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March-April 1985

Number 114

The Journal of Ammunition Reloading I I

The Stan

Dave Wolfe Publisher and Editor

Mark Harris Assistant Publisher

AI Miller Assistant Editor

Jana Kosco Advertising Manager

Dave LeGate Art Director

Barbara White Production Supervisor

Joyce Bueter Circulation Director

Sandy Casey Circulation Manager

Mardell Harms Circula lion

Terry Bueter Accounting

Donna Dailey Executive Secretary

Holly McLean Editorial Assistant

Randy Swedlund Photographer

Technical Bob Brackney Sam Fadala Bob Hagel Neal Knox Wallace Labisky Ed Matunas Ludwig Olson Homer Powley Layne Simpson Charles R. Suydam Mike Venturino Ken Waters

ISSN 0017-7393

Number 114 March-April 1985 Volume 20, Number 2

FEATURES Pet Loads: .455 Colt Eley ................ .Ken Waters

.............. Vera1 Smith

Match Loads for the M 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John Clarke Handloading for the .44-40 WCF Revolver. .Mike Venturino Reloading 12 Gauge Slugs .............. .Brook Elliot Numbers Game. ...................... .Dauid Scouill

Handloading Console for Unusual Locations .John Masters Reader Research

Jacketed Bullet Recycling Hazard ..... .Lannie Dietle

More on Handloading Steel Shot ........... L. P. Brezny

Like Jacketed Softpoints at High Velocity

Chronograph Data H a s to Be Evaluated

19 22 26

3 0

34 38 4 0

44

64

DEPARTMENTS

Reloader's Press . . . . . . . . . . .6 Wildcat Cartridges . . . . . . . .14 Capitol Watch . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 Benchtopics . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Cartridge Board . . . . . . . . . . 10 Aiming for Answers . . . . . . , 1 7 Reader Bylines . . . . . . . . . . . l l Product & Service News . . . .51 About Cast Bullets . . . . . . . . 1 2 ProducTests . . . . . . . . . . . . .58 Loading Shot . . . . . . . . . . . .13 Propellant Profiles . . . . . . . .66

O N THE COVER Magma Engineering's Master Caster can cast upward of 4 0 0 bullets an hour, depending on caliber and weight. Designed for the non-commercial bullet caster interested in high production, the Master Caster features a 45-pound capacity pot bolted to a massive cast-iron stand which houses the mould, i t s carrier. the carrier rails and a rotating shaft. Simple to operate and built to last. the Master Caster is becoming increasingly popular with silhouette shooters, law enforcement organizations and Rifle and Pistol clubs. Photo by Randy Swedlund.

COPYRIGHT 1085

The Handloader is published bimonthly by the Wolfe Publishing Company, Inc. (Dave Wolfe. President), @ P.O. Box 3030, Prescott. Arizona 86302. (Also publisher of Rifte MagazineJTelephone (602) 445-7810. Second Class Postage paid at Prescon. Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices: U.S. possessions and Canada - single issue, 52.50; 6 issues. 513.00: 12 issues, $25.00; 18 issues. 537.00. Foreign. single issue, $3.00: 6 issues, $16.00; 12 issues, $31.00; 18 issues, 546.00. Advertis- ing rates furnished on request. All rights reserved.

**unopl *%."

Publisher of Handloader is not responsible for mishaps of any nature which might occur from use of published loading data, or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publica- tion may be reproduced without written permission from the editor. Manuscripts from free-lance writers must be accompanied by stamped self-addressed envelope and the publisher cannot accept responsi- bility for lost or mutilated manuscripts.

Change of address: please give six weeks notice. Send both old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, to Circulation Dept., Handloader Magazine, P.O. Box 3030. Prescott, Arizona 86302.

4 HANDLOADER 114

LiVlNG PROOF You know that quality and value are

the result of wisdom and experience. Now the accumulated wisdom of three generations of family tradition is pass- ed along to you in articles, photo- graphs and stories that every hand- loader -from beginner to seasoned veteran-will find valuable.

Handloading takes special care and respect for what you’re doing. That’s why everything you need to know about loading ammuni t ion is presented in Hodgdon Powder Data Manual No. 24. The format makes for easy reading and the infor- mation is technically perfect.

The living proof of the I-Iodgdon Company’s commitment to quality is m r customers themselves. Pick up a zopy of Hodgdon’s Data Manual No. 24 and prove it for yourself.

arms dealer. Available from your favorite fire-

0 Send me copies of Hodgdon’s I Powder Data Manual No. 24 @ 12.50 each

I Plus $1.25 for postage and handiing

Name I Address I city State- Zip-

I HODGDOIQ POWDER CO. I 6231 Robirism Shawnee Mission Kansas 66202 IIIII-.IIIII

- Charles Suydam

The 9.3mm Black Powder Rifle Cartridges

ANY OF THE older drillings M have 16-gauge shotgun and 9.3mm rifle barrels - a number of rimmed cartridges of similar power but varying case lengths. The drilling and other break-open, multi-barrel guns (the Bocksdrilling had one shotgun barrel over a large caliber rifle barrel with a smaller caliber rifle barrel on the side; the Doppelbuchsdrilling, two rifle barrels over one shotgun barrel, as examples) used rimmed cases for ease of extraction. Most were straight or only slightly tapered.

Of all the “Patronenhulsen fur Jagdbuchsen (Express)” as they were listed in the 1904 DWM catalog - “Cartridge Cases for Express Hunting Rifles” - the 9.3mm (.366 inch) calibers have the most variations: 13 of them compared to 9 of 8mm and 6 of 11.6mm (.450 inch) diameter. They are:

DWM No. case length

(millimeters) 77 57 77A 72 778 80 77c 82 77D 72 * 77E 5 7 * * 77F 70 73 45

178 36 246 48 474A 74.7, necked 4748 70, necked

* This is .05mm smaller at the base and has a 20mm smaller rim diameter ’ * This has the same base and rim dimensions as No 770. It may be for English rifles rather than Ger- man No. 77E weighs 2kgml1,OOO less than No 77, and 77D, Gkgml1,OOO less than 77A

The similarity of the 77 series of cases can be shown by the bullets listed for them: there are only two, and they are listed for No. 246 as well. Bullet No. 3 1 is 19.5mm long, three-grooved, hollow- pointed, flat-nosed lead weighing 10.4 grams (160 grains). No. 31A is the same with a solid nose, weighing 12.5 grams

(192.5 grains). Bullet 31B can also be used in case 77E. I t is a 31.5mm long roundnosed full-metal-j acketed bullet of 19.5 grams (300 grains). Numbers 73 and 178 have only one bullet, the 178, a 20.25mm long three-grooved round- nosed solid lead bullet of 11.5 grams (177 grains).

The DWM catalog doesn’t bother to name the cases, with the exception of the .400/360, but the 1911 ALFA catalog does have some descriptive names:

9 . 3 ~ 5 7 = .360 Express 9 . 3 ~ 7 0 = Express .360/70D No. 72V 9 . 3 ~ 7 2 = 9.3mm Drilling Patronen 72 lg.

(Le., long) 9 . 3 ~ 8 2 = Nimrod 82/9.3 No. 21 9 .3~82 = 9 .3~82 Express (.360x31/4-inch

Express)

Barnes’ Cartridges of the World (DBI Books, 1980) lists the 9.3x48R, 9.3x57R, 9.3x70R, 9.3x72R, 9.3x80R and 9.3x82R in one group, compares them with the .38-55, to the advantage of the latter, and lists three slightly bottlenecked cases separately: 9.3x65R Collath, 9.3x72R Sauer and 9.3x74R.

The 1985 Gun Digest lists no 9.3 car- tridges, not even by Norma, but the ’85 Waffen Digest has a number of them:

9.3~57 (Norma), 9.3x72R (Sellier & Bellot), and 9.3x74R (RWS, FN, S&B), so the old calibers are not yet dead. Many of them can be made from new brass made by BELL labs of Bensen- ville, Illinois.

It is, of course, very important to have the correct case length, even with black powder cartridges, This is some- times difficult to determine with the old German barrel markings. Some of them show bullet diameter and case length as well as powder and bullet weights; others do not. Slugging the bore and making careful chamber casts may be the only way to get the correct

HANDLOADER 114

dimensions. e 10

Building a Shooter‘s Library * Pet Loads by Ken Waters $29.50

A handloading manual that grows! Contains loading procedures, load tables, tips, precau- tions, commentary on test guns: seventy cartridges are detailed in this main volume. New supplements available twice a year.

Yours Truly, Harvey Donaldson Simulated leather hardbound $19.50 A compilation of Harvey Donaldson’s writings covering his relationships and accomplish- * ments with noted shooters and experimenters dating back to the early years of this century.

How I Became a Crackshot by Milton Farrow Simulated leather hardbound $16.50 softbound $ 9.95

An interesting autobiography by one of the most famous American riflemen of the late 1880’s.

* The Bullet’s Flight by Dr. F.W. Mann hardbound $22.50 A replica of the original 1909 book containing historical and technical information detailing rifles and ammunition, Marginal notations by famous barrelmaker Harry Pope have been painstakingly reproduced in this edition including additional text material. *

rabies of Bullet Performance by Philip Mannes softcover $17.50 Almost any hypothetical ballistic situation may be solved by reading the results already computed in these tables. This data will interest wildcatters, hunters and other advanced ballistic enthusiasts.

* The Art of Bullet Casting Hardbound $19.50

Softcover $12.95 This collection of articles taken from the pages of Handloader and Rifle magazines covers the subject from basic to more advanced techniques.

* The Compleat ‘Just Jlm’by Jim Carmichel Hardbound $13.50 A collection of short stories about a group of characters from Jim’s native Tennessee. Some of them had something to do with the gun business, others were just crazy in their own right. Enjoyable reading as you laugh your way from page to page.

* Propellant Profiles - Volume I Simulated leather softbound $12.95 A collection of reference articles on various powders that appeared in Handloader and Rifle magazines. Technical data on powder characteristics a s well a s loads for a variety of cartridges and shotshells are covered in each of the fifty-eight powders in this reference work.

* The Golden Age of Shotgunning by Bob Hinman Hardbound $17.95 This book records the accomplishments of the last thirty years of the 1800’s on various aspects of shotgun shooting. It is a valuable chronicle of that era for the historian and shotgun enthusiast.

* Benchrest Actions and Triggers by Stuart Otteson Softcover $8.50 For someone who plans to build a benchrest rifle, this book will enable him to select components from the detailed studies and analysis contained within. *

* Master index Simulated leather softbound $8.50 The material from Handloader 1966-1982 and Rifle 1969-1982 magazines is cross- referenced and indexed so it is now easy to locate the wealth of information in them.

~~

See our other a d s in this issue for our latest books.

Take advantage of our pre-publication offer! Stuart Otteson’s The Manufacture of the 1903 Springfield

The Bolt Action Vol . I I

Payments outside the U.S. please make payable in US funds.

PO Box 3030 Arizona residents add 5% tax.

Preseott, A ~ Z O M 86302

MORE OR MORE than half a decade, F waterfowlers have been en-

couraged - in many areas, required - to use nontoxic shot when harvesting waterfowl. Requirements and regula- tions vary from state to state, but increasingly, unless hunters are willing to abandon their favorite haunts, the use of steel shot has become manda- tory.

Until recently, anyone hunting areas restricted to nontoxic shot had to rely on factory ammunition. Reloading shot- shells with steel pellets was impractical. That, thankfully, is no longer the case. Today the waterfowler can exercise the same freedom of choice the upland gun- ner enjoys: he can fill his smooth bore’s chambers with factory fodder or handloads, as he sees fit.

Steel shot has been a whole different kettle of fish. Even with current developments, a major void exists between the performance levels of steel and lead shot beyond ideal decoy range - 30 to 45 yards. Modern steel shot loads, if used with the proper shot size, will do a respectable job on all ducks and most geese out to 50 yards - but that’s their limit.

A case in point occurred on a major goose refuge during the fall of 1983. The refuge historically harbored geese from a specific geographic range in Canada. The crop of young geese had declined due to poor nesting conditions that summer. The geese, some 80 percent of the 150.000 bird flock, were mostly older, knew the refuge lines well and set their flight plans accordingly. The result was a vast reduction of harvestable birds, as few of them flew into range any given day. Compound that condition with the fact that we were dealing with a refuge restricted to nontoxic shot, one where the bulk of the hunting took place in roadside blinds which created pass-shooting conditions,

ON HANDLOADING

and it is easy to see why so many hunters went away empty handed a t the end of every shooting day. The hunters that fared best were steel shot handloaders who were able to extend their loads’ effective range by as much as 15 to 20 yards.

Some hunters on that refuge may have been rolling their own brand of nontoxic shot. The bulk of them, however, were shooting a type of highly controlled and ballistically sound steel shotshells developed by one of two com- panies now producing components for handloaders.

One company which has produced steel shot components for several years and has made many contributions to shotshell reloading is Ballistic Products Inc. Dave Fackler, founder and brain power behind this operation, got in- volved with steel shot reloads much the same way he met the design require- ments of his long-standing Ballistic pattern driver wads and related lead shot components. Fackler saw the need to design a shooting system that would extend the range and maintain energy levels of steel shot to facilitate clean

An early test load. The case was by Federal. After surgery a Herter unit wad became a gas seal, a .200 card wad served as a spacer, and a half-inch length of PCV pipe served as a shot collar. Cream of Wheat was employed as buffer material.

kills on large waterfowl. The basic com- ponent of his loads is a multiple unit wad that affords bore protection and enhances performance when shooting hard, steel pellets.

No matter where steel shot comes from, it will always be harder than shotgun barrel steel. Factories use shot made from a wire-cut process, while reloading steel shot is manufactured more along the lines of ball bearing production. The only case to be made for the softer factory shot is the ability of each pellet to reduce setback - that being the force generated backward in the shotshell case during firing. Each element, such as soft shot fiber base material in the wads or collapsible wad construction, helps reduce setback, con- sequently reducing chamber pressure.

Ballistic Products has also gone to an inner plastic wrap, adding strength to the already special B.P.D. Tuff plastic wad used as part of their component line. Previous components included the use of a brass inner liner enclosing the shot charge. The new plastic wraps are

A comparison of recovered shot spotlights one advantage of steel over lead: it holds its shape. The two battered lead pellets in the photo above can’t possibly fly as true as the still-round steel shot resting beneath them.

n n 4 4 HANDLOADER 114

‘f ‘emperam ental But

far more flexible when installed in the wad, and give the wad wall the addi- tional thickness required to prevent pellets perforating the outer wad wall.

During the spring of 1982, I worked with the prototypes of the new plastic wraps and found them as workable as copper wraps. I suspect the new loads will give lower chamber pressures yet maintain workable velocities because of the reduction of weight a t launch. Results obtained from H.P. White Laboratory when running comparison loads seem to substantiate that. Loads containing metal wraps or liners in the wads seem to develop about 300 psi and only 50 fps more than same loads fired without the liners.

Reloading steel shot becomes a very temperamental business with the small- est component change. Even when

L.P. Brezny

using the same charge weights of powder and shot, a minor change of something like a liner size or filler can make a significant difference in pressure and velocities. This lack of stability can create a plethora of prob- lems when working up steel shot handloads.

During a three-year period, I hunted over decoys extensively with Ballistic Products’ steel shot handloads and found their performance excellent. The BalIistic Products’ loading manual presents an open invitation to steel shot handloading. Any hunter who over- looks Dave Fackler’s manuals is miss- ing a great deal of useful and interest- bg information.

A new name has appeared on the waterfowlers’ list of component sup- pliers: Steel Handloaders Components, Inc. This Minnesota-based company will be offering the latest in steel shot reloading technology.,The heart of its new component system is a high- volume, one-piece wad offered in both 10 and 12 gauge.

The wad looks a good deal like several existing one-piece wads now built as factory and handloading delivery systems. However, the material the wad is constructed of is the strangest I have ever seen. The people a t Steel Handloaders solved the pelletbore contact problem by using very strong plastic and doing away with inner liners or shot protectors.

Another problem centered around the late fall temperatures in the Central Flyway. I have never used any produc- tion wad that would hold up 100 per- cent of the time when used in very cold weather. When shooting steel shot, a cracked base wad, or separation of the walls of the wad, results in gas blow-by. That can force unprotected pellets against the bore. Even if the wad is not damaged enough to permit blow-by, a small variation will result in less than uniform ballistics. When a hunter spends countless hours at a vigil over a decoy set, or standing a pass line looking for that 70-yard overhead shot, wondering how his load will perform

I

collar cut from a piece o plastic pipe.

Experimental shot was filled with unbuffere

the wad to give way. The center cup simply wasn’t sturdy enough to withstand the forces it had to

endure between breech and muzzle. Right, an unfired cup, steel pellets and buffering material.

Experimental 10-gauge brass-lined shotcups. In the foreground, a couple of fired liners. They worked - but they were heavy.

23 MARCH-APRIL 1985

when the moment of truth arrives, com- ponents become a real issue.

Steel Handloaders Components, Inc., has solved the problem for cold weather shooters. Testing during the fall of 1983 and into the dead of a Minnesota winter, showed the remarkable stamina of these new wads. In one test, loaded ammunition was left outdoors 12 hours at a temperature of 32 degrees below zero and tested in a 100-round string. There wasn’t a single wad failure recorded. No reduction of ballistic efficiency, either.

The 12 gauge wad offered by this new company shows some very interesting possibilities. Being constructed as a straight wall, one-piece unit, the pos- sible load variations will allow higher payloads than ever before in a 12 gauge steel shot handload. I have never been able to develop payloads heavier than 17, ounces of steel shot from my own designs or from commercial products on the market. To add more shot in the 12 bore would have meant eliminating sabots, liners and buffers. As all were required for safety and efficiency, heavy loads were just out of the question.

The 12 gauge version of this new wad system will carry high pellet payloads requiring only the use of fillers. Several heavy loads will be available in the manual developed by Steel Hand- loaders Components, all of which will exceed any current handload or factory shell recommended to date. Not only will pattern density be uniform but care and attention has been paid to velocity requirements. This results in optimum penetration at the working range of a given pellet size. Using existing powders to launch heavier payloads was not an easy task, and a great deal of time and expense was involved in their development. Since steel shot will always command a higher pellet count than lead shot of the same weight, core patterns become ultra dense, at times running 100 percent when shooting a 30-inch circle at 40 yards.

The 10 gauge Supersonic wad, the name both wads will be marketed under, is also a straight-wall, one-piece unit. From its flat base to the rim of the tube, this final design, which is the pro- duction version of three prototypes tested, will house payloads in excess of 1% ounces of steel shot. The new wad will send larger shot skyward in suffi- cient numbers when pass shooting with coarse and buckshot-sued pellets. New super or premium lines of factory lead- shot waterfowl loads in BB size pellets can almost be duplicated with hand- loaded steel T-shot loads. With pellets

left, exit holes made by steel shot after passing through 12 inches of soft clay at 70 yards. Right, at 80 yards, a steel pellet punched through 786 pages of a phone book.

Left, pattern tests of Winchester lead shot at 70 yards gave five hits on Canada goose silhouette target. The life-sized silhouette represents the vital area of a Canada, about 1 2 percent of the bird’s entire body.

Right, geometric target showing hits, at 50 yards, made by a factory

load of No. 2 lead shot.

6

left, a No. 4 Buckshot pattern at 75 yards. Although a goose in the center would have collected only four hits, those pellets would have had enough zip left to do the job.

Ballistics Products 12 gauge, three-inch steel shot load produced 48 percent patterns at 75 yards from a Remington Model 870 with a 28-inch barrel choked Improved Cylinder.

24 HANDLOADER 114

Left, a mixed bag of Canada geese, blue geese and mallards downed with steel shot handloads. Shot sizes ranged from No. 1 to TT.

Left, another Ballistics Products three-inch, 12 gauge steel shot

Above, 11251 target at 65 yards, fired from a 3-inch 12 gauge shell loaded with ?,,-inch steel

Three rounds of quarter-inch steel shot fired from a lo-gauge 40 yards from the target. The test gun, bored Improved Cylinder, put 77 percent of its pellets inside the 30-inch circle.

Three test rounds fired at 40 yards. The experi- mental loads featured quarter-inch buffered steel shot, wrapped in an aluminum collar.

running around 1/1000th variation, and developing no deformation upon set- back, patterns stay very tight out to 70plus yards. T-shot steel pellets, .21 caliber, can be sent downrange at 1,400 fps and retain about 12.5 foot-pounds of energy at 70 yards. Special targets, which correlate pellet hits on vital areas of geese and ducks, show steel shot goose loads deliver about 36 foot- pounds of energy a t the target.

The big 10 bore, with its much larger capacity, will all but double energy figures a t 70 yards, printing patterns close to the lead pellet BB factory loads in both 10 and 12 gauge. When the handloader starts to move toward larger shot sizes such as Quad BB and T-steel shot, pellet count and pattern density need not suffer. A ten bore, launching its massive twoeunce swarm of lead shot, creates a lot of wasted pellets. Steel shot handloads, when nfade up of modem components, shoot more accurately than most shotgun sights will allow.

No. 4 buck shot in steel pellets, no load is offered in the 10 bore since this size will only stack well in 12 gauge hulls. Ballistic Products, however, offers every shot size in all gauges; stacking pellets is not as critical in their system of reloading.

Steel Handloaders Components, Inc., loads have yet to stand the test of time, but I’m confident that many good loads of the 35plus offerings will be hot numbers in seasons to come. I already have pet loads, designed by Ballistic Products, that turn 1,600 fps in the 12 bore and which have taken a very impressive number of large Canada geese.

Handloading waterfowlers find these new products a welcome change after being restricted to factory ammo for so long.

Ballistic Products, Inc. PO Box 488 2105 Shaughnessy Circle Long Lake MN 55356

ing a three-year period I spent countless days afield with the people of Steel Handloaders Components, studying the effects of shot size and pattern density on ducks and geese. These people were very interested in the whole subject. They wanted to build a compo- nent line for handloading, a line that would meet the needs of shooters. More than 100 Canada geese were examined. In some cases, complete autopsies were performed. As a result of what we learned, I’m convinced that as long as a hunter remembers the range limita- tions of this load, he will find steel shot just as deadly as lead.

Handloaders should never forget that we are dealing with complete systems of reloading. Never mix components or cross brand name lines. The compo- nents of each system are designed to work together. The people a t Ballistic Products measure shot payload by weight alone, while the Steel Hand- loaders Components manual usually depends on pellet count. The latter system also requires the use of special shot, as each load is designed by gauge

like to make an important point. Dur- and shot size. For example, when using

Without getting into a long disser- tation on downrange ballistics, I would

Steel Handloaders Components, Inc. 323 West 48th St. Minneapolis MN 55409 0

MARCH-APRIL 1985 2 5