is a spherical powder,

PROPELLANT PROFILES by R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

HODGDON H-335

Author’s Selected LoadsHodgdon’s H-335

bullet charge velocity(grains) (grains) (fps)

.223 Remington 50 26.0 3,28955 25.0 3,165

7.62x39 123 34.0 2,302.30-30 150 32.0 2,225.30-06 150 51.0 2,886.303 British 150 42.0 2,7178mm Mauser 150 50.5 2,982.45-70 300 56.0 2,078Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in

published load data

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Handloader 263

magnum primers for most uses

with H-335.

Hodgdon begins its H-335 data

with the .17 Remington where itperforms satisfactorily if notspectacularly. In the .204 Ruger,however, H-335 is spectacular

with all bullet weights. Likewisewith the .222 Remington, whichis where we came in. I began mytests with the .223 Remington,

found 2015 to be anexcellent powder,producing high ve-locity and smallgroups. The Lyman

Reloading Hand-

book, No. 49 rated2015 “potentiallymost accurate” with36-, 50- and 60-grainbullets. With severalweights it also pro-

duced top velocity. Althoughsometimes bettered by otherpowders, 2015 still performs at avery high level in the .22 and6mm PPC and BR cartridges. Itdoes the same in the PPC parent7.62x39 with 123-grain bullets.

When loading the .30-30 withvarmint or plinking bullets foroff-season practice, 2015 and110-grain bullets match up verywell. Even the .303 British with123- to 125-grain bullets perks upwhen fed 2015.

At the big-bore end of the spec-trum, 2015 will do anything wewant done in such cartridges asthe .444 Marlin, .450 Marlin, .45-70 and .458 Winchester. Lymanrated 2015 best twice in the .45-70: with the 330-grain cast Gouldbullet at midrange pressures andwith a 535-grain cast bullet atRuger No. 1 pressure levels. Allin all, a very useful powder.

the .222 and .223 Remington-sized cartridges and such highexpansion ratio examples as the.45-70 and .458 Winchester. Itcompares most closely with IMR-4198, Reloder 7 and VihtavuoriN133, all of which make it a bitfaster burning than IMR-3031. A comparison of suitable car-tridges varies little fromone compiled for H-335, generally with2015 better suitedfor lighter bulletweights.

As we check thelist of suitable car-tridges for 2015, acouple of newerones catch our eye:the .204 Ruger and.20 Tactical. Accu-rate 2015 doesn’tnecessarily pro-duce the highest velocity in ei-ther, but it’s close and itsclean-burning nature producesvery accurate loads.

In the .222 Remington with 40-grain bullets, the Nosler Reload-

ing Guide, No. 6 found 2015 tobe the most accurate powdertested. With 40- and 50-grain bul-lets in the .223 Remington, I

Introduced in 1990, the powderwe now know as Accurate

2015 was initially called 2015BR.Developed by and imported fromIMI in Israel, the powder im-pressed a lot of people early on.As so often happens, the originalsource dried up, and the Ameri-can importer, Accurate Arms ofMcEwen, Tennessee, turned tothe Czech Republic. The BR suf-fix was dropped, and the powderbecame known as XMR-2015. In2004, the smokeless powder divi-sion of Accurate Arms was pur-chased by Western Powders ofMiles City, Montana. At, or about,this time the labeling changedagain, dropping the prefix, andthe powder became simply Ac -curate 2015. A final change oc-curred in 2009 when WesternPowders began to obtain all of itsextruded Accurate powders fromthe General Dynamics facility inOntario, Canada. This is the samefacility that manufactures theIMR line of smokeless powdersand Western’s new black powdersubstitute, Blackhorn. All the fol-lowing tests were conductedwith this latest iteration of 2015.

The powder, however, through-out all this has remained remark-ably consistent. It is an extruded,single-base powder with a nomi-nal diameter of .031 inch and alength of .039 inch. Its bulk den-sity is listed at .880 g/cc, makingit one of the first of the “shortcut” generation of powders. Notedfor its consistent metering andclean-burning nature, it early onattracted the attention of thebenchrest and varmint shootingclans, among others. Its burningrate makes it a rather fast-burn-ing rifle powder particularlysuited for such cartridges as the.22 and 6mm PPC and BR rounds,


Author’s Selected LoadsAccurate 2015

bullet charge velocity(grains) (grains) (fps)

.223 Remington 40 27.0 3,64550 24.0 3,188

.30-30 Winchester 110 32.0 2,4797.62x39 Russian 123 28.5 2,439.303 British 123 43.5 2,901.45-70 300 52.5 2,107

330 50.0 1,860400 38.0 1,396

Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors inpublished load data.

ACCURATE 2015

•


for which the powder was origi-nally developed. A perusal of theloading manuals will disclosethat some of our newer powderscan outperform H-335 in terms ofpure velocity, depending on bul-let weight. The latest Nosler Re-

loading Guide, No. 6 foundH-335 to be the most accuratepowder tested with 55-grain bul-lets. In my tests the powder wasvery accurate with both 50- and55-grain bullets.

H-335 is very good in the twoPPC cartridges, the .22 and 6mm,and also shines in their parentcase, the 7.62x39, where it pro-duced top velocity of Hodgdonpowders when paired with 125-grain bullets and almost as wellwith 150s. The Lyman Reloading

Handbook, No. 49 found H-335 tobe the most accurate powderwith 123- and 130-grain bullets inthis cartridge.

I got excellent results in the .30-30 with 150-grain bullets, achiev-

ing over 2,200 fps and fine groupsfrom a 20-inch barrel. This wouldmake a nice deer load with theright bullet. Lyman recorded itstop velocity with 150-grain bul-lets in this cartridge. Anotherplace where H-335 more thanholds its own is in the .303British, especially with bullets of150 grains or so.

In the 8mm Mauser, my resultswith H-335 exceeded Hodgdonvelocity projections, again with150-grain bullets. Accuracy wasgood but not exceptional. The .35Remington, .356 Winchester and.358 Winchester are also suitablehomes for H-335 with most bulletweights.

My biggest surprise with H-335came with the .45-70 and the 300-grain Hornady hollowpoint.Hodgdon data, when keepingpressures under 28,000 psi,showed a respectable 2,143 fpsusing 63.5 grains of powder froma 24-inch barrel. Trying to dupli-

cate the old Winchester high ve-locity load of 1,880 fps from my26-inch barreled Marlin, 56.0grains left me 200 fps high at2,078. The Speer manual sug-gested it would take about 60.0grains in a 22-inch barrel to reachmy goal. Fifty-four grains got mevery close in my gun, but spreadsbegan to open. The 56.0-grainload shot well, however, andwould make a fine hunting load.

In summing up H-335, it is a finepowder with quite a wide rangeof usefulness from the new .20-caliber .204 Ruger and .20 Tacti-cal to the old .45-70. Those whochoose to go back and readHagel’s earlier comments shouldnot attempt to use the Hagel-gen-erated maximum loads. Modernpressure testing equipment willalmost always dictate a some-what lower maximum charge. Asusual, the most recently pub-lished, laboratory-tested data isour best source. •

NewPow

Speedand

Accuracy

34 Handloader 263www.handloadermagazine.com

Calling in the wide open of the West often requiresa cartridge like the .220 Swift to make a long-rangeshot when coyotes hang up and refuse to comeany closer.

the case farther. One or the other, or both, of thesesituations keep the powder in a uniform position soit burns more consistently.

That was certainly the case with the relativelyheavy Sierra 63-grain Semi-Point bullet. The Swift’sbarrel remained fouled after nearly 100 roundswhen the Sierra bullets were fired. Extreme veloc-ity spread was 74 fps for Accurate 2700, 20 fps withHybrid 100V, 8 fps for Reloder 19 and 12 fps for H-1000. The average group size of the Sierra bullets was .81 inch for the four groups.

The Swift has always been known as an accuratecartridge. My Model 70 Varmint shot a few loads in.5 inch and tighter at 100 yards. The Sierra 50-grainBlitzKing grouped as tightly as .33 inch with Accu-rate 2700. The Sierra 53-grain Bench Rest hollow-point shot consistently well with four differentpowders, with groups between .77 and .94 inch.

I sighted in the Swift with Remington 55-grainPower Lokt hollowpoints and 44.0 grains of Hunterlast spring in preparation for a day of sendingground squirrels to that clover patch in the sky. Thelast three bullets I fired landed in .178 inch at 100yards. This proves good bullets group well whenfired through a good barrel.

John Haviland

You don’t hear much aboutthe .220 Swift these days.The .22-250 has stolen itslong-range thunder, com-

mercially, anyway; and everyone isshooting the .223. A bunch of newpowders, however, make the Swiftjust as good or better than it ever wasas King of the Varmint Cartridges.

Recent powders from Accurate, Alliant, Hodgdon,IMR, Norma, Ramshot and Vihtavuori provide anew array of options for loading the Swift. I’ve beenshooting these powders in a Winchester Model 70Varmint Swift made in 1961. While I’m still a big fanof the .22-250, these powders made the Swift singan accurate and speedy song – so much so, that I’mwondering why I didn’t buy a Swift a long time ago.

A few of these powders produced low extremespreads of velocity in my Swift. Norma’s 203-Bturned in velocity ranges of 41 fps with 40-grain bul-lets and 29 fps with 50-grain bullets. VihtavuoriN150 went as low as 9 fps with 40-grain bullets and18 fps with 53-grain bullets. With 55-grain bullets,Reloder 17 and Big Game produced spreads be-tween 36 and 41 fps. Often, heavier bullets in a car-tridge produce the lowest velocity spreads. Thatmay be because heavier bullets require slower-burning powders that fill more of the case, and theheavier bullets are longer and protrude down into

Y

ders in the

.220Swift


The .220 Swiftis hard to beatfor long-range

coyote and redfox hunting.

Certainly the shape of the Swift’s case has nothingto do with its precision. In fact, the Swift case is theantithesis of what is considered a correctly shapedcase for the best accuracy. Its rim sticks out like asore thumb and that can’t be beneficial for a pre-cise fit in the chamber. Its long tapering case bodyand sloping shoulder also fall short of providing anexact cartridge fit. But, still the Swift shoots well.

Swift cases did stretch quite a bit in the Model 70

Handloader 263

when fired with maximum loads.The Winchester cases that hadbeen fired a couple of times weresized enough to set the shoulderback .002 inch. The cases weretrimmed to 2.195 inches and thenfired. Three of the fired caseshad lengths of 2.204, 2.205 and2.206 inches. That’s quite a bit ofstretch. In fact, those measure-ments are right at the maximumcase length for the Swift.

I measured the cases in the vari-ous stages of sizing to determineif the cases grew in length moreduring sizing and at what stage ofsizing. One at a time, I ran eachcase into an RCBS sizing die, andthen partially pulled out the caseenough to loosen it from the die.I unscrewed the expander ballstem, and with the expanded ballstill in the case, removed the casefrom the die and measured thecase lengths. Then I threaded thestem back into the die and pulledthe expander ball out of the casemouths. The lengths of all threecases in various stages of loaded,

fired and completely resized var-ied as shown in Table I.

The Swift cases did stretch quitea bit on firing, and then somemore when the cases were runinto the sizing die. Even thoughthe inside of the necks were lu-bricated, pulling the expanderball back out of the cases took abit of elbow grease on the presshandle. But this force did notlengthen the cases. In fact, ex-panding the necks decreasedcase length ever so slightly. So we

can lay to rest the old myth thatpulling a case neck over an ex-pander ball increases case length.

There have also been reportsfor years on end about the Swift’shigh pressure causing brass toflow forward and increase thethickness of case necks. I in-serted a bullet into all the firedcases used to shoot the loadslisted in the load table. The bulleteasily slipped into the case necks,indicating no brass had extrudedforward on firing to thicken the


New Powdersin the

.220 Swift

Several of the new powders produced low extreme spreads of velocityand groups under .5 inch.

These bullets were fired in a Winchester Model 70Varmint .220 Swift. From the left, they include:Nosler 40-grain Ballistic Tip, Sierra 40-grain Blitz -King, Sierra 50-grain BlitzKing, Sierra 53-grain BenchRest hollowpoint, Combined Technology 55-grainBallistic Silvertip, Remington 55-grain Power Lokthollowpoint and Sierra 63-grain Semi-Point.

These Winchester 48-grain Super Speed pointedsoftpoints were Winchester’s original load for the.220 Swift. They had an average speed of 4,000 fpsfrom the 26-inch barrel of a Model 70 Varmint.

December-January 2010

necks. I also measured the thick-ness of the necks of a few casesthat have been fired severaltimes, and the measurements re-mained the same.

However, two of the Swift casesout of 100 have splits on the necksafter being reloaded five times.That has never happened to me

with the thousands of .22-250Remington cases I’ve reloadedover the years. The .22-250 casesusually last about 12 firings, andthen a few out of a batch willcrack in front of the head.

CARTRIDGE COMPARISONS

New and old handloading arti-cles suggest problems with theSwift will disappear if powdercharges are backed off a coupleof grains, but that turns the Swiftinto a .22-250 Remington. Topspeed .22-250 loads, fired from24-inch barrels, come up about100 fps short of the Swift. TheCartridge Comparison table listssome top velocities with variousbullet weights from the Swift andseveral other high-speed, .22-caliber cartridges. As the table

shows, the .223 Winchester SuperShort Magnum, in turn, beats theSwift by 100+ fps, and the .22-250, with its 4-inch shorter bar-rel, beats the .225 Winchester byabout 100 fps. This comparisonproves the more powder burnedand the higher the pressures, thefaster a bullet leaves the muzzle.

If these four cartridges are fired

The average groupsize of the Sierra bullets

was .81 inch.

37www.handloadermagazine.com

Above left, with top loads the .220 Swift cases did stretch quite a bit.They also stretched some more when run into a sizing die. However,Swift cases did not lengthen when they were pulled back out of thesizing die and over the expander ball. Right, a couple of cases out of100 split on the neck after they were fired five times.

These hot .22-caliber cartridgeswill all burn out a barrel if longstrings of shots are fired throughthem. From the left: .223 Win-chester Super Short Magnum,.220 Swift, .22-250 Remingtonand .225 Winchester.

Handloader 263

Of course, the Swift’s rimmed casewould bring up slurs of cartridgefeeding problems. Before hunterseven had a chance to shoot aSwift, the cartridge would wear ablack eye as a crippler of deer.

On a prairie dog shoot-’em-up afew years ago, I shot a Swift in aRemington Model 700 electronicignition EtronX, and my partnerbanged away with a .22-250 in thesame model rifle. We both shotRemington EtronX loads withHornady 50-grain V-MAX boat-tails. The stated velocity of the V-MAX bullet was 3,725 fps fromthe .22-250 and 3,780 fps from the Swift.

Before we started shooting, wedecided to compare notes on any differences we saw betweenthe Swift and .22-250 cartridges.However, over two days of shoot-ing, we never observed any dis-tinction between the two. Recoilwas identical, the barrels heated

bolt action. It was said the heavyamount of powder the Swiftburned and the high velocity ofits bullets quickly ironed out theModel 54’s mild steel rifling landsas flat as a road-kill jackrabbit ona paved highway in the heat of anAugust afternoon. The Swift wasalso said to produce squirrelypressures with maximum loads.Those criticisms and condemna-tions have pestered the Swiftever since, even in rifles builtwith much more wear-resistantbarrel steel.

Would the Swift be received onbetter terms today as a new car-tridge than back in the 1930s?No, it would parallel the shortand unhappy life of the .223 Win-chester Super Short Magnum.Even before Swift rifles were onsporting goods shelves, the Inter-net would be ablaze with tales oftorched barrels after firing as fewas 300 rounds and a cartridgewhose accuracy fell off to dismalafter firing as few as 20 rounds.

keep the rate of fire at a slow andreasonable rate so the barrel on aSwift and these other cartridgeswill last years on end. That’s whymy old Model 70 Varmint Swiftwill make only brief appearanceson the prairie and the hay field.

The Swift was introduced in1935 in the Winchester Model 54


at a prairie dog town 500 times aday over a long weekend, theirbarrels would function only astomato stakes. The solution is to

New Powdersin the

.220 Swift

This Winchester Model 70 Varmint was used to shoot the .220 Swiftloads listed in the table. The scope is a Leupold VX-L 3.5-10x 50mm.Articles about the Swift from 30 and more years ago suggested using ascope of 10x to allow precise bullet placement at long range. Today,10x scopes are often seen on .22 rimfire rifles.

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CaseMeasurements

length trimmed fired length run pulled overlength length into die expanded ball(inches) (inches) (inches) (inches)

2.195 2.204 2.215 2.2132.195 2.205 2.212 2.2122.195 2.206 2.211 2.210

Table I

Would the Swift bereceived on better termstoday as a new cartridgethan back in the 1930s?

Handloader 26340 www.handloadermagazine.com

up at equal rates, and the barrelbores seemed to foul the samewhen we cleaned them. We shotat prairie dogs from 100 to some-what over 400 yards. We hitprairie dogs quite regularly. Wealso missed high and low, and,when the wind blew, off to theside. We decided by the end ofthe shoot there was little sense

New Powdersin the

.220 Swift

Loads for the .220 Swiftbullet powder charge velocity group(grains) (grains) (fps) (inches)

40 Nosler Ballistic Tip IMR-4007 SSC 45.0 4,191 1.05N203-B 39.5 3,764 .90Varget 39.0 3,979 .95

40 Sierra BlitzKing VV-N140 40.5 4,109 .80VV-N150 42.0 4,235 .71RL-15 40.0 4,088 1.39Varget 40.0 4,020 .53

48 Winchester Super Speed 4,000 1.86pointed softpoint

50 Sierra BlitzKing AA-2700 44.5 4,035 .33Big Game 39.5 3,603 1.32N203-B 38.5 3,740 1.21RL-15 39.0 3,906 .69

53 Sierra Bench Rest hollowpoint Big Game 39.0 3,599 .92Hunter 44.2 3,778 .90VV-N150 37.0 3,575 .94RL-15 37.5 3,665 .77

55 Combined Technology Hunter 44.3 3,706 .75Ballistic Silvertip Hybrid 100V 42.0 3,709 1.55

RL-17 42.0 3,714 1.15RL-19 45.5 3,730 1.41

55 Remington Power Lokt Big Game 39.5 3,553 1.49hollowpoint Hunter 44.0 3,707 .95

IMR-4007 SSC 42.0 3,724 1.80Varget 36.0 3,528 1.19

63 Sierra Semi-Point AA-2700 39.5 3,337 .83Hybrid 100V 40.0 3,507 .40RL-19 40.0 3,205 .68H-1000 44.5 3,334 1.34

Notes: All loads used Winchester Large Rifle primers and Winchester cases. Loads were fired at 100yards through a 26-inch barreled Winchester Model 70 Varmint with a Leupold VX-L 3.5-10x 50mm,set on 10x.

Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

Table II

Cartridge Comparisoncartridge powder charge velocity

(grains) (fps)

40-Grain Bullet:

.223 Winchester Super Short Magnum H-4895 43.0 4,378

.220 Swift VV-N150 42.0 4,235

.22-250 Remington RL-15 39.5 4,203

.225 Winchester TAC 35.0 4,139

50-Grain Bullet:


.220 Swift AA-2700 44.5 4,035

.22-250 Remington Benchmark 36.0 3,939

.225 Winchester H-4895 33.0 3,800

55-Grain Bullet:


.220 Swift IMR-4007 SSC 42.0 3,724

.22-250 Remington AA-2700 41.0 3,620

.225 Winchester H-4895 32.0 3,674Notes: The .223 Winchester Super Short Magnum loads were fired in a Cooper Firearms Model 22with a 24-inch barrel, the .220 Swift from a Model 70 with a 26-inch barrel, the .22-250s through aNosler Model 48 Varmint with a 24-inch barrel and the .225 Winchesters through a Ballard Rifle &Cartridge Company Model 1885 Single Shot with a 28-inch barrel.


Table III

buying a new Swift because theimmense popularity of the .22-250 meant many more rifle andammunition choices.

Winchester dropped the Swift in

About 20 years ago,theSwift made somewhat

of a comeback.

BALD EAGLEPrecision Machine Company

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TEL (570) 748-6772FAX (570) 748-4443Bill Gebhardt, Owner

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The NEW

BALD EAGLE

RimfireCartridge

Gage

“The GageThat Works!”This is a gage to measure con-sistency of rim thickness on .22rimfire ammunition (a .22 rim-fire rifle’s headspace is deter-mined by case rim thickness).The more consistent the rimthickness, the more consistentthe ignition of the primer and thepowder charge in the case. Inother words, the firing pin will fall thesame distance every time if the same rimthickness is used on every case beingfired for a particular group. By sorting theshells into various groups by rim thick-ness, a reduction in group size of up to25% can be realized in some IF NOTMOST rimfire rifles. This informationabout group reduction comes from the.22 rimfire benchrest participants whocompete in the extremely difficult BR-50matches. All of the top shooters sort theirshells into groups by checking rims andweighing the unfired cartridges.

$8500


chester, which was sort of an ab-breviated Swift, was an immediatedud. About 20 years ago, the Swiftmade somewhat of a comeback.Ruger and Savage chambered riflesfor the Swift but dropped the cartridge a few years ago. CooperFirearms will still make you aSwift in its Model 22 single shot.But Remington is the only major

1963 when it revamped its Model70. The replacement .225 Win-

This series of groups was fired with a Winchester Model 70 .220 Swiftat 100 yards. They include: (1) Sierra 63-grain Semi-Point and Hybrid100V, (2) Combined Technology 55-grain Ballistic Silvertip and Hunter,(3) Sierra 50-grain BlitzKing and Accurate 2700, (4) Sierra 40-grainBlitzKing and Varget.

1 2 3

4

manufacturer still chambering theSwift, and that’s in a single rifle,the Model 700 Varmint.

Still, there are lots of Swifts outthere. I finally got mine in the Win-chester Varmint and with thesenew powders, I plan on shootingthe King of the Varmint Cartridgesfor a long time. •


Cast BulletMyth Mike Venturino

Photos by Yvonne Venturino

There are so many mythssurrounding handloadingand shooting home castbullets that I sometimes

wonder if there is a misinformationcampaign in operation. Probablynot; most likely they are just itemsthat have been printed in a mag -azine article along the way and then repeated so often they gaincredence as “cast bullet truths.”They are not.HEALTH HAZARDS

Here’s one for starters: Awhile back I got a letterfrom a reader asking where he could buy bulletssuch as I feature in articles. He said he didn’t wantto take up casting due to the “well-known healthhazards associated with the practice.” Huh? Lead iscertainly toxic; many things are if they are eaten.Lead is only harmful if ingested into the body. Leaddoes not give off “death rays.” A pile of lead can sitin the corner of a garage or shop for years and re-main completely harmless.

Ingesting lead into the body can happen by gettingthe lead pot too hot and then casting with one’sface right over it, thus inhaling the fumes. Morelikely lead is ingested into the body from handling itand then doing something such as biting one’s fin-gernails, rubbing one’s eyes or smoking. Castingshould not be done in an enclosed area, but it neednot be done in the outdoors either. A good setup isfor the lead furnace to be under a window with anexhaust fan in operation to pull out the fumes. Thefurnace thermostat should be set at a temperatureto match the optimum melting point for the alloybeing used and not excessively high. Then all that is

T


necessary is to perform basic hygiene after han-dling lead, as in washing hands with soap and hotwater. The above has been my method for over fourdecades without suffering any ill effects.

In my opinion the worst potential dangers to bul-let casters are burns from molten alloy. There is nodoubt that if someone handles molten lead alloyoften enough, he/she will get burned. The idea thenis to keep the damage incurred to a minimum. Such

injuries can range from tiny blis-ters on hands or arms to severeeye damage if proper precau-tions are not taken – and I’m notjust paying lip service to basicsafety procedures to keep liabil-ity lawyers at bay. This is a seri-ous matter. Proper apparel isone precaution. I cast bullets ina short-sleeved shirt once. Only

once! I cast bullets in Bermuda shorts once. Onlyonce! One time I cast bullets in loose fitting moc-casins with no socks. It takes only one time for abullet fresh from a very hot mould rolling off thebench and landing inside your loose fitting shoe tobreak you of casting in such. An official of LymanProducts Corp. recently told me that OSHA (Occu-pational Safety and Health Administration) man-dates that their employees wear full face shieldswhen casting on the job. They can be purchased atHome Depot-type stores for a few bucks. That’s nota bad idea at all.

And lastly, avoid getting anything in the lead fur-nace that does not belong there. Once I tossed insome Linotype pieces that still had some sort ofprinter’s chemical on them. A friend found me out

When casting his BPCRSilhouette competitionbullets that must be veryaccurate, Mike fluxes onlyat the beginning of a runof bullets. Here a piece ofbullet lubricant has beenadded to the pot, causingit to smoke heavily. Below,Mike’s setup for castingincludes an exhaust fanto remove fumes, a facemask, a long-sleeved shirtand gloves to prevent burns.

BustingNothing

but the Truth


MythBusting

Mike fired over 100 jacketed bullets from the U.S. Model 1903 .30-06with a 3x Leatherwood scope (top) and over 200 jacketed bullets fromthe German K98k with Numrich ZF41 1.5x scope. Then he shot hisfavorite cast loads without cleaning the barrels.

This is Mike’s second try with theGerman K98k with cast bulletsafter firing over 200 roundsthrough it with jacketed bullets.There was no cleaning betweenusing jacketed and cast bullets.

This group was fired from theU.S. Model 1903 .30-06 with 3xscope using cast bullets after ithad fired over 100 rounds ofjacketed bullets. There was nocleaning between jacketed andcast bullets.

This was the first cast bullet groupMike fired with the German K98kafter firing over 200 rounds ofjacketed bullets. The flyer was shotnumber 5 to the right, so Mikefired a second five-shot group asshown in the far left photo.

Then the lead pot is shut down,and the bullets are taken fromthe shop to the house wherethey’re inspected and weighed.Any with visible defects are re-jected, and any that weigh out-side my 0.6-grain limits are setaside too. It’s a very rare castingsession that doesn’t net me 100

My method is to flux heavily atthe beginning of a session andthen cast 15 bullets rather quicklywithout even looking at them.They are rejects. Then I startkeeping all bullets with perfectappearing bases until I have 115.

Avoid getting anythingin the lead furnace thatdoes not belong there.

separating.” It does not. Once al-loyed, metals are forever alloyed.Fluxing brings impurities to thesurface. For casting many typesof bullets, fluxing often does noactual harm, but I’ve learned in20 years of trying to cast bulletsfor precision shooting that flux-ing often indeed does harm.When pouring a run of bullets forBPCR Silhouette, if a break ismade to flux, the bullets cast im-mediately after will vary consid-erably in weight. My personalcriterion for BPCR Silhouettebullets is a range of ±0.3 grain.Fluxing changes both the tem-perature of the alloy and the cadence of the pouring. There-fore bullets poured immediatelyafterwards do not fall into thatweight range.

on the porch on my hands andknees, gasping for breath. Mythroat was raw for days after-wards. The same goes for mois-ture, primers, gunpowder andeven loaded rounds, none ofwhich I’ve introduced to a potbut know of others who have.

FLUX OFTEN

Another myth often repeated is“flux heavily and flux often.”That’s something I bought into atan early age and shamefully re-peated in articles over the years.It is said that fluxing “keeps thevarious metals in the alloy from


Mike says it may be true that aflaw that will be of no conse-quence in a big bullet will ruina small bullet, but the answer isjust don’t cast bullets with flaws.These big and small bullets haveno visible flaws.

that have had jacketed bulletfouling in their barrels fordecades. You can clean themwith a copper solvent until yourelbow wears out, and the patcheswill still come out greenish.Those barrels will shoot cast bul-lets as accurately as jacketed,and sometimes better. As a testrecently I did the following: ASpringfield Model 1903 fittedwith a 3x Leatherwood scopewas fired with over 100 jacketed

or more perfect (by my standards)bullets.

What about the “stuff” on top ofthe lead furnace that gathers ifit’s not fluxed often? It’s dross orslag. Skim it off with a spoon,discard it and forget it.

REMOVE ALL JACKETED

BULLET FOULING

This one is repeated endlessly:“All jacketed bullet fouling mustbe removed from a barrel beforeshooting cast bullets, or the re-sults will be dismal.” That’s morenonsense I bought into earlier.It’s just not so. For several yearsnow, I’ve been shooting a varietyof World War II military rifles

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MythBusting

Left, Mike won the Arizona 2008 State Championshipfor Scoped BPCR Silhouette using bullets that weresized. Above, Mike has experienced just as muchprecision from sized bullets as from unsized bullets.At left is one of his favorite .45-caliber cast riflebullets. It is a 560-grain Creedmoor style from acustom Brooks mould. At right is his favorite .40-caliber cast bullet. It is a 425-grain “turkey killer”style bullet also from a custom Brooks mould.

Left, Mike and Clint Smith withthe bison cow Mike shot inNebraska using an original SharpsModel 1874 .44-77 with bulletsfrom RCBS mould 44-370-FN.The bullets were cast of soft1-40 (tin-to-lead) alloy.

bullet loads. With no cleaning afive-shot, 100-yard group wasthen fired with my favorite .30-06cast bullet handload: Lymanmould 311299 casting a 195-grainLinotype bullet over 25 grains of Western Powder’s 5744. Thegroup measured 1.50 inches.Next I fired over 200 rounds ofjacketed bullet loads from a Ger-man K98k fitted with a Numrich

1.5x replica ZF41 scope. Againwith no cleaning, a five-shot, 100-yard group was fired with myfavorite 8mm Mauser cast hand-load: Redding/SAECO 81, whichcasts a 180-grain Linotype bullet,over 27 grains of Western Pow-der’s 5744. The first four shotswent into 1.50 inches, but the lastone was a flyer to the right mak-ing the group 2.25 inches. So I

cheated and fired another fiveshots. Those did go into 1.25inches.

The point here isn’t that youshould let your barrels get fouledto the point of ruination. It’s thatif they are clean enough to shootdecently with jacketed bullets,they should shoot decently withcast. That’s not the same thing

as saying they will shoot any

old cast bullet load well. It must

be a good load.

Handloader 263

A SMALL DEFECT OKAY IN

A BIG BULLET WILL RUIN

A SMALLER ONE

Well, of course, it will. That“myth” is true as far as it goes.The key, however, is just don’tcast bullets with defects. And ifyou did cast a defective bullet in-advertently, then don’t load it. Ifyou did load it inadvertently, thendon’t shoot it for any worthwhilepurpose. Use it for a fouling shotor whatever. In my opinion a “de-fect” of any sort isn’t okay in mybullets, big or small. That’s in re-gard to rifle bullets used for pre-cision shooting, as with BPCRSilhouette. I don’t worry aboutdefects in handgun bullets, be-cause they’ll be fired at shortrange. They can look terrible and

still shoot nicely at 25 yards, es-pecially if used in speed shoot-ing. I’ve cast bullets as small as.22 caliber of straight Linotypefor .22 centerfire rifles with re-sults that surprised even me.Groups down toward minute ofangle at 100 yards came fromfinely accurate varmint rifles.But, the bullets were good and

handloaded properly. Entire arti-cles can and have been writtenabout casting good bullets andhandloading them properly .Those procedures can’t be cov-ered here, but there’s plenty ofsuch information in back issuesof this magazine.

NO SIZING OF

CAST BULLETS IS BEST

That’s more nonsense that getsrepeated over and over. No sizingis best if the bullet is perfectly

round, and if it fits the rifle’s

barrel perfectly. Schuetzen rifle-men of old had their bullet moulds

48

MythBusting

Right, this is a regulation metallicsilhouette turkey as shown on the

range at the NRA WhittingtonCenter near Raton, New Mexico.

Below, to hit those tiny silhouettesrequires fine cast bullet accuracy.

Here Mike is shooting at the turkeysilhouettes (third row back) at 385

meters under the number 12. Mike fired this 12-shot group at25 yards with .44-40 bullets of 1-20 (tin-to-lead) temper fromYvonne’s U.S. Fire Arms singleaction.

Besides fitting a cast bullet’s size, shape and weight to the shootingpurpose, it is also necessary to cast it from an alloy suited to thepurpose. At left, the bullets are sitting on a bar of 1-20 (tin-to-lead)alloy used for all BPCR Silhouette bullets and light to moderate velocityrevolver bullets. Right, bullets, sitting on a bar of Linotype, are firedfrom Mike’s military rifle collection and his autoloading pistols.


carefully cut by the same gun-smith who put the rifle together.Such a combination logicallyshould not need bullet sizing.The myth that no sizing is bestalso stems from the fact thatlube/sizing dies used to cut bul-lets instead of swaging them.Such “cut” bullets wouldn’t shootworth a hoot. I know, for in 1967,as a young fellow, an old-timer atmy gun club pawned one off on

lead) alloy, those bullets fall at.459 inch. They are sized to .458inch. Loaded over 64 grains ofSwiss 11⁄2 Fg and fired in myShiloh Model 1874 .45-70 fittedwith a 6x Montana Vintage Armstelescope, I won at the 2008 Ari-zona State Scoped BPCR Silhou-ette Championship.

Actually it was Steve Brookswho got me to thinking aboutcast bullet sizing. He once toldme that for our BPCR Silhouette

game with targets out to 500 me-ters, he would rather shoot a per-fectly round bullet than one evenminutely out of round. Thereforehe sizes all bullets. Since he haswon the national championshipfor our sport twice and numer-ous state and regional champi-onships, arguing the point withhim would be silly.me. I couldn’t hit a wash tub at

25 yards with my first .30-06 castbullet handloads. After I bought anew lube/sizing die, then bulletsfrom the same mould and rifleshot nicely.

To be honest I also repeatedthis particular myth for manyyears. In fact my favorite .40-65BPCR Silhouette handload stilluses bullets that are unsized. Theyare poured in a Steve Brookscustom mould (his 425-grainturkey-killer style). They fallfrom the mould at .409 inch, andI run them through a .410 sizingdie that merely applies lube with-out actually touching the bullet.With that bullet over 57.0 grainsof Swiss 11⁄2 Fg black powder inmy Lone Star Rolling Block, Iwon the 2000 Montana StateBPCR Silhouette Championship.

My favorite .45-70 BPCR Silhou-ette handload uses bullets fromanother Steve Brooks custommould. Its bullets have a Creed-moor-style nose and weigh 560grains. He calls this design the“popcorn” bullet because he sellsso many of that particular shape.From my mould with 1-20 (tin-to-

Above, Mike’s most recent BPCRSilhouette rifle is a Lone Star Rifle

Company rolling block .45-70.Right, Mike will not compete inBPCR Silhouette with a rifle if itwill not shoot cast-bullet, black-

powder handloads into groupslike this at 300 yards.

Don’t load cast bulletswith defects.

Handloader 263

soft 1-40 (tin-to-lead) alloy, and itdefinitely showed signs of ex-panding, although it punchedcompletely through that beast diagonally.

Most of us who have long readthe pages of this magazine are fa-miliar with the fact that in hand-

guns the semiwadcutter (SWC)and FN cast bullet shapes workexcellently even without expan-sion. They don’t even have to befired from big magnum boomers.A .41- to .45-caliber SWC or FNbullet at 1,000 fps should sailthrough most any deer at normalhandgun ranges and put it downif hit properly. I’ve shot numer-ous whitetail deer, mule deer,elk, bison and uncounted var -mints with cast bullets withoutexperiencing any problems. Infact I’ve personally experiencedmore bullet failures on gamewith jacketed types from both rifles and handguns.

THE HARDER THE

CAST BULLET THE BETTER

Harder cast bullets are some-times better. Softer cast bulletsare sometimes better. And some-times, moderately hard bulletsare better. Again the bullet needsto be fitted to its specific pur-

On the other end, I’ve shot one-ton bison bulls with cast bulletswith great success. The differ-ence is I’ve used big calibers –from .44 to .50 to be specific. Italso helps to use a flatnose (FN)bullet – such as the one fromRCBS mould 44-370-FN used onthe last bison cow I broughthome. That one was shot with anoriginal Sharps Model 1874 .44-77. The bullet was cast of very

CAST BULLETS ARE

NO GOOD FOR HUNTING

Cast bullets are just fine forhunting, if some common senseis used. Smallbore cast bulletspoured of extra hard alloy aregoing to act just like full-metal-jacketed (FMJ) bullets in goingthrough game, which is no good.The key is to just match the bul-let to the purpose. For instance,with those .22-centerfire Lino-type bullets mentioned above,the only animals I ever shot withthem were ground squirrels.They work as good for that as aregular .22 Long Rifle bullet butnot as good as hollowpoint .22rimfires.


MythBusting

With the low pressuresof black powder,

hard bullets do notobturate.


pose. For example, in shootingmy above-mentioned World WarII military rifles and in shootingany autoloading pistol, I use onlyLinotype. Experience has shownthat the hard Linotype bulletswith a nominal Brinell hardnessnumber (BHN) of 22 travel uprough feed ramps and into cham-bers more positively than softerbullets.

Conversely, if I put bulletspoured of Linotype alloy throughmy BPCR target rifles, the resultwill be severe barrel leading. Thedifference is bullet obturation.With the low pressures of theblack-powder propellant, hardbullets do not obturate to sealthe bore. The result is gas cuttingaround the bullet’s base withthose alloy particles plating thebore, which is darn hard to re-move. For BPCRs, most of usavid shooters are using blends ofpure lead to pure tin in propor-tions from 20 to one to 30 to one.Those alloys have nominal BHNsof 10 and 8.5, respectively. Uponignition of the powder, the softerbullets’ bases swell, seal the boreand prevent that gas cutting.

This doesn’t just happen withBPCRs either. The same holdstrue for low-pressure handguncast bullets. Anyone who hasfired hard Linotype alloy bulletsout of a revolver at about 700 fpsprobably has seen a surprisingamount of lead fouling left in thebarrel’s forcing cone. I have.Then shoot a 1-20 alloy bulletthrough the same revolver at thesame speed and look. There’s aminimum of lead fouling, if anyat all. However, if that soft bulletis next fired in the same revolverat 1,200 fps, there will likely bestreaks of lead fouling in the bar-rel’s grooves. That’s friction lead-ing, and it’s no good either, so atthis point it’s proper to stiffen thealloy a bit. Lyman’s much publi-cized No. 2 alloy with a nominalBHN of 15 is a good moderatelyhard alloy.


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(Continued on page 80)

LCR (Light, Compact Revolver) was unveiled. Whatwe didn’t know was that development had been un-derway for about two years and that prototypeswere test fired with “many thousands” of rounds of158-grain +P ammunition.

It was a hot topic all over the show floor. The factthat part of the frame was made of polymerwas big news, but the word I heardmost often was ugly. Genera-tions of us have grown up with

Charles E. Petty

Iwonder what took so long.Someone big is finally going tocompete with Smith & Wessonin the arena of small, pocket

revolvers. Since its introduction in1950, the S&W J-frame in its manyiterations and models has thrived ina virtually private pond. Though Ican’t prove it, I’d bet the number ofJ-frames sold probably outnumbersall the other S&W models combinedwith the possible exception of theModel 10. There are imported ver-sions, but for awhile Colt was theonly serious competition. Colt hadsold snubbies since the 1930s, andits Agent and Detective Specialmodels were very successful; how-ever, in the mid-1980s, Colt walkedaway and gave S&W the market.

Now I admit to traveling in a circle largely popu-lated by gun guys, but I don’t know a soul in thegroup who doesn’t own a J-frame. I carry one on adaily basis. When I was a cop, they were – and stillare – carried as backup guns by the uniform guysand standard issue for plainclothes work, althoughthe switch to autos has changed that. Today there isan enormous demand for the smallest-lightest gunyou can carry, and with the growing number ofstates that allow good citizens concealed carry, theJ-frame continues to prosper.

There had been some vague rumors that Rugerwas going to enter the small revolver market, andsure enough, at the SHOT Show last January, the

Ruger52 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 263

I

the J-frame, so anything that departs from thoselines is foreign (non-traditional); but if you can putaside a different appearance, the LCR is absolutelyinnovative and interesting. The S&W loyalty is notlost on Ruger either, and I’m sure it is just pure co-

incidence that it fits J-frame holsters –and the speedloaders work too.

What the folks atRuger have done

is blend

proven technologies of aluminum, stainless steeland polymer to produce a 13.5-ounce, double-action only revolver capable of handling .38 Specialammunition up to +P levels. As is the case with allsuper-light revolvers, comfort of carry rather thanshooting is its goal in life.

One of the criticisms I heard at the SHOT Showconcerned the shape of the cylinder and the un-usual design of the flutes. I’d be the first to say theylook different, but they are not, as some suggested,

53

LCRDecember-January 2010 www.handloadermagazine.com

Little Guns,Big Business

Handloader 263

a weakness. The cylinder wallsare just as thick as other similarguns, and the area that receivesthe maximum pressure is theback half of the cylinder. Folkswho know a lot more about thisstuff than I do have told me thatthe maximum pressure in the .38Special – and most handgun car-tridges – occurs before the bulletleaves the case and sometimesbefore it even moves at all.

Readers always want to knowaccuracy test results, and I liketo oblige, but there is a good rea-son these things are called belly

guns, and minute of belt buckleis more than adequate accuracy.Testing a gun like this at 25 yardsis probably a waste of your timeand mine and, with a lightweightrevolver, is a greater test of myskill in trigger control than theinherent accuracy of the gun. Unless we’re talking about super-slick PPC revolvers, really accu-rate double-action shooting is arare skill.

As with any 13.5-ounce gun, theshooter’s ability to manage recoil

marily due to differences in bul-let weight. Today, however, non+P ammunition isn’t always easyto find, but this is where weought to start. Two justly popularloads are Winchester’s venerable110-grain Silvertip and the muchnewer Federal Personal Defensewith a 110-grain Hydra-Shok bul-let. Both of these work well insnubbies, although the light bul-let can lead to shifts in point ofimpact with the fixed sights. Wecan still find the original 158-grain lead roundnose or semi-wadcutter (SWC), and I’ll let youin on a little secret: The famous148-grain HBWC (hollowbasewadcutter) is a joy to shoot andmakes neat, sharp holes in fleshas well as paper.

Moving up to +P loadings, wecan choose bullet weights from110 to 158 grains with 125 themost common, although Win-

sense here, because the first con-sideration of any gunfight shouldbe the ability to put holes in youradversary. Bigger is better, butmild .38 loads are just as lethal ashot ones if the bullet is properlyplaced. And that is done moreeasily if you don’t have “this isgonna hurt” lurking in your sub-conscious mind.

Recoil of +P loads can rangefrom moderate to obnoxious pri-

is the major accuracy factor. Justbecause the LCR is approved foruse with +P ammunition doesn’tmean that is what you have touse. I firmly believe the choice ofammunition should be governedby the owner’s ability to shootaccurately with any given load.We also need to apply common


RugerLCR

A blend ofproven technologies.

The cylinder appears different but is more thanadequate for +P ammunition.

The line between the polymer and alloy segmentsof the frame is clearly visible. The screw above thecylinder latch is one of two that join the sections.

A variety of ammunition was used in the tests.


same ammunition, side by side,in an S&W Model 342 that weighsabout an ounce less but is proba-bly the most directly comparablecompetitor. To me there wasn’tmuch difference in felt recoil, al-though the Ruger seemed to beslightly less than the 342. My experience with polymer-framedauto pistols suggests the polymermoderates recoil a bit, and that

tion. The handloads were a mildcowboy load of 3.0 grains of Tite-group with a 125-grain LRN, thenthe same charge with a 158-grainLSWC that has long been mystandard plinking load, and fi-nally I worked my way upthrough the factory loads shownin the table ending with a sizablequantity of 148-grain wadcutters.Just out of curiosity, I shot the

chester has a 130-grain SXT andSpeer a 135-grain Gold Dot thatare worthy of consideration. Asyou would expect, recoil in-creases proportionately with bul-let weight, and few of the +Psscore high on the fun factor scale.

I decided to test the LCR, andmyself, with an assortment ofhandloads and factory ammuni-


Ruger LCRAmmunition Test Results

brand bullet velocity(grains) (fps)

Black Hills Cowboy 158 LFP 647Winchester Silvertip 110 739Winchester Match 148 HBWC 643Winchester 158 SWC 751Federal Personal Defense 110 Hydra-Shok 860Remington Golden Saber +P 125 852Winchester Personal Protection +P 130 SXT 843Speer Gold Dot +P 135 828

Table I

Left, the barrel liner is shrouded by the alloy frame.

Handloader 263

handled a couple of different ex-amples at the SHOT Show, Ithought the trigger was prettygood, but the production gun Ihave is even nicer. It consistentlytakes 10 pounds to fire but with-out any of the inconsistencies orstacking often seen in revolverswith coil mainsprings. And towarm the heart of this old PPCshooter, I was able to quickly

index – or stage – the cylinder tothe locked position leaving only abit more pressure needed to firethe shot.

Construction consists of thepolymer fire-control section, adark silver-gray stainless steelcylinder and crane, an alloyframe and barrel shroud and astainless steel barrel liner. Theframe is machined from aircraftgrade aluminum and hard an-odized with a highly corrosion re-sistant coating. The aluminumportion also includes the barrelshroud, so there is no visible di-viding line between frame andbarrel. The front sight is held inwith a roll pin, so we’ll probablysoon see replacements in theform of fiber optic or tritiumnight sights.

I’m sure most of you are famil-iar with the outroar that followedS&W’s addition of a trigger lock-ing mechanism in its revolvers,so one of the first things I didwith the LCR was look for a key-hole. I didn’t see one, and it was-n’t until I belatedly read theinstruction manual that I learnedthe Ruger did, indeed, have alock. But it is cleverly concealedunder the grip, which must be re-moved to engage it.

Instead of formal accuracy test-ing which is, at least for littleguns like this, a waste of time

must be the case with the LCR aswell.

The LCR really breaks somenew ground in Ruger design andis the first Ruger double-actionrevolver I’ve ever shot that didnot get richly deserved criticismfor the trigger pull. The polymerportion of the gun is called thefire-control housing and containsall the trigger elements. When I


RugerLCR

Loads for the Ruger LCRbullet powder charge velocity

(grains) (grains) (fps)

125 LRN Titegroup 3.0 529158 SWC Titegroup 3.0 584


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The grip isremoved to

show thelocking

mechanism.

The LCR breaks somenew ground.

58 Handloader 263

of aim. I don’t know if there is aformal definition of good accu-racy for little guns, but the LCRhas it.

Ammunition selection for littleguns like this is almost alwaysgoing to be a controversial sub-ject, and it all boils down to amatter of opinion rather than anyobjective way to measure effec-tiveness. Some believe enoughvelocity will solve any problem,but I am not among them. In-stead my first concern is to makeproperly placed holes fromwhich bodily fluids can leak, and then I want as much bulletweight as I can get without pun-ishing recoil. In this case the

shooting slowly, I was able toring it 8 out of 10 tries regularlyand, much to my surprise, foundthat the fixed sights were righton with a center hold at thatrange. At typical combat rangeswith the same load, point of im-pact was slightly above the point

and ammunition, I chose to re-vert to an old cop training regi-men of two-shot drills at rangesof 3 to 15 yards. Using my 158-grain handload that is roughlyequivalent to the original .38load, it was no trouble to keepshots within the 10 ring of a B-27target. When I moved up to the135-grain +P Gold Dot, I had toshoot a bit slower and had a couple of rounds wander out intothe 9 ring. But the best accuracytest of all was shooting at a 14-inch steel gong at 70 yards. Againwith the 158-grain handload and

standard pressure 158-grain SWCworks for me.

My sense from listening to oth-ers talk about it at the SHOTShow was that people weren’ttaking the little gun very seri-ously, but a chat with Ruger’sKen Jorgensen tells a differentstory. “Orders are very, verystrong,” he said.

I am just as tradition-orientedas the next guy, but I like to thinkthat, at least, I have an openmind. No, the LCR doesn’t lookfamiliar, but the trigger is great,and I can hit what I want when I want. Doesn’t that describe agood carry revolver?

Specifications:Ruger LCR

Mechanism type: double-action onlyrevolver

Material: frame: Series 7000 aircraftaluminum; fire control group: longstrand, glass-filled polymer; barreland cylinder: stainless steel

Caliber: .38 Special +PBarrel length: 1.875 inchesWeight: 13.5 ouncesCapacity: 5 roundsTrigger: 10-pound DAOSights: fixedGrips: Hogue TamerPrice: $525; Crimson Trace model: $792Manufacturer: Ruger Firearms

411 Sunapee St.Newport NH 03773www.ruger.com

RugerLCR

A lock is cleverlyconcealed under

the grip.

Handloadsprinted just

above thepoints of aimon the center

of the “A”zone at 7 and

15 yards.

This shot demonstrates the effect of full recoil with a +P load.

•

Brian Pearce

THE .45 COLT

After several months ofhard work, combined withthe hot evening sun, Ifound rest under the

shade of sweet smelling locusttrees. Even while sleeping I wasaware of my surroundings – thenearby horses with their occasionalsnorts and stomping of feet, the mu-sical tones of Indian Creek as itrolled crystal clear water just a fewyards away and the campfire occa-sionally popping. When the aromaof sizzling trout filled the air, it wastime for a growing teenage boy towake up. I sat up, rubbed my eyesand glanced toward the fire, as myolder brother announced that sup-per was nearly ready. It had been along time since breakfast, and hedidn’t have to call me twice!

This all started when my father announced thatwe would be going as a family to the World’s Fair(Expo 1974) held in Spokane, Washington. This an-nouncement was startling, as my father was abouthard work, rarely taking a vacation. And a cattleranch in the summer requires long hours irrigating;cutting, baling and stacking hay; doctoring cattle;fixing fence; and keeping equipment maintained.There were only 4 of us 11 children left at home,and my brother would be off to college that fall andthen to other parts of the world. We were close andknew that we would see little of each other in theyears ahead.

I had no interest in attending the World’s Fair withcrowds, long lines, poor food and booths that hadnothing to do with guns or hunting! I cornered mybrother, saying, “Let’s stay home and take a packtrip up Indian Creek. We’ll take our best horses,fishing poles and sixguns with plenty of ammo.We’ll scout for a big buck and elk.” We took theplan to our father, who in effect said, “Sure, stayhome if you want, but there are a few small things Iwould like you to do before you take off on horses.”His list was long and included putting up the rest ofthe hay, building a half-mile of six-strand barbed-wire fence, splitting firewood and a few other“small” items. There was a week’s worth of work onhis list, but we tied into it and had it completed in about two and a half long days, taking little timeto sleep.

We saddled our cow ponies, along with a Deckerpack saddle, filled the canvas side packs with only

SixgunCartridges3

.45 Colt,.44 Special,

.44 Magnum

A

verge of starvation without the trout. Clearly thiswas a survival situation!

My brother was wearing a 6-inch barreled Smith &Wesson Model 28, while I had a new-to-me pre-World War II Colt Single Action Army .45 Colt fittedwith a 51⁄2-inch barrel and custom sights. Both wereloaded with cast bullets. The trout were somethingaround 3 feet down, and we aimed justbehind their heads, allowed for theangle and cut loose. The bulletshad no trouble reaching them.The remaining fish scattered,going into shallower water,

the essentials, including sleepingbags, basic cooking utensils, saltand seasonings, a little beef jerky,sixguns and ammunition, then spentthe rest of the day riding toward theback of our ranch. We made campat a special place where there was alarge grove of trees, and IndianCreek made a bend leaving a natu-ral pool that was full of trout. Thegrass was green and ideal for ourweary horses.

After unsaddling and hobbling thehorses and making camp, wecaught a few grasshoppers andbegan fishing. The water was clear,so we hid behind the bushes andboulders to prevent the fish fromseeing us, but they wouldn’t bite.We dug worms, and they gave thesame results. We had brought somefood but would soon be on the


This custom Colt SAA pattern revolver is aduplicate of the Elmer Keith No. 5

.44 Special. It has accounted fordeer and mountain lion.

Handloader 263

but it only took a minute until wehad all the fish we needed. Whilemy brother built a fire, I cleanedfish, then decided to take thedesperately needed nap.

This was in the period prior tothe widespread use of hearingprotection, and I quickly appreci-ated the lower muzzle report ofthe .45, rather than the high-pitched, ear-ringing tones of the.357 Magnum. Over the next fewdays, we rode into new territory,camped, tried fishing with regularfishing poles and shot our six-guns at rocks, rockchucks, coy-otes and other targets. We alsopracticed hitting tossed aerialtargets with a Ruger Single-Sixand a Smith & Wesson K-22 Mas-

Over the next few months, Ipracticed daily with the old Coltuntil I became confident enoughto take a deer that fall; a doe at60 yards was my first big gameanimal taken with a handgun.The 255-grain Keith bullet (Lymanmould 454424) pushed with 9.0grains of Hercules (now Alliant)Unique gave a muzzle velocity ofaround 950 fps, which passedthrough both lungs and exited.She ran about 30 or 40 yards,leaving a blood trail on both

sides then piled up dead. In spiteof its rather leisurely velocity, theold .45 Colt was proving itself,just as it has for many genera-tions, as a legitimate big gamecartridge. Over the years that car-tridge has been used to take anumber of mule deer, black bear,elk, coyotes and pests. Its largecaliber seems to deliver unusualshock to an animal’s nervous sys-tem, not to mention a large holefor an easy-to-follow blood trail.

Today, I continue to use the .45

terpiece that had been stuffed inour packs. I have never wonderedwhat the World’s Fair held, but Idoubt it could have even comeclose to matching the adventures,experience and fun memories wefound on our pack trip.


SixgunCartridges3

Brian considers the Colt Single Action Army .45 Colt a top choice for aworking gun.

Two of Brian’s favorite .45 Colt loads employ castbullets, the 255-grain Lyman 454190 (left) and280-grain RCBS 45-270-SAA.

The Smith & Wesson N-frame .45 Colt fitted witha 4-inch barrel is a favorite. Top to bottom includeModels 625-6, 25-9 and 25-5, all featuring throatsof .451 to .452 inch for good accuracy.

I have neverwondered what theWorld’s Fair held.

psi and feature a 255-grain bulletat around 860 fps. And in spite ofits mild velocities, it is effectiveon game with its large caliberand deep, arrow-straight penetra-tion. I’ve used it successfully onblack bear and other game. Toduplicate it, try Lyman mould454190, which drops bullets weigh-ing around 255 grains, pushedwith 6.0 grains of Alliant RedDot. Overall cartridge lengthshould be 1.580 inches with a rollcrimp being placed over theogive. Keith-style bullets are pre-ferred for hunting big game, andwhile the original Lyman version(454424) is good, I now preferRCBS mould 45-270-SAA, which

produces a bullet between 280and 285 grains, depending on thealloy. The extra bullet weight isappreciated in terms of deep pen-etration on big game, while theflatnose and full-caliber frontdriving band cut a reliable woundchannel and deliver shock. Natu-rally, accuracy is good. For post-war Smith & Wesson N-frame andUSFA SAA revolvers, try 9.5 grainsof Hodgdon Longshot powder for940 to 975 fps from most gunswith 4- to 51⁄2-inch barrels.


Colt in a brace of Colt Single Ac-tion revolvers for hunting andeveryday wear, and for the last 10years, I’ve been deeply impressedwith the quality and improvedstrength of the U.S. Fire ArmsSAA pattern sixguns. The Coltcartridge also finds favor whenchambered in a Smith & WessonModel 25-5 or Model 625-6 Moun-tain Gun, each fitted with a 4-inchbarrel and featuring .451/.452-

inch throats. (Note that someS&W Model 25s featured over-sized .458-inch throats that gen-erally robbed accuracy.) Just lastyear an iron-sighted Smith &Wesson Model 25 was used totake an Idaho buck in open coun-try – a challenge by any measure.

The .45 Colt is a joy to shoot,especially with the relatively lowpressure factory loads that typi-cally generate less than 14,000

These two custom Ruger Blackhawk .44 Specials areamong Brian’s favorite.

Brian considers the Colt Single Action Army (top)and Smith & Wesson Model 1950 Target .44 Spe-cials as top working sixguns.

Below left, Alliant Power Pistol delivers excellent results in the .44Special. Right, the primary cast bullet that Brian uses to handload the.44 Special is the Lyman 429421, a 250-grain Keith.

The .45 Colt is a joyto shoot.


It has become popular to em-ploy 300- to 340-grain bullets atvelocities around 1,300 fps inheavy-framed .45 Colt revolvers,such as the Ruger Blackhawk,Redhawk and others. This prac-tice is absolutely safe and one Ihave promoted and still endorse.

In a Ruger Blackhawk, it ac-counted for an elk with a singleshot, and I would not hesitate touse it on grizzly or other danger-ous game. Frankly, it is like anentirely different cartridge, withgreater recoil and a less thanpleasurable muzzle report. If Ilived in the Alaskan wildernessaround the great bears, perhapssuch loads would be a favorite,but at this point it is more horse-power and requires a heavier gunthan is preferred for an everydayhip carry.

THE .44 SPECIAL

The .44 Special has neverachieved the widespread popular-ity it deserves. Many handloadersand in-the-know sixgunners haverecognized its value, but the aver-age handgunner certainly neverhas understood what an out-standing cartridge it is. Frankly, Iam not talented enough withcomplimentary words to do itjustice so can only report on myown opinion, observation and ex-periences. When the .44 Magnum

SixgunCartridges3

Above, Brian considers the .44 Magnum unusuallyversatile. This Smith & Wesson Model 29-2 with a 4-inch barrel has accounted for many head of big game,including elk. Right, the Smith & Wesson Model 629.44 Magnum is top choice for hunting deer.

Left, Hodgdon H-110, Alliant 2400 and Power Pistol giveexcellent performance in the .44 Magnum with a variety ofbullet weights. Below, the .44 Magnum is unusually versatile,depending on the bullet and load chosen. Examples of suchinclude (left to right): Speer 240-grain Gold Dot HP, 246-grainLyman 429383, 250-grain Keith/Lyman 429421, 255-grainThompson gas check Lyman 429244 and 310-grain gas checkRCBS 44-300-SWC.

In addition to utilizing powderefficiently and having a shortercase that ejects from revolverswith ease, another appealing as-pect of the .44 Special has to do

to the root of its tail. It also makesa good accounting in jackrabbitcountry or when a cranky rat-tlesnake needs its tail cut off justbehind the ears.

appeared in 1955, it seemed toget all the attention, and the Special was almost lost. It wasdecades before such notables asSkeeter Skelton praised its virtues,finally convincing Colt and Smith& Wesson to again offer limitedruns of new guns, a practice thatcontinues to this day.

The Special is at its best whenpushing various 246- to 255-graincast bullets 800 to 1,200 fps (onlyin guns of suitable strength forthe latter velocities/pressures). Itcan also push 310-grain cast bul-lets around 1,050 fps, which pen-etrate unusually well. Unlikeothers have claimed, I have notfound the .44 Special to be moreaccurate than other revolver car-tridges of similar design, but inan accurate gun, it is easy to as-semble loads that shoot verywell. It may not offer as much ve-locity as its magnum offspring,but a 250-grain cast bullet atthose velocities will take biggame reliably. Using Lyman mould429421, pushed to between 900and 1,200 fps in Colt Single Ac-tions and Smith & Wesson 1950Target revolvers, it will zip throughdeer with ease, penetrate a blackbear from spine to chest, com-pletely penetrate a bull elk atover 100 yards and will ruin amountain lion’s lunch from chest


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For those wanting to load the.45 Colt to 30,000 CUP in strongrevolvers, such as Ruger Redhawksand Blackhawks, modern solidhead .45 Colt cases (right) areequally as strong as the .44Magnum (left).

The .44 Special has traditionally been factory loaded with a 246-grainroundnose bullet at around 755 fps. Brian finds the cartridge more ef-fective if stoked with SWC-style bullets and pushed between 900 and1,200 fps.

Handloader 263

soon becomes apparent that gunsthe size of a Colt Single Action orSmith & Wesson N-frame with43⁄4- and 4-inch barrels, respec-tively, typically weighing around37 to 38 ounces, are close to theideal size and weight for wearingin a well-designed holster. Yet

discussion over a few ounces ofweight or the size of a gun.Rather than taking a favorite six-gun to the range once a month ina gun case, just wear it on yourhip for 12 to 18 hours whileworking, hunting, riding a horseor kicking around the hills. It

with the lighter, handier guns ithas been offered in. For instance,the Colt Single Action Army re-mains an ideal weight and sizefor an everyday working gun andis lighter than .44 Magnum singleactions. Likewise the RugerBlackhawk .357 Magnum (1955-1972) when converted to this car-tridge, as well as the recent NewModel Blackhawk .44 Special (asoffered by Lipsey’s), are handy“working” sixguns. And theSmith & Wesson 1950 Targets, aswell as previous N-frame re-volvers, are lighter and handierthan the Model 29, naturally withthe exception of the recent S&WMountain Guns and the Model329PDs.

Some may wonder why so much


SixgunCartridges3

Above left, Brian’s .45 Colt handload containing Lyman 255-grain castbullet from mould 454190 pushed with 6.0 grains of Alliant Red Dotduplicates the ballistics of traditional factory loads. Right, the Smith& Wesson Model 629-4 .44 Magnum delivers good accuracy with avariety of handloads.

December-January 2010 67

primers. Expansion is reliable atdistances exceeding 100 yards,even with the minimal “resis-

they are heavy enoughto manage recoil, steadyand shoot accuratelywhile offering enoughbig-bore power formost tasks rangingfrom hunting to de-fense.

I have tried many .44Special handloads overthe years but continu-ally settle on the 250-grain Keith cast bullet(Lyman mould 429421)as a general-purposebullet. For a light load,7.5 grains of AlliantPower Pistol deliver over 900 fpsfrom a 4-inch Smith & Wesson.For a bit flatter trajectory, whilestaying within SAAMI pressurelimits of 15,500 psi, 8.2 grains ofthe same powder produce 1,000fps from a 51⁄2-inch Colt SAA andis the load used most for generalpurposes. For long-range work,but only suitable for post-WorldWar II Colt SAA and Smith &Wesson N-frame revolvers, 17.0grains of Alliant 2400 producearound 1,200 fps in most guns.All the above loads are cappedwith CCI 300 or Federal 150primers.

THE .44 MAGNUM

It has been 35 years since I firstobtained a .44 Magnum, and Iwas impressed with its accuracy,power and versatility. Due to newguns and improved bullets, it iseven more impressive today and

remains a personal favorite. Ithas demonstrated its ability totake any game animal on earth,including elephant, lion, Capebuffalo, Alaskan brown bear andall members of the deer family.The real key is to use the correctbullet for the task at hand. Ontarget ranges, such as the de-manding silhouette (IHMSA)competition, it has delivered per-fect scores and tight groups at200 meters.

I have taken a number of white-tail deer with cast and jacketedbullets, with both proving theirvalue. Particularly good resultshave been obtained with theSpeer 240-grain Gold Dot hollow-point (GDHP) and the HornadyXTP of the same weight pushedaround 1,400 fps using either 21.5grains of Alliant 2400 with CCI300 primers or 24.5 grains ofHodgdon H-110 with CCI 350

Left, Brian used a customRuger .44 Special to downthis Idaho mule deer, usingcast bullets. Right, Brianconsiders the .44 Specialan excellent working gun.While out cutting firewood,Brian encountered thisrattlesnake. Below, in spiteof its modest velocities,the .45 Colt is a provenperformer on big game. ThisIdaho mule deer was takenwith a Smith & WessonModel 625 Mountain Gun.

Handloader 263

when the animal enters thickbrush. Velocity produced by the.44 Magnum, exceeding that ofthe .44 Special by 200 to 250 fps,offers a certain advantage whenshots exceed 100 yards in twoways.

First, trajectories are flatter,which aids in making longershots. I recall hunting whitetaildeer in Alabama wherein I “drew”the largest meadows, and shots

could be out as far as 200 yardswhen the deer came in to feed.Of the two-dozen handgun huntersin camp, I was the only one usingan iron-sighted sixgun, with oth-ers using scope-sighted revolversor single-shot handguns cham-bered for bottleneck rifle car-tridges, and there were concernsthat I might be too handicappedwith the open sights and .44 Mag-num cartridge. From a steadyshooting position, however, deerwere reliably hit in the lungs at150 measured yards. At the shot,most would turn and run into thetimber some 20 to 40 yards dis-tance, then pile up stone dead.None required a second shot andnone were lost. Second, theadded .44 Magnum velocity pro-motes reliable expansion at theselonger distances. Generally speak-ing, when deer hunting out ofstate, it is a .44 Magnum revolverthat accompanies me.

The .44 Magnum changes per-sonalities when stoked withtough, nonexpanding solid bul-lets, such as the 270-grain BeltMountain Punch Solid, or castbullets ranging in weight from250 to 340 grains. With the properbullet, I have reports of suchloads driving through Cape buf-falo, Alaskan brown bears andother heavy game that require acartridge capable of deliveringdeep penetration. I have shot250-grain Keith bullets throughblack bear and elk from a Smith& Wesson Model 29 with a 4-inchbarrel, not to mention countlessdiseased livestock. Again, withthe right bullet I would not hesi-tate to tackle moose, grizzly oreven Cape buffalo.

My standard .44 Magnum loadfor Smith & Wesson and RugerBlackhawks with the Lymanmould 429421 is 8.8 grains of Al-liant Power Pistol for 950 fpsfrom a 4-inch barrel. For a heavyload, 21.0 grains of Alliant 2400produce around 1,350 to 1,400fps from revolvers with 6- to 71⁄2-inch barrels. Both of these loadsshould only be used in conjunc-tion with a large pistol primer,

tance” (necessary for expansion)associated with broadside dou-ble-lung shots. Both bullets exitreliably and open a substantialwound channel, which allowseasy following of the blood trail


SixgunCartridges3


cal for belt carry. In recent yearsI have become fond of Smith &Wesson’s Model 329PD thatweighs 261⁄2 ounces and is a fa-vorite when hunting the Alaskanwilderness, where everythingthat you need to live for weeks isin your pack – and ounces be-come important. Yet it is capableof driving bullets through a largebear’s head or downing a moose.

such as the CCI 300 or Federal150. Moving up to the 310-grainbullets, either the Mt. Baldy Keithdesign (PO Box 835, Cody WY82414) or the RCBS mould 44-300-SWC over 21.0 grains ofHodgdon H-110 capped with aCCI 350 primer will yield 1,225 to1,275 fps in most revolvers. The270-grain Belt Mountain Punchsolid bullet can be pushed to1,300 fps or more using 22.5grains of Hodgdon H-110 with aCCI 350 primer. For a light, smallgame load, try the 245-grain castroundnose bullet from Lymanmould 429383 pushed by 6.0grains of Alliant Red Dot foraround 850 fps. The above loads,along with the previously men-tioned loads for the 240-grainSpeer GDHP and Hornady XTPbullets, will handle most situa-tions where the .44 Magnum willbe employed.

Over the last 35 years, many favorite .44 Magnum revolvershave been put to work. For in-stance there are two Smith &Wesson Model 29s with 4-inchtubes that have been shot somuch that I have had to com-pletely rebuild them by settingback the barrels, recutting theforcing cones and installing newbolts, yokes, firing pins, cylinderstops, center pins, etc. They arenow in semi-retirement, havingbeen largely replaced by a pair ofModel 629-4 Mountain Guns withtighter throats, unusual accuracyand improved “endurance” lockworks.

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There are some very good re-volver cartridges that did notmake my “three favorites” list,but they are certainly worthy, and in a couple of cases, I feel almost guilty for leaving themout. Nonetheless, mine were chosen based on real world expe-rience shooting, hunting and car-rying them as general-purposesixguns.


.22 RemStan Trzoniec

My association with Thomp-son/Center goes back along time. As a writerand hunter, I was always

impressed by the fact you couldpurchase one receiver, and by justswitching barrels, you could end upwith a gun that could shoot stan-dard or magnum cartridges. Alsofrom the T/C Custom Shop, youcould find a never-ending supply of present-day and near-obsoletecartridges. With my passion for .22-caliber wildcats, this not only ex-tended my shooting time in thefield, but also offered a new dimen-sion to the hobby of handloading.

The Thompson/Center organization is a smallbusiness American dream come true. It all began in1945 when Ken Thompson decided to start a com-pany fathered by his convictions and a strong de-sire to own his own business. Starting in his garage,he put together a game plan and emerged with abusiness called the K.W. Thompson Tool Company.His claim to fame was making moulds and toolingfor the investment casting industry. With thefirearms business starting to grow stronger eachyear, the shop expanded, and by 1962 his grosssales approached about $180,000 annually. In 1963he moved to New Hampshire, and in 1964 the plantwas expanded to 10,500 square feet. In 1965 a bril-liant firearms designer, Warren Center, joined thefirm, and with his design of the famous single-shotpistol, the rest is history with the first Contendergoing out the door in 1967.

Above, not often done in a long barrel,the .22 Jet is a pleasure to use for smallgame and varmints. Facing page, fromthe left side, you can see the mountingscrews for the scope mounts. The ringsand base are from T/C.

M

December-January 2010 www.handloadermagazine.com

ingto nJetT/C rescues

defuncthandguncartridgein rifles.

Handloader 263

Since the Contender has beenreviewed many times by this andother magazines, I won’t go intothe heavy details outlining thegun but will just skim over themore important parts, as I’vemodified the gun for my own usethrough items from its customshop. The current T/C web pageoffers about 120 different cham-berings, from the small rimfiresto the larger African cartridges.Standard and wildcats are of-fered for those who may want touse off-the-shelf ammunition orroll their own. To me the list isnever ending and offers a chanceto explore cartridges like the .17Ackley Bee, .219 Zipper and .223Ackley Improved without theheavy burden and expense of abig-ticket, custom-made rifle.

This time around, we are deal-ing with the .22 Remington Jet, acartridge that seemed destinedfor handgun use. When I discov-ered the Jet on the list, I calledthe custom shop to get the proj-ect going. Since I like the lighterframe of the Contender, versusthe Encore, for summertimechuck hunting, I picked the ta-pered 24-inch barrel. Highly pol-ished and detailed, this would bethe perfect mate for a new .22-caliber reloading project whilefitting in with other wildcats, in-cluding the .22 Mashburn Bee

At the same time, I ordered athumbhole stock like I have useda few times for other projects.While the folks at T/C still makea thumbhole stock, they do notmake the same one I currentlyhave. I say that only because Ihave never had a more comfort-

and the .22 K-Hornet. With a posi-tive ejector at the chamber end,it carefully lifts the spent car-tridge case so you can pluck itout of the barrel and reload itagain without the hassle of it fly-ing off into the pucker brush.

able stock to shoot with. Every-thing is right about this stock,right down to the length of pulland the finger grooves on the pis-tol grip; and for offhand shootingit comes up as if it were made es-pecially for you. There is an ex-tended, rollover cheekpiece, andthe forearm that came with thisstock is flat and long – perfectfor those opportune rests youcome across in the field whensmall game is spotted.

My Contender is the previousmodel, but the newer and im-proved G2 Contender sports thesame receiver outline as the En-core, is easier to open, allowsmore room between the triggerguard and the stock and incorpo-rates a newly designed automatic


.22 Rem ingto nJet

Right, the hammer on theContender is made to fire

both rimfire and centerfirebarrels. Note the dual firing

pins just forward of thehammer. Far right, the

trigger guard is wide androomy enough for all-season

use, and the trigger wasadjusted to break

at 21⁄2 pounds.

Rugged construction and a powerful ejector leave the Contender openfor a lifetime of use.

The .22 Remington Jetwas developed by

Remington andSmith & Wesson in 1961.


hammer block safety with an in-terlock. In any event, regardlessif you pick up the early or newerContender, barrel switching isthe same. To finish off the gun forbench and field use, I mounted aThompson/Center 3-9x scopewith its proprietary ring and one-piece base set.

The .22 Remington Jet was de-veloped by Remington and Smith& Wesson in 1961 to be used inthe Model 53. Although it waspopular at the time, enthusiasmwaned after a short time, asshooters were having troublewith their new handguns. Appar-ently the tapered case of the Jetwas backing out of the cylinder

causing lockup problems, not tomention the frustration of havinga new gun and being unable toshoot it correctly with factoryammunition. Today, it seems, thecartridge and gun have been re-tired with only a mention hereand there around the collector’sroundtable, but not at my house.

In working with this cartridge,there are a few things to be put inorder concerning bore diameter.While loading manuals quote the bore on the .22 Jet as .223inch from the S&W Model 53 pistol barrel, a call to the T/CCustom Shop confirmed they areusing the same traditional diame-ter of .223 inch (not .224 inch),

which seems to be right in linewith all the reference material Ican dig up. On that note, theorder for bullets went out to Hornady, Sierra and Speer forHornet-type 40- and 45-grain,.223-inch bullets.

Next, the issue of brass comesup, and you can deal with this anumber of ways. First, if you canfind factory-loaded ammunition(good luck!), you can fire off therounds to have brass fireformedto your chamber. Calling aroundto various collectors is an iffy sit-uation, expensive at best, so wemove on to the next alternative. Icalled the folks at HuntingtonDie Specialties (866-RELOADS),

Here are all the tools you’ll need to process .357magnum cases into .22 Remington Jet.

To prepare for shooting, all components such aspowder, bullets, cases and primers are readily avail-able to load the .22 Remington Jet.

Above, for varmint hunting, this long forearm isperfect in the field. Flat on the bottom, it lends itselfto a wide variety of field rests. Right, the long cheek-

piece accommodates a variety of field situations.


and they had 60 cases in stock,which were promptly sent. Eventhough 60 cases is a good start, Iwanted more in my stash. The

last solution is to make your ownbrass using a special die andform set. This was taken care ofby Redding Reloading Equipment(1089 Starr Road, Cortland NY13045) in short order, and to saveyou the grief of looking throughendless pages of catalogs for cus-tom die sets, Table I lists whatyou’ll need to turn out first qual-ity .22 Remington Jet handloads.

The next thing on your list is atleast four boxes of brand new(not once-fired) .357 magnumbrass from Remington or Win-chester. Brass or nickel plated isokay; I found the forming processseemed to go easier with the tra-

ditional brass cases from start tofinish. Stock up on small pistolmagnum primers, my preferenceis CCI 550s, considering the sizeof the case and its capacity. Pow-ders are next, but I will get tothat in a minute.

.22 RemingtonJet Die and Form

Sets from Redding90304 custom form #1 die94304 custom form #2 die83304 custom form and trim die80304 custom full-length die set11512 extended shellholder11012 shellholder, .22 Remington Jet

Table I

Above left, the Redding #1 form die narrows the neck down for thenext step. Center, the #2 form die takes the .357 magnum case neck

down to .298 inch in preparation for the file and form die. Right, withthe file and form die, an extended shellholder is required. This

case is ready to be checked for length and chamfered.

Left to right, starting with a new .357 magnum case, this shows thevarious stages in forming it to .22 Jet.

.22 Rem ingto nJet

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.302 .338 .375 .416


inches. After that, the deburringtool is used to chamfer the insideand outside of the neck. To finishthe case, run it through the full-length sizing die. After that,check the inside diameter of thecase mouth; on my die set itcame out as .221 inch, perfect forthe .223 bullets.

The .22 Remington Jet holds18.9 grains of water, which puts it in the same range as the .218

an inside diameter of .230 inch.In order to push the case up andinto this last die for trimming,you will need to install the ex-tended shellholder as shown inthe photographs.

When filed down, the caseshould emerge with an overalllength of around 1.290 inches.For shooting, however, the over-all case length is 1.288 inches; Ilike to trim them back to 1.278

Last, when you get the Reddingdies, take note of the informationlisted on the sheet regarding“case forming the .22 RemingtonJet from .357 Magnum cases.”Here they discuss the possibilityof increasing neck thicknesswhen forming these cases to the.22 Jet. Read it through and checka sample case as it comes out ofthe last or full-sizing die. I usedRemington brass and measuringthe first case, the 10th and every10th of the run, I found no prob-lems as compared to a fired fac-tory case, so everything was inorder to go ahead.

From the onset, trying to form.22 Remington Jet cases from.357 magnum brass without theannealing step is a lost cause inboth time and materials. Thecases will not take the sharp an-gles needed to produce thisbrass, and split or crushed neckswill cause a 100 percent fatalityrate. Annealing is easy, quick andconsists of nothing more thanplacing a case in about .25 inchof water, heating the neck areaalmost to the point of redness,then pushing them over in thewater to quench and cool them. Iuse an old bread pan and a Microor hobby torch that runs on Ron-son butane fuel.

Once you get a rhythm going,most folks will be surprised howfast the process goes, and youwill have a pile of cases ready togo in short order. After they arefully dry, set up the Redding form#1 die, lube the cases and startpushing them up and into thisdie. This first die will reduce theneck from .375 (new case) downto .336 inch on the first pass. Runthe whole batch through this diebefore moving on.

Next, move on to form #2 dieand run all the cases through it.Here the neck will be reduced to.298 inch in preparation for thenext file and trim die, which re-duces the neck to .255 inch with

I choose to go withH-110 and W-296.


Bee. Since there are no refer-ences made on using the .22 Jetin a rifle, I turned to WayneBlackwell’s (9826 Sagedale Dr.,

overall length of the bullet andthe bullet used, the programcame up with using 2400, Lil’Gun,H-110, W-296 and a few others Idid not have in stock.

Considering past experiences, Ichoose to go with H-110 and W-296 for velocity readings and the

say, 14.6 grains of H-110, veloci-ties would be in the neighbor-hood of 3,147 fps and 48,161CUP. Considering the smallercase volume of the Jet, I decidedto stay with H-110 and W-296 forat least the first go around.

With the cases ready, priming,

loading and bullet seating wereuneventful. I seated the 40-grainbullets to an overall loadedlength of 1.550 inches and the 45-grain bullets at 1.650 inches.Since this is a single-shot rifle,you have the option to crimp ifyou like, but just to keep every-thing on an even keel, I applied alight crimp on all rounds.

Counting the factory loading, Ifired 25 groups in two differentdays with a temperature spreadof only five degrees. Testing wentsmoothly, and the results werevery encouraging, consideringthis round was made specificallyfor a handgun. To my surprise,some of the 100-yard, three-shotgroups went into .5 inch.

When it came to the results ofthe 40-grain bullets, group sizewas pretty much spread betweenH-110 and W-296. If I had to pickthe pet of the day, it would be the

ease of powder flow through themeasure. Looking up 2400 withthe 45-grain bullet, for example, Iwas limited to only 14.0 grains ofpropellant, which gave 3,009 fps.Moving up to 14.9 grains with2400 gave 3,202 fps but with pressure readings in excess of50,500 CUP. Compared to using,

Houston TX 77089) “Load from aDisk” program. Putting in all theparameters, such as barrel length,

.22 Rem ingto nJet

.22 Remington Jet Loading Data40-grain bullet: Hornady Jet Sierra softpoint Speer softpointpowder charge velocity group velocity group velocity group

(grains) (fps) (inches) (fps) (inches) (fps) (inches)

H-110 14.0 3,037 1.00 3,117 1.75 3,132 1.7514.5 3,278 1.50 3,284 1.25 3,301 1.00

W-296 14.0 3,176 .875 3,099 1.25 2,999 1.2514.9 3,259 1.75 3,288 1.25 3,248 .75

averages: 3,187 1.28 3,197 1.37 3,170 1.18

45-grain bullet: Hornady Hornet Sierra softpoint Speer spitzerpowder charge velocity group velocity group velocity group

(grains) (fps) (inches) (fps) (inches) (fps) (inches)

H-110 13.8 2,996 .75 2,959 .625 2,931 1.7514.6 3,106 1.25 3,136 .625 3,137 1.50

W-296 13.8 2,962 1.25 2,919 .750 2,949 1.5014.6 3,139 .875 3,114 .500 3,102 1.00

averages: 3,050 1.03 3,032 .625 3,029 1.43

40 Remington softpoint factory load 2,864 1.00

Notes: All three-shot groups were fired at 100 yards. Velocities were clocked on an Oehler Model 35P Chronotach. The temperature was 75 degrees Fahrenheit when the 40-grain bullet groups were shot and 70 F. when firing the 45-grain bullet groups. Remington cases and CCI 550 primers were usedthroughout.


Table II


Above, this .75-inch group withthe lighter, 40-grain bullet is afine example with the Speer soft-point. Below, the 45-grain Sierrasoftpoint became the leader in allclasses with this .5-inch group at100 yards – the perfect load forvarmint hunting.

Speer softpoint with 14.9 grainsof W-296 for almost 3,250 fps.Using the heavier bullet would bemy choice for midsummer wood-chucks at closer range than saythe .223 or .22-250 Remington,and by closer, I’m talking roughly100 yards. Pick of the day is theSierra softpoint with 14.6 grainsof W-296 for 3,114 fps. Looking atdrop tables, this is a good load tozero at 100 yards; bullet drop at200 is only 3.6 inches. Placing the crosshairs just below necklevel will deliver the bullet onany part of the body. As a foot-note, the Sierra softpoint was the top performer in all cate-gories and all powders with theheavier bullet with an average of.625 (5⁄8) inch.

When I first started this project,one of my varmint shooting

friends said it couldn’t be done.“The case is too small, the bulletsare too light, and there isn’tenough powder to get decent ve-locities.” And besides, he wenton, “It’s only a pistol cartridge.”That’s a quote, but now that he’sseen the results, he might have toeat some of his words.

I don’t care what he thinks, be-cause I’ll be the one flying high

on the North 40 with the .22 Rem-ington Jet. Just keep in mind, thisis a small-caliber cartridge usinglighter-than-normal bullets, solimit your distances dependingupon the game. With velocitiesout of the Contender matchingthat of the more popular (readavailable) .22-centerfire rounds, Iwas indeed impressed and lookforward to taking this rifle intothe fields shortly. •


PRODUCT TESTS by R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

RAMPRO AMMOCHECK

UNIVERSAL RELOADER GAUGE

and attached to the upright in theappropriate holes depending onthe measurement being taken.

One of the most frequent meas-urements many of us will want to check is the variation in caseneck thickness. A Case Measur-ing Fixture was designed for this purpose. It is red, anodizedaluminum of 1⁄4-inch stock. It at-taches to the upright with capscrews and washers. A case neckpilot mounts to the fixture at theleft end. Pilots are currentlyavailable for most calibers from.17 to .45. At the right end is thebase pilot assembly. An inside-

tapered Delrin cap screws into aspring-loaded shaft and will ac-cept most case heads. The maxi-mum case rim diameter acceptedby the cap included with the toolappears to be about .530 inch.Provisions for accepting largercase rims is under development.The base pilot assembly moves ina slot cut in the upright and ac-cepts case lengths from about 1.6to about 3.5 inches.

In use, the digital indicator is in-stalled as is the neck pilot andthe base pilot assembly adjustedso a case can rotate freely. Theindicator must be zeroed on theneck pilot, and all cases to bechecked must be first full-lengthsized with a die having an ex-

pander plug. This is to make cer-tain the case neck is a good fit onthe pilot and to push any irregu-larities to the outside of the neckso they can be recorded.

The Case Measuring Fixturecan be adjusted so that measure-ments can be taken on the caseother than at the neck. This canbe quite enlightening, and se-verely distorted cases might bestbe discarded or saved for prac-tice or fouling shots. It is im -portant when using the CaseMeasuring Fixture that case rimscenter themselves in the basepilot for measurements to be ac-

curate. This means no nicksor other irregularities on therim that might cause thecase to be offset in any way.

To measure bullet runout,mount the ConcentricityFixture to the upright. It isgold in color and also 1⁄4-inchaluminum stock. It consistsof a base and two rollerbearing assemblies calledbearing mounts. The rightbearing mount has a stop

against which the cartridge headwill rest. The forward, or left,bearing mount is adjusted so thecase neck is supported by thebearing. The mounts are adjustedso that when the cartridge is ro-tated on the bearings, the indica-tor is resting on the bullet ogive.It is difficult to be certain, but itappears the fixture can be ad-justed to measure runout on justabout any rifle case except thevery small (wildcat cartridgesbased on pistol cases such as the.32 ACP or .25 ACP, for example)or the very large (the .50 BMG andsuch). Most revolver cartridgescan also be accommodated.

If we wish to measure overallcartridge length or simply case

Most of us as handloaders

over time assemble a vari-ety of tools for measuring our ef-forts at the bench to make ourammunition as fine and consis-tent as we can. Since most of ourefforts involve the cartridge case,so do the tools.

Rampro Corporation of Sheri-dan, Colorado, is a small companyinvolved in custom CNC machin-ing for inventor assistance, prototypes or other product de-velopment. Rampro PresidentRobert E. Doty is an engineerwith an interest in handloading,and he has developed a hand-loading aid that incorporatesmany of our measuring re-quirements into a single tool.

The Rampro AmmoCheckUniversal Reloader Gauge isa very well thought out de-sign, very well made and capable of the precisionmeasuring of such things as:bullet concentricity; caseneck thickness; case length,before and after trimming;cartridge overall length; casedis tortion or out-of-roundness;diameter of round surfaces, suchas bullets; and rim thickness ofrimfire cartridges.

The AmmoCheck Universal Re-loader Gauge begins with a baseor foundation. It is L shaped andtwo piece with a steel base orhorizontal surface about 51⁄2inches wide by 3 inches deep andan aluminum, vertical section, orupright, 51⁄2 inches wide by 5inches high. Both are of 1⁄4-inchstock. The base has two threadedholes and the upright 18 non-threaded holes to accept the fix-tures used in making the variousmeasurements. Measurementsare made using a digital indicatorthat is secured with its own holder


RIMZTHE“NO TOOLSNECESSARY”POLYMERMOONCLIP . . .RIMZ 25 fits 625-3and older .45 ACP.RIMZ 625 fits 625-4and newer .45 ACP.RIMZ 610 fits 610-2and newer 10mm/.40.RIMZ 646 fits S&W 646“L” frame .40.

www.beckhamdesign.comFor toll-free ordering call: 1-866-726-2658

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HOCH CUSTOM BULLET MOULDS

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Tool room quality, nose-pour,most standard or custom designs

made to order. Cylindrical(straight) or tapered. Rifle &

pistol designs available.

•

length, begin by installing theCartridge Locator on the base.The fixture is made of Delrin andis installed with nylon thumbscrews. A V notch serves to en-sure alignment. The digital indi-cator is mounted on the uprightin the holes most appropriate towhat is being measured. Thestandard rounded indicator tipmust be replaced with the flat tip(included) and the indicator reze-roed. This is accomplished withthe aid of calibration standards.Two are enclosed with the Uni-versal Reloader Gauge: a oneinch and a 2 inch. Both standardshave a length tolerance of ±.0002inch. (These standards presentan excellent opportunity to checkthe accuracy of other tools, aswell. I was comforted to find myown micrometer and caliperwere still well within .001 inchdespite much use and being ofmodest original cost.) With theflat indicator tip in place othermeasurements such as bulletlength and diameter can be madequite accurately.

The final fixture included withthe Universal Reloader Gauge isdesigned to allow the user tomeasure the rim thickness ofstandard rimfire cartridges.These include those based on .22Long Rifle dimensions, such asthe BB cap, CB cap, Short, Longand Long Rifle cartridges, as wellas those .17-caliber rimfire car-tridges that use the same case.Cartridges made on the magnumrimfire case would require an-other fixture, not currently avail-able. This fixture, or holder, alsois made of Delrin and mounts onthe upright under the indicator.The rounded indicator tip isused, and the indicator is zeroedon the holder. The case beingmeasured is then inserted in theholder and carefully slid underthe tip. Rotating the cartridgethen provides the rim thicknessand any variation.

After working with the Ammo -Check Universal Reloader Gaugefor awhile, I contacted Mr. Dotyand arranged a meeting in whichwe discussed the tool at some

separate tools designed to takethe same measurements as theUniversal Reloader Gauge. Nonedo the job any more accuratelyor with greater ease when a large number of cases are to bechecked. And, certainly, none hasthe electronic interface potentialof this impressive new tool.

length. When I asked why hechose a digital indicator ratherthan a dial type, his answer wasthought-provoking. “It’s more ac-curate,” he said, “plus it has aninterface that allows it to be con-nected to a computer.” Doty wenton to say he is working on thesoftware now and with it we willbe able to record our measure-ments as they are being taken forfuture massaging and analysis.The possibilities here are end-less, and much of the rather labo-rious data gathering I often do onnew lots of cases by hand couldbe expedited significantly.

We also discussed the possi -bility of other reloading toolsfrom Rampro. I’ve come to ex-pect the company is one we willbe hearing a lot more of in the future. For a closeup look at theAmmo Check Universal ReloaderGauge and its operations, visitRampro’s website: www.ramproco.com.

As a final note, I have other,

ZERO

Pistol Bulletsand

Ammunition

Pistol Bulletsand

Ammunition

Zero Bullet Company, Inc.P.O. Box 1188 • Cullman, AL 35056Tel: 256-739-1606 • Fax: 256-739-4683

Toll Free: 800-545-9376www.zerobullets.com

Handloader 263

At this point a sharp-eyedreader is probably wonderingthen why I chose 1-40 (tin-to-lead) alloy for that last bisonhunt. It’s because many originalSharps Model 1874 .44-77s werecut with barrels measuring .451

inch across the grooves, but theirchambers accept loaded roundswith bullets only as large as .446inch. Why that was done is amystery, but such was commonin the 1870s. To make such a rifleshoot well, the trick is to use asoft bullet and let the powder’signition swell it to fit the barrel.Amazingly that works well – notbenchrest well but certainlyhunting well.

CAST BULLETS ARE NOT

ACCURATE

Well, that’s just nonsense, ex-cept when taken in its truestsense, such as when fired fromultra-specialized benchrest rifles,or if ultra-high velocities are partof the equation, as will be cov-ered next. Then jacketed bulletsare needed to realize the mostprecision. But in a real world sce-nario, cast bullets can usually bemade to equal jacketed bullet accuracy. Again I turn to my ex-periences with my military riflecollection. Most of them digestcast bullets just as well as jack-eted. For instance, until doing thelittle test mentioned above, I hadnever fired a single cast bulletthrough the German K98k. Thatload had been worked up for aniron-sighted K98k, so I wasn’tsurprised when it also did well inthe second 8mm Mauser rifle.

On the same day, I also fired myvery first cast bullets in a Mosin-Nagant Model 91/30 7.62x54mmRussian sniper rifle. In it I use.311-inch jacketed bullets, so the first cast loads carried .313-inch Linotype alloy bullets fromLyman mould number 314299.They were loaded over 23.0 and25.0 grains of Western Powder’s5744. The groups ran around 2.0to 2.5 inches, which are slightlylarger than what that rifle rou-tinely does with jacketed bullets.I think a little tinkering can im-prove those cast bullet groups.Time will tell. (Incidentally, thejacketed bullet fouling had notbeen cleaned out of that rifle be-fore shooting cast bullets.)


Cast Bullet Myth Busting(Continued from page 51)Wineland

WalnutWinelandWalnutClaro andEnglishWalnutGun StockBlanksHighly Figured and Plain Grain

9009 River Road, Chico, CA 95928Tel: 530-345-4012 Fax: 530-345-0990

[email protected]

Claro andEnglishWalnutGun StockBlanks

In control of the processfrom tree to finished blank!


Does a rifle have to be “trickedout” to shoot cast bullets at thatlevel? No way! Most any ordinaryShiloh Rifle Manufacturing, C.Sharps Arms, Lone Star RifleCompany or Italian-import Ped-ersoli single-shot BPCRs will doso with cast bullet/black-powderhandloads. Of course, the bulletsmust be good and the handload-ing done properly.

As for handguns, in my experi-ence in reloading cast bullets inpistol cartridges as small as the.30 Luger and revolvers as largeas the .454 Casull, I’ve not seenjacketed bullets offer an accu-racy advantage. The cast bulletsjust need to be prepared for thespecifics of the handgun in ques-tion and handloaded properly.

CAST BULLETS CANNOT BE

DRIVEN AS FAST AS JACKETED

No myth here: That’s absolutetruth. But what’s the point? Whywould anyone want to drive a cast bullet in, say, a .30-378Weatherby as fast as it can shootjacketed bullets. Actually somededicated experimenters havedriven cast bullets to 3,000 fps ormore, but again what’s the point?They’re not useful for anything in the real world. From rifles it’s

Our BPCR Silhouette game isgeared toward precision shootingwith cast bullets. At the veryworst, a rifle must deliver twoMOA size groups in order to becompetitive. Consider that for amoment. We are talking aboutshooting those groups with peepsights and using black powder as the propellant with all its foul-ing tendencies. Personally mycriterion for BPCR Silhouette rifles is 1.5-MOA groups for 5 or10 shots at 200 or 300 yards. Ifthe rifle won’t shoot with thatmuch precision, I won’t competewith it.


easily doable to drive cast bulletsin the 2,000- to 2,200-fps range.I’ve done so with rounds as smallas .222 Remington and as large as.30-40 Krag with no special fussor bother. In handguns, evenmagnum revolvers, cast bulletscan be used at the same speedsas jacketed bullets, again with nospecial fuss or bother. Personallyin magnum handguns, I get bestresults with gas check bulletsafter about 1,200 fps, but the dif-ferences can’t be realized shortof strict machine rest testing.

Our BPCR bullets usually leavethe muzzle at about 1,100 to 1,250fps. That sounds awfully slow tomodern riflemen, but launch oneof those huge 550-grain cast bul-lets at 1,100 fps and watch itsmack a 50-pound ram silhouettedown at 500 meters. It’s stillpacking plenty of punch. If thequarry is game instead of steel,those big, slow-moving lead bul-lets are nearly impossible to re-cover, even from a huge bison.They generally just plow right onthrough, so what would be thepoint in driving them to 2,000fps? It would just make a biggercrater in the ground on the otherside of the animal.

Some would say that the trajec-tory would then be flattened.True again, but the sights onBPCRs are the limiting factor.Past 100 yards they start to coverup a considerable amount ofwhatever is being aimed at. Ex-cept when a scoped BPCR isused, I limit myself to about 150yards with such a rifle. Extra ve-locity then gains me nothing butmore recoil.

I’ve been a cast bullet shooterfrom day one in regards to myhandloading career. I still likemaking my own bullets, and itseems like every project in whichI’ve delved has taught me some-thing new. Not the least of whichis to not just repeat what I’veread about pouring, loading andshooting cast bullets. It’s betterto just report what actually hap-pens with them.

Dedicated experimentershave driven cast bullets

to 3,000 fps or more,but what’s the point?

•

82 Handloader 263

Sierra has added a new bul-

let to its MatchKing lineup.The .30-caliber, 155-grain hollow-point boat-tail Palma is an en-tirely new bullet intended to fillthe exacting demands of Palmaand other long-range shooters.Compared to Sierra’s existingPalma bullet (No. 2155, whichwill continue to be available), thenew No. 2156 Palma bullet has alonger, more streamlined nine-caliber ogive, slightly longer OALand a pointed meplat, which is afirst for Sierra.

Long-range Palma matches dateback to 1876. Shooting is doneprone, typically with custom-made 12- to 14-pound bolt rifles

fitted with iron sights (no scopesallowed). The course of fire in-cludes 15 shots at 800, 900 and1,000 yards. Twenty minutes areallowed for each course. A 44-inch-diameter black circle sur-rounding a 20-inch 10-ring is thetarget. Competitors have typi-cally shot .308 Winchester car-tridges loaded with Sierra’s155-grain MatchKings, althoughother bullets and calibers arealso used.

The new Palma bullets areavailable in boxes of 100 with asuggested retail of $38.89 perbox. Boxes of 500 bullets (stockNo. 2156C) list at $180.46 per box,while moly-coated bullets in boxes

of 500 (stock No. 2156M) have anMSRP of $203.81 per box.

For more information, contactSierra Bullets, Dept. HL, 1400 WestHenry Street, Sedalia MO 65301;phone 1-888-223-3006; or visitwww.sierrabullets.com online.

Bushnell’s

High Definition

FlashlightI thought I’d seen everything

flashlights had to offer – superhigh-intensity beams, flashingstrobes and blinding brightnessin a tiny package. However, theHD (High Definition) Torch fromBushnell offers something new inflashlight technology.

Conventional flashlights throwcircular beams of light that mayproduce uneven and irregularpatterns. The new HD Torch proj-ects a perfectly square beam oflight. At first I thought this wassimply another gimmick to at-tract customers, but I soon foundthe new flashlight offered somereal advantages.

The projected light producesconsistent brightness from thecenter all the way to the edge of the pattern. When I shine thelight on walls, I can see no dimareas or “doughnuts” of light. Theillumination is surprisingly even.


INSIDE PRODUCT NEWS by Clair Rees • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

SIERRA MATCHKING

PALMA BULLET

Handloader 263

Here’s an ultra-compact, ruggedduty sight for AR-15 and M4-stylerifles. Deceptively simple in ap-pearance, the new XS CSATCombat Sight offers two instantlyavailable aiming options for tar-gets that are only feet away or atextended range.

When engaging up-close targetswith typical AR-15 or M4 ironsights, holding high has been thestandard procedure. The heightof the sights above the barrelcauses bullets to impact as muchas 2.5 inches below point of aimat close quarters. The XS CSATCombat Sight features a squarenotch above the aperture. Sight-ing through the notch allows youto hold dead-on when the targetis only feet away, while the aper-ture permits accurate shooting at extended ranges. This elimi-nates guesswork or the need tostop, remove your hands from therifle and adjust the sights whenswitching between close andlong-range shooting. MSRP: $35.

The CSAT Combat Sight was de-signed by Master Sergeant (Re-tired) Paul Howe. Howe is thelead instructor for Combat Shoot-ing and Tactics (CSAT), the Sen-ior Manager with Triple CanopyLaw Enforcement Training. Howespent 10 years with U.S. MilitarySpecial Operations as an assaultteam leader, sniper and senior instructor.

For more information, call 1-888-744-4880; or visit the XS Sightswebsite: www.xssights.com.

XS Sight Systems

CSAT

Combat Sight

aircraft-grade aluminum, with O-ring seals for waterproofing.Its LED lamp produces 165 lumensof light. It will operate continu-ously for 1.5 hours and two, 3-volt lithium batteries power it.There are two operating modes:high beam and a flashing safety-strobe to signal an emergency.

The HD Torch also has a “FindMe” feature, a glowing “B” on-offbutton on the rear cap that dou-bles as a battery life indicator bychanging from green to red whenthe batteries need replacing. Theflashlight comes with two batter-ies and a lanyard. It’s 91⁄4 incheslong and weighs 91⁄2 ounces.MSRP: $79.99.

See the new HD Torch at yourBushnell dealer nationwide. Formore information, contact Bush-nell Outdoor Technology, Dept.HL, 9200 Cody, Overland Park KS66214; phone toll-free: 1-800-423-3537; or visit the website:www.bushnell.com.

The HD Torch doesn’t seem tocreate the shadows typically pro-duced by traditional flashlights.Objects stand out from the back-ground, offering better clarityand definition. Bushnell claimsthis is a great tool for searchingfor lost objects, because thesquare beam lets you search byquadrant or zone for more pre -cision and efficiency. The HDTorch can light up a wall withoutbeing moved from side to side.

The HD Torch is machined from


•

86 Handloader 263

One of the highlights of my

own annual calendar is thearrival of the Gun Digest. The2009 issue – Gun Digest 2009 –is the venerable book’s 63rd edi-tion. Although the format hasevolved over time, from the firstedition in 1944, the book hasbeen a marriage of feature arti-cles and catalog.

Ownership has changed overthe years but seems to have set-tled down of late with the pub-lisher as Gun Digest Books, animprint of F+W Publications.Publication offices remain atKrause Publications (owned byF+W) in Iola, Wisconsin.

The 2009 edition is the samesize as the 2008 book. Physically,all editions have been a nominal81⁄2x11 inches. Page count for2009 has remained at 568. Theuse of the pages has shifted a bitthis time, however.

The book begins, as it has foryears, with the announcement ofthe winner of the John T. AmberAward. Given annually to the au-thor of the Gun Digest articledeemed best by a jury of review-ers, the 2009 award once againgoes to Jim Foral for his excep-tional piece, “Walter Hudson –Krag Specialist” that appeared inthe 2008 edition. Foral also wonin 2006 for his 2005 piece “Levervs. Bolt.” No one does a betterjob of researching and presentingAmerican shooting’s past thanhe. The prize for the award of$1,000 is augmented, beginningthis year, with a handsome brassplaque on a wood base.

The feature section – much tomy pleasure – has grown, withthe number of articles now 20, upfrom 14. For many of us, the fea-ture section is the book, and thegrowth is welcome news indeed.There are too many articles to re-count all of them, but a few ofthe highlights include an interest-ing piece by Harvey T. Penning-ton on the .300 Savage and alikewise interesting article byMike Thomas on the efficacy ofsorting rimfire ammunition. Youmight be surprised by his find-ings. Robert Keen has a very en-joyable piece on the “Origins ofthe .220 Swift,” and David R.Pierce complements Pennington’spiece with “The Overlooked Sav-age Model 99.” Tom Turpin has a pair: his annual “The Art of Engraved & Custom Guns” and,this year, an article on the vener-

able 9.3x62. There are also TobyBridges on the Sharps rifle, TerryWieland on the Nitro Express andWayne van Zwoll on the .30-30.Jim Foral presents us with an-other look back in time with “A.H.Hardy – Local Boy Makes Good,”and Norm Flayderman has a fas-cinating article, “About Duelingand Dueling Pistols.”

The Testfire section has fiveshort reviews, up from last year’sfour, with looks at SIG Sauer’sP250, Remington’s R-15 VTR,Ruger’s Charger, Weatherby’s MKXXII and Ruger’s SR9.

The One Good Gun section in-cludes another look at the Sav-age Model 99, and Steve Gashfondly remembers his old RugerSingle-Six.

Reports from the Field hasshrunk a bit from 104 pages lastyear to 86 this time around. Gone,too, is the separate review of sin-gle-shot rifles. The rest remain,covering handguns, rifles andshotguns, as well as muzzleload-ing, optics, handloading and guns


BOOK REVIEWS by R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

GUN DIGEST 2009

of Europe. Ammunition, Ballistics& Components and AmmunitionBallistic Charts & Prices are in-cluded as well.

Now the catalog section. Forthose whose attention is notsolely absorbed by the features,this is the most interesting partof the book. If it’s a gun, includ-ing muzzleloaders and air guns,and available here in the U.S., it’slisted here. Also included are ac-cessories from reloading pressesto sights to chokes and brakes.

A Reference section windsthings up. Included here are aWebsite Directory, lists of perti-nent periodicals, an arms libraryfrom Ray Riling Arms Books Co.and a Directory of the ArmsTrade. This latter is a listing byproduct and a Manufacturers Di-rectory, alphabetically by name,telephone number and, some-times, fax and e-mail address. Itis the most complete listing ofarms and related products foundanywhere.

For the last several editions, theGun Digest has been, other thanthe catalog section, in full color.The photography and the print-ing have been extraordinary, par-ticularly in the recurring TomTurpin piece on engraved andcustom arms. It’s all here again,except there has been a changein the paper used, and the often-spectacular photography is sim-ply not shown in its best light.There are economic justificationsfor such decisions, no doubt, butthe result is less pleasing, andthat’s sad.

Finally, Editor Ken Ramage,who has been at the helm for thelast nine editions, has retired asof the publication of Gun Digest

2009. A tip o’ the hat, Ken, for anexcellent job, often under less-than-ideal conditions. You will bemissed.

For your copy of Gun Digest

2009, contact Gun Digest Booksat 1-800-258-0929 or your localbook seller.


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Handloader 263

most parallel case walls. Thismakes it somewhat longer thanthe Lott, as well as more angularin overall shape.

Ackley was just one of severalwildcatters who took the .375H&H case and necked it up to.458. Others included the .450Watts, which fell somewhere inbetween the Lott and Ackley de-signs. Nominal case length forthe Watts and Ackley is 2.85inches, for the Lott, 2.80 inches.

On the surface, none of theseefforts at a larger .458 seems tooffer any real advantage over theothers, and ballistically that’s

true. Functionally, however, it isquite a different story.

Any of these cartridges willcomfortably deliver velocities be-tween 2,150 and 2,250 fps with a500-grain bullet. That is a devas-tating and reliable load for anyanimal on earth, under almostany conditions. If the situationwarrants something bigger, thenthe logical move is to a .500 NitroExpress or .505 Gibbs. That iswhy some old-time elephanthunters carried a .577 NE to backup their .450.

Unfortunately, handloadingfolklore trumpets the goal of2,400+ fps with the Lott and Ackley. Such velocity can besqueezed out of any one of them, but doing so requires anumber of compromises. For onething, you will probably have tocompress powder – and some-times quite drastically. This putsus right back where we wereoriginally with the .458 Win -chester.

What’s worse, in handloading,such compression can lead to allkinds of ills, especially bulgedcase necks and bullets migratingunder recoil. In a cartridge likethe Ackley, with its near-parallelwalls, maximum pressures canalso cause case-sticking and ejec-tion problems.

So such attempts to obtain absolutely maximum ballisticperformance can seriously com-promise function and reliability –and in a dangerous game rifle, re-liability is everything.

This is the area where P.O. Ackley, with his insistence onmaximum performance and “im-proving” cartridges by blowingthem out, created more problemsthan he solved. The .450 Ackleyis not an easy cartridge to fit intoa standard (.375 H&H) length ac-tion, and with its straight sides itis very difficult to make feed ef-fortlessly and reliably. When youstand back and look at the .450Ackley (and one of my favoriterifles is a .450 Ackley on an FN


In Range(Continued from page 90)

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which, plotted on a graph, wouldlook like a boomerang. As veloc-ity climbs, recoil climbs with it –gradually at first and then sud-denly taking a sharp turn up-ward. For both my Ackley andthe two Lotts I shoot regularly,this occurs around the 2,220- to2,240-fps mark. Above that, recoilbecomes far more jarring and un-pleasant.

In the Ackley, years ago, someill-advised loads caused the floor-plate to fly open, the bolt lugs toset back and the wire reticle of aSwarovski scope to break loose.This rather expensive lessontaught me to keep loads down,not just for my own comfort, butfor the good of the rifle.

Now, I generally settle on anyload that delivers good accuracybetween 2,150 and 2,250 fps. Ihave no extraction or ejectionproblems, no migrating bullets,no floorplates flying open. Thebrass lasts forever with no looseprimer pockets or split necks.

Supreme action), one has to say,“Nice try, Mr. Ackley, but . . .”

With his cartridge, Jack Lott, anexperienced hunter of dangerousgame under adverse conditions,avoided all these problems. The.458 Lott is a little shorter, mak-ing it easier to fit into a standardaction. It has tapered walls,which gives easier feeding andlargely precludes any problemswith case-sticking from high pres-sures. Because it has a straightcase, any bulging, crumpling ormalformation in bullet seating isinstantly discernible.

One principle applies equally toall of these cartridges, and that isthe advantages of keeping veloc-ity down. That’s right: down. Infact, within reason, I never con-sider actual velocity to be muchof a consideration in handloadingthese cartridges. I measure per-formance more by the feel of therecoil.

I’ve found that each cartridgeand rifle has a “discomfort curve,”


The rifles purr their way througha range session and head happilyback to the kennel for a dose ofHoppe’s No. 9.

The recoil is certainly notice-able – any 500-grain bullet at2,200 fps will get your attention –but it is neither excessively pun-ishing nor damaging.

Attaining this balance is espe-cially important in a dangerousgame rifle, for reasons of reliabil-ity alone. With today’s trend tomono-metal bullets like theBarnes X, which are longer forweight than traditional lead-and-copper bullets, the problemslisted above are magnified be-cause they encroach more onpowder capacity.

Some authorities recommendgoing to a shorter, lighter bullet(such as a 450 grainer) in the big.450s. Instead, I would stick withthe 500-grain bullets and settlefor slightly lower velocity. Every-one will be happy except theCape buffalo.

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RB Outfitters........................................................9RCBS c/o Federal Cartridge Company ...............92Redding Reloading Equipment ..........................68Rigel Products...................................................88Rim Rock Bullets ...............................................14Savage Arms, Inc. .............................................19Sharp Shoot R Precision Products ....................17Sheep River Hunting Camps..............................88Shooter’s Choice ...............................................69Shooting Chrony, Inc.........................................56Shotgun Sports .................................................80Sierra Bullets .....................................................75Sinclair International, Inc...................................15Sonoran Desert Institute....................................28Sou’Wester Outfitting ........................................38SPG Lubricants ...........................................20, 76Starline ..............................................................50Stukey’s Sturdy Shooting Benches....................51Target Shooting, Inc. .........................................45Thumbcocker Specialties.....................................9Timney Mfg., Inc. ..............................................86Tru-Square Metal Products ...............................69UniqueTek, Inc. .................................................10Vais Arms, Inc. ..................................................65W. Square Enterprises.......................................24Warner Tool Company, Inc................................38Western Powders ..............................................66Williams Firearms Co. .........................................8Wineland Walnut ...............................................80Wolf Performance Ammunition .........................18Wolfe Publishing Company ...........................3, 31XCalibers Reloading Supplies............................88Zero Bullet Company, Inc. .................................79

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IND

EX

•

90 Handloader 263

The annals of handloading

are replete with tales of diffi-cult characters, but you wouldhave to go a long way to find twomore difficult – or more dis-parate – than Jack Lott and P.O.Ackley.

Denizens of the Los Angelesgun-magazine world dreaded thesound of Lott coming loudlydown the hall, to sprawl for amorning in their offices, thumb-ing through back issues and mut-tering expletives. When Lott’sname is mentioned today, theyroll their eyes. His memory isthat of a self-styled mystery manwho wore a beret long before itwas fashionable, and ended it allwith a .357.

P.O. Ackley, on the other hand,was a decent guy, but a single-minded individual who wildcat-ted cartridges the way othersbake cookies, who ventured intovarious rifle projects, and wrotebooks and magazine articles pro-moting his own creations.

Jack Lott created only one car-tridge bearing his name; P.O.Ackley created dozens.

Where their names come to-gether is in the realm of the .458.Lott’s enduring legacy is the .458Lott, while one of Ackley’s mostsuccessful creations was the .450Ackley. They are ballisticallyidentical, but functional oppo-sites, and therein lies a lesson foranyone today who wants tohandload for a dangerous-gamerifle.

The story of Jack Lott and theCape buffalo is fairly well known.In essence, while Lott was spend-ing months on end in Africa dur-ing the era of colonial wars andinsurrections, he took on a Capebuffalo while armed with a .458Winchester. The bullet failed todo the job, and the buffalo did ajob on Lott before it expired.

Lott limped back to the states,understandably bitter about the.458 Winchester’s performance,and embarked on a series oftests. In one, a bullet from a .458factory round hit the dirt well infront of the 100-yard target, un-able to muster the energy even toreach the backstop.

The problem was, simply, thatthe .458 Winchester case was too delivered its promised velocity,

and Lott set out to correct that.He did so by the simple expedi-ent of lengthening the case .3inch and, in 1971, the .458 Lottwas born. It delivered .450 NEballistics with no stress and noproblems of any kind.

P.O. Ackley’s .450 preceded the.458 Lott by a dozen years. Intro-duced shortly after the .458 Win-chester itself, the .450 Ackleywas touted as delivering the max-imum velocity possible from thebasic .375 H&H case, which wasnecked up to .458 and then blownout to give it a shoulder and al-

short. In an attempt to replicate.450 Nitro Express ballistics (500-grain bullet at 2,150 fps), the Win-chester engineers stuffed in toomuch powder and compressed itunmercifully; in the tropical heat,the compressed powder tendedto solidify and create ignitionproblems. Even at its best, how-ever, the .458 Winchester never

IN RANGE by Terry Wieland • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

IS BIGGER BETTER?

Jack Lott with a custom Mauserchambered for the .458 Lottcartridge.

The evolving .458, from left: .458Winchester, .458 Lott and .450Ackley. The Lott’s additionallength solves all velocity andpowder-compression problems.

(Continued on page 88)

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