Loads for the Factory.17s! 7. Scrounger s Guide to Loading Semiautos Cast Bullet Loads for the.308 Winchester Lapua Magnum Loads

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1 .338 Lapua Magnum Loads Scrounger s Guide to Loading Semiautos Cast Bullet Loads for the.308 Winchester August 2014 No. 291 Rifle Magazine Presents - HANDLOADER $ Loads for the Factory.17s! Display until 9/13/14 4 Printed in USA $5.99 U.S./Canada

2 Page AMMUNITION RELOADING JOURNAL 8 Bears Reloader s Press - Dave Scovill Whelen Bullets & Brass - Brian Pearce 16 Black-Powder Fouling Mike s Shootin Shack - Mike Venturino 18 Traditional.45 Colt Loads From the Hip - Brian Pearce 22 Page Short Rimfire Cartridge Board - Gil Sengel 26 Case Trimming and Other Onerous Chores Pistol Pointers - Charles E. Petty 30 Olde Eynsford Black Powder Propellant Profiles - R.H. VanDenburg, Jr August 2014 Volume 49, Number 4 ISSN Issue No. 291 Loading the Three Factory.17s The Subtleties of Tiny-Tipped Varmint Cartridges John Barsness Page Mauser 6.5mm, 7mm and 8mm Loads for Three Military Mainstays Mike Venturino.338 Lapua Magnum Tips and High- Performance Handloads Brian Pearce Page Background Photo: 2014 Gary Kramer Handloader 291

3 On the cover... This Remington Model Remington Fireball wears a Swarovski variable power scope; the cartridge lineup includes, from left:.17 Hornet,. 17 Remington Fireball,.17 Remington. Photos by John Barsness. Coyote photo by Vic Schendel. 52 Cast Bullet Loads in the.308 Winchester Shooting for Cheap John Haviland 58 A Scrounger s Guide to Loading Semiautomatics Desperate Times, Desperate Measures Terry Wieland 64 Brass Grippers Product Tests - Staff 74 Why Cartridges Fail In Range - Terry Wieland Page Issue No. 291 August 2014 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 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 Representative - James Dietsch jamesdietsch@cox.net Advertising Information: Circulation Circulation Manager Kendra Newell circ@riflemag.com Subscription Information: 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: 2014 Gary Kramer Handloader 291

4 MIKE S SHOOTIN SHACK Anyone who has fired even a single shot powered by black powder realizes fouling can be a significant problem. A significant portion of black powder does not burn upon ignition, and unless controlled in some manner, it accumulates as black, hard fouling in the bore. That plays havoc with a bullet s flight. Upon becoming a Sharps Model 1874 shooter (fanatic?), it only seemed natural to try black powder in those big rifle cartridges originally designed for it. Blackpowder fouling was hardly given a thought, but I should have been prepared for what followed. Usually the first shot from a clean barrel hit relatively close to where 16 BLACK-POWDER FOULING by Mike Venturino aimed. The second one was just as apt to hit the ground in front of the target. Afterward, running a tight patch down the rifle s barrel was difficult; it had fouled to that extreme. Little by little, hints to the solution seeped into my brain. One bit of evidence was the size of lube grooves on vintage-style bullets. They were huge compared to grooves on more modern designs. Eventually I realized lube on modern cast bullets was there to prevent lead fouling, but on older designs, lube was meant to both help with lead fouling and with black-powder fouling. A correlation was the realization that modern bullet lubes did not mix with black-powder fouling. I tried smearing Crisco on some bullets for a Sharps and Some decent three-shot groups began happening without swabbing after every shot, but the slightest heat or direct sunlight would send it flowing into the powder. Mostly in frustration, I shot smokeless powders in the Sharps. About that time, two significant factors entered the picture. One was the NRA s inaugural match for an envisioned new shooting game called Black Powder Cartridge Rifle Silhouette. It sounded like fun, but its originators wisely decided to adhere strictly with the name: meaning only black powder could be used. Duplex loading with a booster charge of smokeless powder was prohibited. I say wisely, for without that rule, all us BPCR Silhouette shooters would never have been inspired to work so hard to discover just how well that smelly, old black powder could actually perform. The second factor was Steven Paul Garbe. We were well acquainted Many, if not most, BPCR Silhouette competitors use a blow tube to keep black-powder fouling soft just ahead of the rifle s chamber during a string of shots. through mutual friends, and Steve heard about my plight in trying to get a bullet powered by black powder to follow the same path as the one fired before it. He dropped by my house with a small glass jar of yellow stuff and said, Smear this on some bullets. Don t swab the SPG Bullet Lubricant was developed specifically for black powder cartridge shooting. Handloader 291

5 Mike visiting with Steve Garbe (center) and their mutual friend from Texas Bob Glodt, during a recent national championship at Raton, New Mexico. Mike Bellm s TCs Encore & Contender/G2 Custom Parts, Tools & Advice Since 1979 Tel: barrel between shots. It worked! I could actually shoot groups that in those days I considered ex - ceptional. After firing a string of rounds, a finger run across the rifle s muzzle would have black grease on it. The bullet lube was mixing with the fouling, keeping it soft the full length of the Sharps 30-inch barrel. Literature from the Sharps Rifle Company in the 1870s recommended using a bullet lube of equal parts Japan Wax and sperm oil, neither of which ingredient is now commonly available. (I had never even heard of Japan Wax. ) Evidently, Steve had found modern replacements for such things. At the second NRA BPCR experimental match, I only swabbed my rifle s barrel after every relay instead of every shot. Although far from the winner s circle, other competitors noted my procedure and During his early days of black powder cartridge rifle shooting, Mike never thought groups such as this could happen at 300 yards. The high shot was the first one through a clean, cold barrel. asked, How can you do that? I told them about Steve s bullet lube, and they said, He should sell it. We would buy it. SPG Black Powder Bullet Lubricant became commercially available that fall. Even more inspiring, in 1987 I dragged Steve to the first official NRA BPCR Silhouette National Championship. He tied for first place (losing in a shoot-off), but what was noticeable was he didn t need to swab his barrel after every shot, like most competitors were doing. Some BPCR shooters today swab after every shot, especially those competing in very hot, dry climates, like Arizona in summer. Others firing paper-patched bullets do also. Most of the shooters in less harsh climates use a blow tube to keep fouling soft just ahead of the chamber. For competition, most of us have bullets seated out in the case so as to be close or into the rifling. Loads with deeper seated bullets for hunting don t require blow tubing for chambering. There are many black-powder bullet lubes on the market today, and there have been untold refinements in getting black-powder cartridges to perform to levels considered impossible 30 years ago. Some BPCR Silhouette competitors don t swab their barrels during an entire match comprising 60 or sometimes 80 shots, counting sighters. Most of us won t use a rifle and handload combination unless it delivers precision in terms of 1.5 MOA or better. Things have come a long way. August-September

6 SHOOTING WORLD WAR II SMALL ARMS This extensively researched volume contains over 400 full-color and archival black-and-white photos and covers the small arms used by the major combatants in World War II, including rifles, carbines, handguns, submachine guns and their modern reproductions and replicas. The focus of this publication is shooting these important and historical firearms. Mike s detailed information on available factory ammunition and handloading data enables owners and potential owners to truly enjoy these collectible guns. The perfect addition to the enthusiast s library. Catalog #554.7 ORDER TODAY! $54.00 The latest from M IK E V E N T U R IN O! plus $7.25 shipping & handling. AZ residents add 8.35% tax. Wolfe Publishing Company 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A Prescott, AZ Toll Free: Fax: Online:

7 Terry Wieland While at the range recently, there was a strange sight: a half-dozen guys were on their hands and knees, combing through the grass, looking for brass. Yes, it has come to that. In some parts of the country, desperate for something to shoot, handloaders have become equally desperate for the components that make it possible. 9mm,.38 Special,.45 Auto and.45 Colt for $10 to $20 for a box of 50. At 20 to 40 a round, a handloader could hardly do it for less. The same thing happened in various parts of the U.S., and it s all to the good for most of us, most of the time. Until, that is, a shortage hits, and the cheap ammunition disappears from the shelves. Then it pays to have loading dies and a supply of components brass, bullets, powder, and primers or take up golf instead. The trouble now is, although many people want to start loading handgun ammunition, components are either hard to find or completely impossible. Primers? Well, there s no substitute for them, and all you can do is obtain some any way you can; and plan to lay in a A Scrounger s Guide to Loading Semi For months, the greatest shortages were in ammunition for ARs (.223 Remington), other paramilitary rounds (.308 Winchester) and most desperate of all 9mm Luger,.380 ACP and.45 ACP. Notice that those five have a few things in common. First, most of the millions of rounds are shot in semiautomatics. Casings are flung hither and yon, far and wide, onto pavement and concrete, bouncing off walls, hiding under leaves and burrowing into the gravel. They re a pain to pick up, when they can be found at all, and they are usually dirty and dented. Second, because they are in such great demand for both military and civilian purposes, every company in the world produces them in massive quantities. They sell so cheaply, in their most basic form, that these days it s hardly worth anyone s while to handload them. When I was shooting IPSC 25 years ago, everyone reloaded. You couldn t afford to shoot otherwise. Then, a dozen years ago, in the part of southern Ontario, Canada, where I lived, an enterprising shooter set up a business remanufacturing ammunition. He made deals with shooting ranges to take all their spent brass, put it through extreme resizing, cast his bullets in bulk, repackage cheaply and sell such calibers as 58 supply, once things get back to normal, knowing that the next time an antigun president is elected, the panic buying will occur all over again. Bullets? Here there s more leeway. If favorite jacketed Speers and Hornadys have disappeared from the shelves, there are usually some cast bullets to be had that will work fine. And, in the absence of commercial lead, you can either cast your own or throw yourself on the mercy of a lead-melting friend. If you choose to cast your own, you do get into expense in both money and the time required to learn the skill. Brass? Believe it or not, many outdoor ranges are saturated with stuff that was never picked up and gradually disappeared from sight in the grass. Get down on your hands and knees and paw through the dirt looking for it, and you ll come up with quite a lot. Not all will be the caliber you want but but! it will be a caliber someone else wants. Take it home, clean it up, and use it for trade goods. We ll come back to brass later, and the requirements for cleaning and conditioning before using. Powders are, in some ways, the easiest. Since small handgun rounds don t use much, a pound of Bullseye, for example, will do 3,000 to 5,000 rounds of.380; the Handloader 291

8 same amount of Unique will fill up 1,000 to 1,500 9mm Luger rounds. The problem is, these popular handgun powders are the first to disappear. Here is where you need to improvise. If you have some old loading manuals, consult them and see what alternatives might work in your favorite caliber. Newer manuals tend to ignore ancient propellants like Herco, but they are included in old manuals because for years they were a mainstay. Herco itself is a shotgun powder, and as such it sees less use than formerly, but it s still good. Even during recent shortages, shotshells and shotshell components have not suffered the same Shortages always engender a return to barter, and anything unwanted may be used to trade for other components. There are many tales of guys in gun shops who don t find what they want themselves but buy components they know others will need. Take the brass home, clean and deprime, polish it up, put it in some nice new plastic bags, and you ll have some highly desirable trade goods. With that in mind, a little hoard of.40 S&W, say, can be turned into a stash of primers or some.32 ACP brass into a pound of Bullseye. One great thing about brass is that, for all intents and purposes, it can sit out in the rain and mud and never deteriorate. It discolors, Finally, deprime and resize. Carbide dies are almost essential for this, simply to save time spent in lubing and delubing. After this, I put them into the tumbler and polish them up. For the three cartridges in question.380 Auto, 9mm Luger and.45 ACP that headspace on the mouth of the case, it s important to ensure they are the right length. A practical way of handling this is to set your caliper at the proper length, check each case and separate those that need trimming from those that don t. The good stuff can be put to use immediately, then go back and do a massive trimming operation later. As for what cases can be reloaded automatics drastic shortages. An eight-pound keg of a great shotgun powder like Clays provides the means of loading thousands of rounds. Other possibilities are Red Dot, Blue Dot, Universal, 700X and 800X. Not every manual includes Clays as a handgun alternative, but the Hodgdon Reloading Data Center on the Internet is a good source of loading information for any Hodgdon powders, including IMR and Winchester. Pick a cartridge, then work back from the powder in question (for example, click on 9mm Luger, look at the powders that will work in it, click on Clays, and it provides data.) While down on your knees combing the grass, pick up everything. but an hour in a tumbler solves that. Just about any brass (provided it s real brass and not plated steel) can be made pretty again. My method for cleaning brass is to remove obvious debris, then put it into a Hornady Sonic Cleaner bath. This is before depriming: You don t want abrasive grit grinding your dies. Next, sort by manufacturer and caliber. Once I ve isolated 50 or so in a specific caliber, each case is inspected closely. Particularly, pay attention to cases with unfamiliar foreign headstamps, and check for Berdan primers, identifiable by the twin off-center flash holes. Inadvertently trying to deprime one of these results in a broken pin and major irritation. and what cannot (or should not), Robin Sharpless at Redding was consulted. I would not attempt to reload any of the steel stuff, he said. We use brass for its ability to seal the chamber and then spring back without stressing too much. Inherently, steel is more resistant to movement, so it likely stresses more through the action. Redding suggests good, high-quality brass from SAAMI- or CIP-affiliated manufacturers or those that rigorously adhere to those standards as a matter of their manufacturing process. Some cases are labeled as nonreloadable, including alumi num and other alloys found in the cheapest ammunition. With some imported stuff, you wonder what on earth the metal actually is. Others, Desperate Times, Desperate Measures August-September

9 Loading Semiautomatics Above, imported ammunition can be very in expensive, but the brass may not be brass at all. This recovered brass is unidentified but, put beside American brass such as Federal (right), the differences are obvious. Right, assorted, grungy brass can be salvaged, cleaned and used again and, probably, again. such as plated steel cases, are questionable. I would not put them through my dies, and most man - ufacturers recommend strongly against it. I would have to be a lot more desperate than I am before using them. This is where a magnet on the loading bench can be very useful, to see exactly what you are dealing with. Having assembled brass, primers and suitable powders and bullets, the last step is putting it all together. Target and practice am - munition for these calibers are consumed at a prodigious rate. It is not at all unusual for a shooter to fire 50 to 100 rounds at every sitting. Dedicated target shooters usually have progressive and automated presses that can produce thousands of rounds. Turning out the same amount with a singlestation press is a chore. So how do we make do with what we have? Again, some advice from Robin Sharpless, who uses Redding s T-7 turret press to auto - Speer s 125-grain cast bullet (left) has the same profile as the military FMJ bullet, while Hayley s Custom Ammunition cast bullet is an exaggerated truncated cone (Ideal ) copied from the original German World War I bullet. mate the process as much as possible. I am not a progressive fan, especially for one just getting started, he said. The T-7, employing a system and a 50-round loading block, together with a quality powder measure, can be used to generate large volumes of quality ammunition very quickly. If we use a carbide die and in-line primer feed on the press, we reduce handling to almost nothing. Sharpless s system has seven steps. All three dies (resizing, casemouth expansion and bullet seating) are placed in the rotating head. If taper crimping is required, the fourth die can be added. (1) Insert case and resize/deprime; (2) rotate head, expand case mouth Far left, SR-7625 rifle powder works extremely well in the.380 Auto. It, along with the other SR powders (4756 and 4759) are to be discontinued this year. Left, Herco is very useful in handguns, although it is excluded for this use from most modern handbooks, so one should start at the minimum and work up. Below, Hodgdon Clays is an excellent shotgun powder that is easy to use in small pistol cases, such as the 9mm Luger. Handloader 291

10 Above, when Terry visited Sierra in February, these 35, 90-grain bullets were Sierra s entire stock of slugs for the.380. Right, new Starline brass is excellent quality, requiring no case conditioning before loading. Loads for Semiautomatics overall loaded cartridge bullet powder charge primer case length velocity group handgun (grains) (grains) (inches) (fps) (inches).380 Auto 90 cast PB 3.0 Federal GM100M Starline Walther PPK/S 90 Sierra JHP (8100) SR mixed* mm Luger 125 Speer cast Herco 5.0 Federal GM100M Starline , Glock 125 Sierra JHP (8125) Clays 3.5 mixed** , ACP 230 Cramer cast Herco 5.5 Federal GM150M Starline Kimber Gold Match II 200 Sierra FMJ (8825) Universal 6.0 Starline * mixed Federal and Hornady brass ** mixed Federal brass Notes: Bullet description includes the manufacturer s product number (in parentheses) where possible. Velocity is the average of five shots over a chronograph 10 feet from the muzzle. Group size is one five-shot group at 20 yards, with a sandbag rest. Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. on upstroke and reprime on downstroke; (3) place case in 50-round loading block; (4) repeat 50 times; (5) with a full block, use a powder measure to dump all 50 loads, holding the block under the measure; (6) when finished, visually check every round to ensure no double loads and place a bullet in each August-September

11 Loading Semiautomatics case mouth; (7) seat bullets. If needed, click turret and taper crimp as a second seating operation. Once a handloader gets the hang of this and establishes a rhythm, producing a few hundred rounds at a sitting is no problem at all. I prefer to bell the cases in one operation, then seat primers in the next using an RCBS priming tool, but that s more habit than anything else. Semiautomatic cases should be belled whether cast or jacketed bullets will be used. The bell should be so slight it is not visible to the eye but can just be felt with the fingertips. It aids proper seating and alignment, and the mouth is readily returned to the correct shape for headspacing. With these three cartridges, reliable feeding, extraction and cycling the action are required. Velocity and pinpoint accuracy are secondary, since we re producing am- munition for general practice. If loading ammunition for either selfdefense or serious target work, I would do a few things differently. Two loads in each caliber were put together one with cast bullets and one with jacketed using data that was strictly middle of the road. Even so, they worked out pretty well. Neither.380 load was especially accurate in terms of group size, but both grouped exactly where the Walther PPK/S s sights were pointed. The 9mm load was none too good with lead bullets I d want to improve that before loading 1,000 of them but acceptable with jacketed bullets. In the case of the.45 Auto, the lead load was acceptable and the jacketed load, using Sierra 200-grain FMJs, was very good indeed. All these groups were shot using only a sandbag rest and factory sights at 20 yards. For a clutch of desperation loads, using whatever I could find, they didn t turn out too badly. NOTES ON THE HANDLOADS USED The.380 Auto load with PB is from the Hodgdon Data Center. The.380 Auto and SR-7625: Clay Harvey (Propellant Profiles) recommends 7625 as the performance powder in the.380 and uses 4.1 grains. Speer Reloading Manual #11 recommends a range from 3.2 to 3.4 but with an 88-grain bullet. Sierra recommends 3.3 to 3.8 in the fifth edition (2003) but in the second edition (1985) gave a range from 3.3 to 4.6 grains. Hodgdon now gives just one load, 3.2 grains maximum. A starting load of 3.5 grains seemed prudent. The 9mm and Herco: Few loads are available. Herco is noted for varying pressures in handguns (Grennell, ABC s, 3rd) and is excluded from most modern handbooks as a result. Start at the published minimum and work up. The 9mm load with Clays is from the Hodgdon Data Center. The.45 ACP load with Herco is from John Wootters article on Herco (Propellant Profiles). The.45 ACP Universal load is from the Hodgdon Data Center Handloader 291

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