.416 Rigby: Before & After: 7mm-08. New Powders and Bullets. HANDLOADING - Much More Than Just a Hobby! Turnbull Restorations

Transcription

1 .45-Caliber Levergun Cartridges.416 Rigby: Loads for a Classic Safari Cartridge 7mm-08 New Powders and Bullets HANDLOADING - Much More Than Just a Hobby! Before & After: Turnbull Restorations October 2013 No. 286 Rifle Magazine Presents - HANDLOADER $ Display until 11/16/2013 Printed in USA $5.99 U.S./Canada

2 AMMUNITION RELOADING JOURNAL October 2013 Volume 48, Number 5 ISSN Issue No. 286 Page Page Page Before and After Reloader s Press - Dave Scovill.30 WCF Bullets & Brass - Brian Pearce.454 Casull Over 50 and Counting Cartridge Board - Gil Sengel Page Cast Bullets for 9mm Parabellum Mike s Shootin Shack - Mike Venturino We Get Letters Pistol Pointers - Charles E. Petty Great Western Arms Company Part I From the Hip - Brian Pearce 32 Alliant Reloder 10x Propellant Profiles - R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. 34 A Hobby? Handloading is the foundation of America s gun culture. Terry Wieland Caliber Levergun Cartridges Shooting and Loading Four Winchesters Mike Venturino 48 Premium Bullets in the.416 Rigby Handloads for a Classic Safari Cartridge John Haviland 4 Background Photo: 2013 Vic Schendel

3 On the cover... Before and after photos of a Colt New Service revolver that has been restored by Turnbull Restorations. Photos by Dave Scovill and G. Hudson. Issue No. 286 October 2013 Page AMMUNITION RELOADING JOURNAL Publisher/President Don Polacek Publishing Consultant Mark Harris Editor in Chief Dave Scovill Associate Editor Lee J. Hoots Managing Editor Roberta Scovill Assisting Editor Al Miller Senior Art Director Gerald Hudson Production Director Becky Pinkley Contributing Editors John Haviland Ron Spomer Brian Pearce Stan Trzoniec Charles E. Petty R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. Clair Rees Mike Venturino Gil Sengel Ken Waters Terry Wieland Advertising Advertising Director - Tammy Rossi tammy@riflemag.com Advertising Representative - Tom Bowman bowman.t@sbcglobal.net Advertising Information: Circulation Circulation Manager Kendra Newell circ@riflemag.com Subscription Information: mm-08 Remington Handloads with New Powders and Bullets Brian Pearce 64 Bolt Thrust and Related Myths Case shape alone will not improve velocity. John Barsness Page Evolution of Reloading Dies The process just gets better. R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. Some Guns Make It All Worthwhile In Range - Terry Wieland Handloader (ISSN ) is published bimonthly by Polacek Publishing Corporation, dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek, Pres ident), 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona (also publisher of Rifle magazine). Tele phone: (928) Periodical Postage paid at Prescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Subscription prices: U.S. possessions single issue, $5.99; 6 issues, $22.97; 12 issues, $ Foreign and Canada single issue, $5.99; 6 issues $29.00; 12 issues, $ Please allow 8-10 weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnished on request. All rights reserved. Change of address: Please give six weeks notice. Send both the old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, to Circulation Dept., Handloader Magazine, 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Handloader, 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona Canadian returns: PM # Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Wolfe Publishing Co Gulfstream, Ste. A Prescott, AZ Tel: (928) Fax: (928) Polacek Publishing Corporation Publisher of Handloader is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of published loading data or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Publisher assumes all North American Rights upon acceptance and payment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts. 6 Background Photo: 2013 Vic Schendel

4 PROPELLANT PROFILES It s been almost a decade since Alliant s Reloder 10x powder was reviewed in these pages. Back then, there were few cartridges with published Reloder 10x data. As befitting the name, most were benchrest or small varmint cartridges. A decade has seen the list grow substantially with at least 15 cartridges in the 2012 Alliant Reloader s Guide. In 1998, the Alliant Powder Company entered into an agreement with the Swedish powder company Bofors to manufacture the entire Reloder line. At the time this included Reloder 7, 12, 15, 19 and 22. During the changeover, Bofors was unable to satisfactorily duplicate Reloder 12, and it was discontinued; but Reloder 25, the slowest burning of the series, was added. In 2002, Alliant introduced Reloder 10x. It was slightly faster burning than Reloder 12. Over time the series has continued to expand and now consists of Reloder 7, 10x, 15, 17, 19, 22, 25, 33 and 50. All are manufactured by Bofors with the exceptions of Reloder 17 and 33, which are imported from Nitro Chem E of Switzerland ALLIANT RELODER 10X by R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. Alliant used to publish a Relative Quickness chart listing the burning rate of its powders as a percentage of its fast - est, Bullseye, that was assigned an arbitrary ranking of 100 percent. In that context, the Reloder series looked like this: RL-7, 19.4; RL-10x, 16.9; RL-15, 13.7; RL-17, 12.5; RL- 19, 11.3; RL-22, 11.1; RL-25, The discontinued Re - loder 12 was rated at The new Reloder 33 and 50 powders are not listed, as I have not begun to work with them. Reloder 10x is, as are all of the Reloder series, an extruded, double-based powder with a nitroglycerin content of approximately 10 percent. Individual kernels are about.031 inch in diameter and have lengths varying from.040 to.060 inch, on average. Color is a medium gray. Comparative listings suggest 10x is a tick slower burning than Hodgdon s H-322 and Accurate s 2015 and faster burning than IMR s 3031 and Hodgdon s Benchmark. Although Reloder 10x was well-suited for the.222 Remington, it could not generate the velocity of Reloder 7 and, as a practical matter, we seldom encounter the cartridge these days. Conversely, Reloder 10x is a superior powder in the slightly larger.223 Remington, especially in bullet weights of 50 grains or less. In heavier weights, even if Reloder 10x does not produce the highest velocity, it often turns in exceptional accuracy. Where previously I had limited.223 Remington testing to 45- and 50-grain bullets, I included the 40-grain Hornady this time around. In the Remington last time, 40-, 45- and 50-grain bullets were included and were repeated here. New this time with Reloder 10x is the.243 Winchester. Although Alliant has published data for bullets up to 85 grains, I found at the heavier weights a great deal of velocity is sacrificed so restricted my efforts to 65-, 70- and 75-grain bullets. Results were impressive. Also new this time is the Winchester. My Model 94 Winchester carbine often serves as a

5 Alliant Reloder 10x Selected Loads cartridge bullet charge velocity (grains) (grains) (fps).223 Remington , , , Remington , , , Winchester , , , Winchester , , Winchester , , British , , * , * , ,619 * cast bullet Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. tag-along rifle in the off-season for impromptu targets or the odd varmint. Here lightweight bullets are all that are needed, and Re - loder 10x performs admirably. Alliant actually lists 10x with bullet weights up to 170 grains, but I long ago settled on my favorite hunting loads, so here just 110- and 130- grain bullets are listed. They are ideal for the task as well as for offhand practice or introducing those of small stature to the world of guns. The.308 Winchester appeared in the earlier review with 110- and 125-grain bullets, and much of what was said about the can be repeated here. The lightweight bullets are less expensive, use less powder, produce less recoil and noise and are generally more fun. In the case of the 125s, when properly constructed, they make a satisfactory whitetail load, and Reloder 10x produces tack-driving accuracy with them. One cartridge I would not have thought of to pair with Reloder 10x is the.303 British at least with lightweight bullets, yet Alliant now includes 10x with 123-, 150- and 180-grain bullets. Only with the lighter 123s does it pro- duce higher velocities than other Reloder powders, so testing was limited to a 125-grain Sierra. It would be easy to see Reloder 10x in the Krag, but much like the.222 Remington, the cartridge isn t encountered frequently enough to justify spending development dollars on it. More s the pity. A final stop on the Reloder 10x journey is the In the previous review, Alliant had no published 10x data for this cartridge, and I was on my own. This time, however, Alliant has come to the rescue with data for both trapdoor and lever-action pressure levels with 300-, 350- and 400-grain bullets. Once again, included are my experiences with both jacketed and cast bullets. Over the past few years, most of my long gun fun shooting, as opposed to that done to meet writing demands, has been with cast bullets in the at near black-powder velocities. Neither smokeless powder nor cast bullets impose any such restrictions, but re-creating the cartridge s early parameters, albeit with smokeless powder, is a great joy. In this context, Reloder 10x is at its best, nestled between two very popular powders for the cartridge, IMR s 4198 and All in all, this updated review of Reloder 10x has been more profitable than the first, encompassing more cartridges and bullet weights. Quality hand-cast bullets for reloaders, competitors & recreational shooters! Extensive selection of pistol, rifle, big bore & paper-patched bullets. Website: Hesper Rd. Billings, MT Deprime Without A Press! Hand-held depriming tool Fits cartridges with normal flash holes from.20 cal. to.300 ultra mag,.460 Weatherby and Machined from aluminum and hardened steel No dies or shell holders needed New improved pin design Black ceramic finish Airport Road Lebanon, OR harveydeprimer.com October-November

6 A Pair of Aces! The latest titles in our catalog for the shooting enthusiast are now available. From the original first-generation guns to the replicas available today, this volume is the definitive source on reloading and shooting the Colt Peacemaker. The hard-bound edition by Editor Dave Scovill, contains 160 full-color photographs and is a worthy addition to any sportsman s library. Catalog # $54.00 plus $7.25 shipping & handling in the U.S. Call for foreign rates. AZ residents add 8.35% tax. Paul Matthews concludes his life-long effort into the research and testing of the black powder cartridge rifle with this final publication. His knowledge and expertise have set the standard for the next generation of black powder enthusiasts. Catalog # $22.50 plus $7.25 shipping & handling in the U.S. Call for foreign rates. AZ residents add 8.35% tax. Wolfe Publishing Co. IN S T O C READY K AND T O S H IP! 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A Prescott, AZ ORDER: or SCAN FOR MORE INFO

7 John Haviland The.416 Rigby was never chambered in a great number of rifles and nearly died of neglect 30 or so years ago. The Rigby was revived in the late 1980s, however, when Ruger chambered the cartridge in its M77 Magnum Mk II and Federal Cartridge began producing ammunition. Today the big Rigby is more popular than ever with the cartridge chambered in rifles such as the CZ 550 American, Dakota Model 76 African and now Montana Rifle Company s Dangerous Game Rifle. Factory loads are available from Hornady, Federal, Norma, Nosler and Winchester. With its surging popularity, premium.416 bullets from a variety of companies have also arrived for the handloader. Tiffany Woods used a 25-pound sack of lead shot against the butt of the Montana Rifle Company Dangerous Game Rifle.416 Rigby to tame the recoil of Federal loads. Premium Bullets in the 48

8 I borrowed a new.416 Rigby Dangerous Game Rifle from Montana Rifle Company and mounted a Zeiss Duralyt 1.2-5x 36mm scope in Warne steel rings to see how well some of these premium bullets shot with a variety of powders and with Federal Safari factory ammunition. The Rigby s standard weight bullet is 400 grains, and that s the single weight most bullet companies offer. That bullet weight is usually offered in an expanding form to kill lesser large game and as a solid for the deepest penetration in the biggest animals. These bullets are the same weight, so they shoot to the same point of aim with the same sight setting. However, Barnes adds some additional versatility to the.416 with its 300- and 350-grain Triple-Shocks and 350-grain Banded Solids. The 200 to nearly 400 fps faster Triple- Shocks significantly flatten the.416 s trajectory. In fact, the.416 shooting 300-grain Triple-Shocks 2,900 fps flies a couple of inches flatter out to 400 yards than 180-grain bullets from a The composition and structure of.416 bullets for hunting the largest game depends on the company that manufactures them. Triple-Shocks are made of copper with a solid shank with multiple grooves to lessen bore friction, and a hollow forward section with four petals peels open to create a wide frontal diameter. Barnes Banded Solids are turned from brass with multiple grooves cut into the shank and are narrower to reduce rifling contact and pressures. Hornady s Dangerous Game Solid and Dangerous Game expanding are both made with a copper-clad steel jacket surrounding a lead core. The expanding bullet has an open tip that exposes the lead core to allow the bullet to expand, while the Solid has an enclosed flat tip. Nosler s Partition is built with an exposed lead tip that readily mushrooms until it reaches a dividing wall that stops expansion. The Nosler Solid is made of tough brass with a flat tip for straight penetration. I only shot Speer s Fusion and Trophy Bonded bullets in Federal s Safari factory-loaded ammunition. The Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solid has a thick Bullets used to develop handloads include (left to right): Barnes 300-grain Triple-Shock, 350 Triple-Shock, 350 Banded Solid, Hornady 400-grain Dangerous Game expanding, Hornady 400 Dangerous Game Solid, Nosler 400-grain Partition and Solid. bronze jacket bonded to a lead core. It has a flat point, or clipped-tip, to produce straight penetration. The Trophy Bonded Bear Claw s copper jacket is bonded to the lead core in the front of the bullet. Its solid shank remains rigid to drive the expanded nose even deeper. Speer s Fusion bullet has its copper-alloy jacket deposited on a lead core one molecule at a time by electrodeposition. Speer says this bonds the jacket to the lead core. The Fusion bullet has a more slender shape leading to its tip to cleave air more efficiently than a roundnose. According to SAAMI (Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers Institute), the Rigby s average maximum pressure is 52,000 psi. In contrast, the average maximum pressure is 62,000 psi for the.375 H&H Magnum and 65,000 psi for the.416 Remington Magnum. The conventional explanation for that relatively low.416 Rigby pressure limit was that it provides a safety margin for the cordite powder originally loaded in the Rigby that was susceptible to spiking chamber pressure in the searing heat of Africa and India. Back in 1911, John Rigby may have also decided his cartridge shooting a 410-grain bullet with a muzzle velocity of 2,370 fps and muzzle energy of 5,100 foot-pounds (ft-lbs) of energy was about all the fun someone shooting a.416 would want to endure. Handloads for a Classic Safari Cartridge.416 Rigby October-November

9 Premium Bullets in the.416 Rigby That pressure limit works out rather well with today s powders, because the big Rigby case has a bit of room to spare with a 400- grain bullet seated over a bucketful of powder. Of all the loads listed in the accompanying table, the only powder charge that was compressed was grains of Winchester Supreme 780 and the Nosler Solid. Most were between 12 and 15 fps. Velocity spreads were somewhat higher at 40 to 80 fps with the lighter 300- and 350-grain Triple- Shocks and 350-grain Banded Solids. The largest spread was 149 fps with H-4350 and 350-grain Triple-Shocks. Velocity spreads really took an upward hike when firing reduced weights of a couple of powders with the 300-grain Triple- loads fell way low of the targets at 100 yards, so who knows if they landed anywhere close together. After an afternoon shooting the.416 Rigby, a reduced recoil load seemed a sensible idea. However, after shooting the Barnes 300- grain bullet with reduced weights of standard powders, that was not the path to follow. Mercifully, the Hodgdon manual lists reduced recoil loads with the Speer 350-grain bullet using 25.0 to 35.0 grains of Shane Rowe is bracing himself for the recoil from the Dangerous Game.416 Rigby loaded with a 400-grain bullet and 100 grains of powder. Right, about 60 ft-lbs of recoil is generated from the 12-pound rifle. H-1000 by Hornady 400-grain Dangerous Game expanding bullets. That load generated 62 ft-lbs of recoil energy at the butt of the 12- pound Montana Rifle Dangerous Game Rifle. That s all the enjoyment I can take. All the powders listed with the 400-grain bullets turned in low extreme velocity spreads. The highest was 40 fps with Hybrid 100 V and the Hornady Dangerous Game Solid. The lowest was 7 fps with 50 Shocks. Shooting grains of H-4831 gave a spread of 25 fps with the 300-grain bullet. Dropping to 98.0 grains decreased bullet speed to 2,407 fps and increased spread to 101 fps. The Barnes bullet had a spread of 34 fps and an average velocity of 2,658 fps loaded with 98.0 grains of IMR-4007 SSC. Going down to 89.0 grains dropped velocity to 2,422 fps and increased extreme spread to 239 fps. The three bullets from both reduced We Carry All Your Reloading Supplies From All The Companies You Trust!.416 Rigby Bullets In Stock! Website: Toll Free: Receiving New Stock Daily! Scan code for more info. Trail Boss. Thirty grains filled about 70 percent of the Rigby s powder space. That load fired the Barnes 350-grain Triple-Shock at 1,367 fps. Velocity spread for three shots was 46 fps. The light, 8 ft-lbs of recoil was greatly appreciated. All the bullets I loaded for the.416 contained a groove to crimp the case mouth. However, the Rigby case has a.5-inch neck that is long enough to grip almost the entire length of the shank of a 400- grain bullet. To determine if the tension of the.410 inch inside neck diameter of the long neck was adequate to hold a bullet in place against the.416 s heavy recoil, I left one cartridge, without a crimp, in the magazine and fired 12 rounds. The repeated recoil shoved the Nosler Partition from that cartridge about.1 inch deeper into the case, and its tip was flattened from mashing against the front of the magazine. From the Partition s smashed nose, the cartridges were sliding forward in the magazine during recoil. However, they must have bounced back, be-

10 cause that cartridge and others were always at the back of the magazine. So the.416 cartridges do require a crimp. Too much crimp will bulge the front of the neck or even buckle the shoulder and prevent a cartridge from chambering. How much crimp seems to depend on the depth of a bullet s crimping groove. The Barnes and Nosler solids measure about.383 inch in diameter in Hornady die sets include a seating die that applies a roll crimp to.416 cases. their crimping grooves. The diameters measured from.399 to.403 inch at the crimping grooves of the other bullets listed in the load table. I set the Hornady seating die down enough to turn in the case mouth rims to an inside diam - eter of.404 inch. That amount of crimp was sufficient. Every once in awhile, I checked a cartridge that had been in the magazine while firing two or three other cartridges, and the bullet in that cartridge had not jumped the crimp. After shooting all the loads listed in the table, I returned to the bench in hopes of loading solid and expanding bullets of the same brand and weight to shoot to the same place at 100 yards without adjusting the Zeiss scope. I tried the Hornady Dangerous Game ex- Neck Turning Equipment Case Trimmers support@pmatool.com Scope Rings & Bases Rifle Maintenance Powder Measures Shooting Equipment MONTANA RIFLE COMPANY DANGEROUS GAME RIFLE Montana Rifle is building its Dangerous Game Rifle on its new Professional Hunter action. Montana Rifle says the PH action is a double square bridge Mauser action with controlled round feed and three-position safety. The action looks like a huge version of Montana s Model 1999 action with flat receiver bridges, large bolt handle and two steel crossbolts reinforcing the America walnut stock. The.416 Rigby is a big cartridge. The Dangerous Game Rifle is also chambered in.505 Gibbs. The.416 is a huge cartridge, but the maw of the Professional Hunter magazine swallows five. A cartridge must be first snapped into the magazine before chambering, because the bolt s extractor will not jump over the rim of a cartridge placed loosely on top of the magazine follower. Turning the rifle sideways and up and down, it always grabbed a cartridge and shoved it into the chamber. While standing and shooting, I was able to quickly fire five rounds with 400-grain bullets into about 3 inches at 25 yards. As I pulled the rifle down out of its recoil rise, I grabbed the bolt handle, yanked open the bolt and threw out the empty case. Pushing the bolt forward helped bring the barrel back down onto the target, and I fired again. Twice of that drill was enough, because, even though the rifle weighed 12 pounds with a Zeiss Duralyt 1.2-5x 36mm scope in Warne steel rings, the kick was fierce. After shooting the Dangerous Game Rifle a few more times offhand and extensively from the bench a total of about 300 times, the only problem that arose was the scope ring bases screws shook loose a couple of times. The rifle itself is bulletproof. October-November

11 Premium Bullets in the.416 Rigby panding and Dangerous Game Solid 400-grain bullets with 93.0 grains of H Both had velocities within 3 fps of each other with the same impact points at 100 yards. The velocities of the Nosler 400- grain Partitions and Solids were within 39 fps of each other fired with 90.0 grains of Hybrid 100 V. The Solids hit about 2 inches lower than the Partitions at 100 yards. Federal s Premium Safari Cape- Shok 400-grain Trophy Bonded Sledgehammer Solids and Trophy Bonded Bear Claws had velocities that averaged about 40 fps of each other. The bullets hit the same place vertically at 100 yards, with the Sledgehammer Solids a smidgen to the left of the Bear Claws. I loaded the solid bullets in nickelplated cases and the expanding bullets in plain brass cases to easily distinguish between the two loads while shooting. Above, the Dangerous Game Rifle shot tight groups with IMR-7828 SSC and Barnes 350-grain Banded Solids at 2,720 fps. Below, Federal Fusion Safari 400-grain loads averaged 1.14 inches for four, three-shot groups at 100 yards. Above, Nosler 400-grain Solids loaded with Hybrid 100 V shot tight groups. Right, Reloder 19 and Barnes 350-grain Triple-Shock bullets also shot well..416 Rigby Load Data overall loaded 100-yard bullet powder charge velocity length group (grains) (grains) (fps) (inches) (inches) 300 Barnes Triple-Shock H , H , IMR-4007 SSC , IMR-7828 SSC , Barnes Triple-Shock H , IMR , RL , Trail Boss , Barnes Banded Solid H , IMR , IMR-7828 SSC , RL , Hornady Dangerous H , Game expanding H , IMR , MRP , Hornady Dangerous Hybrid 100 V , Game Solid H , IMR , RL , W , Nosler Partition Hybrid 100 V , H , IMR , RL , RL , Nosler Solid Hybrid 100 V , H , IMR-4007 SSC , W , Federal Fusion Safari 2, * 400 Federal Premium Safari 2, * Cape-Shok Sledgehammer Solid 400 Federal Premium Safari 2, * Cape-Shok Bear Claw * average of three, four-shot groups Notes: All handloads used Federal cases and Federal 215 primers. Velocities were recorded 10 feet in front of the muzzle of the 24-inch barreled Montana Rifle Company Dangerous Game Rifle. Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. 52