Sept.-Oct., 1970 Vol. 5-No. 5 Rt. &Box 3482, Peoria, Ill

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2 Handloader Magazine Dave Wolfe Publisher Neal Knox Editor Roger T. Wolfe, Ph.D. Associate Editor Maj. George C. Nonte Jr. Associate Editor Norm Lammers Technical Adviser Homer Powley Ballistics Adviser James D. Carmichel Cast Bullets Parker 0. Ackley Wildcats & Gunsmithing Wallace Labisky Shotshells John Wootters Gun Tests Harvey A. Donaldson Historical Adviser Ken Waters "'Pet Loads" Edward M. Yard General Assignment Don Zutz General Assignment Bob Hagel Hunting Adviser John Buhmiller A friwn Cartridges Barbara Killough Production June Skillestad Circulation Manager Leah Close Asst. Circulation Mgr. Tina Taylor Data Processing Rod Guthrie Staff Artist Carolyn Reinhold Editorial Assistant Trudy Kluever Promotion Sept.-Oct., 1970 Vol. 5-No. 5 Rt. &Box 3482, Peoria, ll Features:.25 Niedner.. Alias Remington Bob Hagel 14 For ncreased Performance.. Lower Velocity.... Don Zutz 18 Converting7.62NATOBlanks..... RichardG.Ahlefeld 20 Pressures Of Those Hot.38's Maj. George C. Nonte & Neal Knox 24 Pitting Two.228's Ken Waters 26 New Remington.410Components..... Wallacehbisky 30 TheHandloader--0nTheFiringLine NealKnox 34 Ultra-Light Loads For The.38 Specials.... Jim Carmichel 36 Departments: Editorial Ctg. of Month Lock, Stock, Barrel Propellant Profiles Reader By-Lines Answers, Please Tip to Tip ProducTests Harvey Donaldson The HANDLOADER, Copyright 1970, S published bi-monthly by the Dave Wolfe Publishing Company, Rt. 4 - Box 3482 (1406 Hendryx Place), Peorla, llinois (Also publisher of Rifle Magazine). Telephone (309) Second Class Postage paid at Peoria, iilnois, and additional mailing offices. Single copy price of current issue $1.00. Subscription price: six issues $5.00; 12 issues $9.00; 18 ssues $ Outside U.S. possessions and Canada $6.00, $11.00 and $ Recommended foreign single copy Price. $1.25. Advertising rates furnished on request. Publisher of The HANDLOADER is not responsible for mishaps of any nature which might occur from use of published loading data. or from recommendatlons by any member of The Staff. NO part of this publication may be reproduced without wrltthn permission from the editor. Manuscripts from free-lance Writers must be accompanied by stamped self-addressed envelope and the pu biisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts. Change of address: Please give one month's notice. Send both old and new address, plus mailing label if possible. to Circulation Dept.. The HANDLOADER Magazine, Rt. 4 - Box 3482 (1406 Hendryx Place), Peoria, 111inois Official Publication of sbnm Bahm Rdding Asrocktion Your September-October Cover We took a close look at the makings for 6.5~55 ammo and found it so interesting that we let the camera have a look, resulting in this issue's striking cover. You can identify them, of course? There's a Norma case, obviously; and the embossed "A" positively identifies the newstyle Alcan primers. Red and green kernels in that shape indicate Hercules Reloder 11, but the bullet is a little tougher-it's a 120-grain Speer. Photo by W. T. Willis. - 4 HANDLOADER - September-October, 1970

3 at all. Repeated firings with full-charge loads in.45-90,.45-70,.3040,.30-06, and have produced the same results we d expect with 1970 brass. HATS OLD BRASS; don t think T oughtta use it. Have you heard that comment often? have, and it seems more than a few handloaders have little trust in brass cartridge cases of any great age. Even a few writers have encouraged this suspicion by recommending against old brass. First, we need to determine just what is meant by old in reference to cartridge cases. To pin it down, we ll interpret this literally; to mean age and age alone, as separate from other factors such as much-use, treatment, corrosion, exposure to harmful materials, etc. Unless stored under conditions that will cause deterioration, cartridge brass does not change its physical properties By Maj. George Nonte over the years. t is like other metals in this respect, extremely stable. t still possesses the properties given it when it was made, even after 30 or 40 years. The hardness, toughness, ductility, grain structure, and dimensions remain just as they were at the time of manufacture. Consequently, if you run across new, never loaded, never fired, cases made two-score or more years ago-such as DCM-supplied brass of the 1920 s or 30 s-it will still be perfectly serviceable. Only physical damage or expo sur e to deterioration-producing factors such as ammonia, mercury, or high heat (above 450 F) can have destroyed its usefulness. ve personally used new brass produced around the turn of the century without any trouble So what about loaded ammunition of similar age? Other factors can combine to damage the case. Most common are the neck splits or cracks most of us have seen in old military ammunition. Older cases were not given a final s tress-relieving anneal. Consequently, when bullets were seated tightly in case necks, high stress levels were set up as the neck stretched to accept the bullet. Often, after even relatively short periods of time, such necks simply split from the strain. Bell, in writing of his African hunting, tells of newly-loaded 6.5- Mannlicher cases splitting at the neck after only a few months and thus spoiling a hunt. Since the early 1930 s, virtually all cases have been stress-annealed, so this is no longer a problem. f you obtain a batch of ammunition showing split necks, the unsplit cases are still good. f fired, though, some of them may yet split. To avoid this, pull the bullets, dump the powder, punch c confidence makes the difference Confidence just comes naturally to the man who chooses Murdock hard lead shot for his reloads. Hard lead keeps its shape and holds its pattern consistently. That s why all major shotshell manufacturers use it. Get the accuracy your gun was designed to deliver... and get every bird you are entitled to. When you!oad... load the best. Ask for Murdock. A DVSON Of YURW YClAL. NCORPORATED

4 with Hornady s new 25 cal. 120 gr. HP This new Hornady 25 cal. HP is built particularly for the now standard caliber as well as other 25 caliber magnums. ts 120 gr. weight and hollow point construction offer shooters a heavier bullet, effective on big game as well as varmints. The addition of the new 120 gr. HP gives handloaders their choice of six accurate, deadly, dependable 25 cal. Hornadys: 60 gr. Soft Point, 75 gr. Hollow Point, 87 gr. Spire Point, 100 gr. Spire Point, 117 gr. Round Nose, and 120 gr. HP. The Secant Ogive shape, with very small hollow point, gives quick expansion. This is possible only with Hornady s inner-groove design. Now 25 cal. shooters can realize faster expansion at greater ranges. The 120 gr. 25 cal. is at your dealer s now. Only $5.25 per hundred. Try a box --they re always Accurate, Deadly, Dependable FFL Bullets for Handloading HORNADY MANUFACTURNG COMPANY Dept. H, Grand sland, Nebr out the primer, then anneal necks. From that point, the cases are good as new. We ve d one this with Rem-UMC 7x57mm military ammunition of the late 20 s and early 30 s with fine results. You may, though, find that powder has deteriorated, developing thick corrosion inside the case. Tumbling and/or washing may remove this. f the brass surface is smooth beneath it, OK. f rough, etched, or pitted, the case has been weakened and you d best toss it aside. Primers may also have deteriorated, causing misfires, hangfires, or erratic ignition. Then, too, it s likely that primers of the early 30 s and earlier contain mercury compounds which ruin the case upon firing. For these reasons, it s best to remove and replace the old primers when using new old cases or salvaging cases from old ammunition. When all these factors are considered it is entirely practical to use new cases of almost any age. Even early balloon head and folded head types may be used so long as their limitations as to pressure and reloading life are considered. Old fired cases present other problems. f fired with black powder and not washed thoroughly and immediately, they are generally useless. The action of the heavy fouling and atmospheric moisture will have eaten away a good bit of the case walls to weak en them seriously. Smokeless powder will have produced no such effect, but mercuric primers will have weakened the brass in another way. The mercury will have amalgamated with the brass, making it brittle and destroying its strength. This action is irreversible from the instant of firing and cannot be corrected. ve examined world War.303 British brass so weakened by their big mercuric primer that cases could be broken in half with one s fingers. Those Same cases crumpled when only light neck sizing was attempted. Completely unserviceable. But, mercuric primers do not always ruin the case. f the case neck and shoulder remain springy and do not crack or collapse when squeezed hard, they are probably OK. f full-length resizing doesn t produce any,$amage, the case is safe for use, even if it was fired with a mercuric primei. There is no sure way of learning whether old cases were fired with mercuric primers. f date of manufacture can be determined, an educated guess can be made as to the primer used. Generally speaking, mercuric primers were used in most black powder calibers until well after the turn of the century. High velocity smallbore smokeless cartridges began to be loaded with non-mercuric primers about 1900 and the changeover proceeded fairly rapidly. All the same, some mercuric loadings were continued until the late 1930 s-so it s not always possible to be certain what was used. f the case exhibits the symptoms of mercury damage, toss it aside. Cases not showing evidence of mercury damage do not change physically with age after firing any more than do new cases. Firing work-hardens some areas slightly and, of course, dimensions change with firing. After that they remain the same. So, if you ve got a batch of cases fired in 1933, they are just as good now as then unless affected by external forces. n the past few years ve used many fired FA cases and they performed just as well. as 1969 Match brass. t can be seen, then, that age alone doesn t harm cases in the least. f they were good to start with, they are good now, unless they show evidence of physical damage. The next time someone tells you old brass isn t safe, Wanted Pre-64 Model 70 rifles in unusual calibers - and target and varmint models. Also stocks, barrels, receivers and parts for same. Give price and condition first letter. Dave Wolfe, Box 3482, Peoria, llinois HANDLOADEB - Septamber-October. 1970

5 just smile and nod politely, but don t get upset about all those 1930 and 1940 cases in the basement. * * * From time to time we ve had queries about cases and loading for the 7.5mm Swiss cartridge. Until now the answer has been to reform.284 Winchester brass- a satisfactory, but not necessarily perfect solution because of the.284 s rebated rim. Now, though, Norma-Precision has introduced loaded ammunition and unprimed cases for the M1896/11 and later Swiss Schmidt-Rubin straight-pull rifles. The cases, of course, are designed for standard domestic large rifle (.21O ) primers and are of good quality. For M1896/11 and later rifles, use standard.308 bullets. Earlier rifles, M1889/96, M1896, have.304 groove diameter barrels-too much undersize for.308 bullets. n 1911 the latter diameter was standardized for both rifles and ammunition. Most earlier guns were rebarreled to.308 and all new rifles made after 1911 have the larger barrels. f there s any doubt about your particular barrel, slug the bore and check its groove diameter. For loading data, use 150-grain bullets and 45.0 grains of 3031 for 2,800 fps; 180-grain bullets and 45.0 grains of 4064 for 2,550 fps; 200-grain bullets and 49.0 grains of 4350 for 2,450 fps. Pressures are OK for. all Sc hmidt-rubin models. The original M1911 militarv load uses 174-main bullets at 2,650 fps and about psi chamber pressure. Velocities quoted are from the 3O-inch rifle-length barrel. workout before kicking it out simply because it has a bad case of the uglies. * * * Now and again someone recommends loading data that the educated handloader will immediately suspect. For example, one writer recently implied recommendation of 9 grains of Unique in the 9mm Parabellum cartridge. Even with the lightest bullets available, that is certain to develop excessive pressures in many guns. Another writer recommended 8.5 grains of Unique in the.38 Super with heavy bullets. Guaranteed excessive pressure, enough to produce deformed case heads when 1 tried it. This should emphasize the need for taking a long hard look at any new loading data that is, (a) not accompanied by pressure data; (b) not supplied by a known reliable source; or, (c) is claimed to give performance greater than that of factory loads or loads published by reputable sources. Far too often an individual without adequate testing facilities assumes that a load is safe simply because it didn t wreck one or two guns in which he s tried it. You may not be so lucky if you use it. There are no magic secret methods by which the basic rules of ballistics can be circumvented. f it takes 50,000 psi to drive a given bullet at 3,000 fps, there s no way to make it go faster except by increasing that pressure. Anyone who tells you different is just making wishful noises. 0 Du Pont Explosives Dept. Room 8754-C Wilmington, Delaware Please send me the new Handloader s Guide. including loads for Hi-Skor 700-X. Name Street,..r mmmm--mm-mmj,.....thmugh chemistry,. c City State Zipou PnNT BetterthlngsforbettsrlMng 1 0 This new Norma case can solve another problem, also. Resized and trimmed to 2.10-inch length, it does nicely in 7.5mm French military rifles such as the MLe 1936, MLe 1949, and MLe 1949/.. f difficulty in chambering is encountered, reduce base diameter to by swaging or polishing. Only a very small amount need be removed to enter most French chambers-and since the Norma case is thick and heavy, removal of a little brass from the outside is acceptable. Reduce the Swiss loads mentioned above by 10 percent for use in French rifles. ncidentally, though the 1936 and later French service rifles look clumsy and homely, they are strong, sound designs from a mechanical viewpoint. f one comes your way, give it a good range HANDLOADER - September-October, 1970 Redding s new turret press is the key to fast, economical reloading of metallic shells. This top quality press incorporates the most modern techniques, built in the time-honored Redding way. Lets you mount two sets of dies and powder measure all at once for maximum flexibility. Model 25, 4 or 6-station turret pess, including handle, ram, linkage and primer arm. $49.50 n kit form, including press, primer arm, shell holder, case lube and choice of popular caliber dies listed in our catalog. (Save $5.75) $60.50 See your dealer or write for free catalog. Send 25C for colorful jacket brassard. REDDNGHUNTER, NC. 114 STARR RD., CORTLAND, N.Y

6 The Remington 700 chambeml for the oldnew,254xproved to be an excellent lontwanoe chuck rifle during Hapl's field test. By Bob Hagel Although its followrs claim the quarterinch bore has been neglected, these.25 calibers and the.25o3ooy) Savw, not shown, have seen a lot of use by American hunters. They are, from left, the venerable and the discontinued.257 Robem, the SQyearold newly introduced.25-06,.257 Weatherby Magnum and a wildcat.25 on the.30 Newton case by the late Cnarlie O'Neil. 14 HMDLOADER - hptmkr-ottabu, 1S90

7 0 25 Niedner- Alias Remington HEN WE TAKE a hard look at the W modern cartridge situation it makes us wonder if we have really made any great progress in the past 50 years or so. Back when this century was little more than a decade old, Charles Newton designed and produced a line of cartridges that have only recently been surpassed, and then by very little. True, Charley didn t have slow-burning powders in those days to realize the full potential of the cartridges he designed. Nevertheless, we are just now catching up to the short case, sharp shoulder design he used; most of our modern magnum capacity cases being about the same length as the.30 Newton, and with very nearly the same shoulder angle, as well as the short neck. While Newton designed a case that was different from most cases of the time, there were others who took some of the relatively recent standard cases and wildcatted them into different calibers with the idea of making a cartridge better adapted to certain kinds of hunting. Such a cartridge was designed, if you can call it that, by A. 0. Neidner about 1920, or a little before. This cartridge was made simply by necking the standard case down to.25 caliber with no other change. t has been known by various names, probably fvst as the.25 Neidner, then later being known mostly as simply the The former name likely sprung from the fact that Neidner is given credit for the development of the cartridge and because Neidner Rifle Company seems to have been the fust to chamber rifles for it. made it a better choice for the larger game, especially with bullets then available. n 1915 the Savage Arms Company had started chambering the Savage lever action Model 99 for the Newton-designed cartridge. This snappy little cartridge was reported to develop 3,000 fps with an 87-grain bullet, and became very popular as a deer cartridge for Western shooting. Later, about 1922, a 100-grain bullet was introduced. This heavier bullet gave some 2,800 fps, making it an even better deer cartridge. The Savage Model 20 and 40 bolt action rifles were chambered for it, as well as many others, both domestic and foreign, such as the Model 54 and 70 Winchesters, and the more recent FN Belgian Mauser. The cartridge, with a smaller capacity better suited to then-available powders, was popular for many years for both big game and varmint shooting, and many are still being used. n fact, 1 suspect that more rifles were chambered for the.250 Savage cartridge than there ever were for the later.257 Remington-Roberts. However, the continued to intrigue gun buffs who liked to play Like &e.270 Winchester, center. the.25-&5, ri@t, was sired by the.30#, left. But unlike the.270, the.25-&5 was born a wildcat and remained one for 50 years until Remington s adoption. Perhaps one reason that the.25 Neidner did not gain greater popularity at the time it appeared was because the.2 Newton was already well entrenched, and, being also built on the case, was very similar in performance. t also used heavier bullets, which had a great deal of appeal to hunters of that time, and which also MDLOADEB - 8.PtmZ-OaObW All of these bullets wre tested in the Remington.25-06, enrall-&%w &d~msula From lefi, 87, ldo and 1Sgrain Speec 100, 115 and 117-grain Nosler, and the 75 and new 12Ggrain Hornady, which is quite similar to the shape of the new Remington l2ggrain Powr-Lokt bullet, which was not available during the tests. 15

8 . HORNADY DATA FOR HORNADY HP BULLE Rifle: Mouser M98 Custom; Barrel 24"; 1-in-10'' Twist Cases: (- 1 Primers: Alcan Seating Depth.483 Powder 2,600 fps 2,700 fps 2,800 fps 2,900 fps 3,000 fps 3,100 fps gr. 38.4gr gr. 41.8gr gr. 39.0gr. 40.8gr gr. 432( 37.0gr. 39.0gr. 41.0gr. 43.0gr gr. 41.5gr. 43.5gr. 45.5gr. Norma 2"- 41.O gr gr. 45.0gr gr gr gr gr gr. H gr. 46.4gr gr. 49.7gr. with wildcat varmint-big game combination cartridges. Nearly all custom rifle builders chambered rifles for it, and even the advent of the.257 Roberts in 1934, chambered in the Remington Model 30, and soon after in the Winchester Model 54, did not run the,2506 completely into the brush. Then, when American arms manufacturers stopped chambering,for the.257 a few years back, the wildcat became even dearer to the hearts of.25 caliber fans, and custom rifles chambered for it gained ever greater popularity, for the cartridge had improved each time a slower powder became available. ir~e bullets to be seated to about the same o&dl Ever since the demise of commercial chambering of the.257, there have been rumors that various arms companies were going to again revive a.25 caliber cartridge in commercial form. And while various.25 wildcat cartridges were predicted as being the next commercial.25, it was generally believed that the old would be the cartridge to make the grade. n January of 1970 Remington announced that it had decided to adopt the 50-year-old wildcat and give it a home, with factory ammunition available loaded with an 87-grain bullet as a starter, to be followed by a 120-grain big game bullet before the fall hunting season opened. There is little doubt that making-the into a standard factory loaded number was a good move, but why it took the big arms companies so long to discover it remains one of the mysteries, connected with the firearms business. ' Even though the is based on the case - and Remington cases are exactly the same as the originals right down to the 17% degree shoulder angle - it is of magnum capacity for the.25 bore. For that reason, the slower powders are best for all bullet weights suitable for the cartridge - anything from 75 to 120 grains. By this we do not mean the very slowest powders like H5010, H570 and H870; to get enough of these powders in the case to give high velocity with even the heaviest bullets requires every grain the case will hold neck sized only, and far more compression than should be used. My own loading with Remington cases in a new Remington M700 rifle, shows that 4831, Norma 205 and DuPont 4350 are th all bullet weights. The new R-P cases weigh 202 grains average, which is almost identical with various lots of the same make in both.270 and They are *, loaded with 54 grains of a powder that looks very much like 4350, and gives about the same velocity as that charge of 4350 does behind the 87-grain bullet in the same rifle. However, my own tests show that either 4831 or Norma 205 will give higher velocity with all bullet weights from 87 grains up. n using the Hornady 75-grain bullet it was found that 4350 gave higher velocity because you can't get enough 4831 into a full-length resized case to equal it, 59 grains being about all a bullet can be seated over with full length resizing. There are about ten reloaders who use a full length resizing die to every one who uses a necking die, so why work with loads you can't get in a new or full-length resized case. This is one of the reasons that many reloaders find it impossible to get the maximum loads listed in some manuals in a new or resized case. The listed load was used in a neck-sized case, then poured through a long tube and tapped down. And one sometimes wonders if the case were not fired in a sloppy chamber! But of what use are such loads to the average relo ader? short throat of the Model 700 Remington causes nearly all makes. shams and weight cartridge length. From left, all seatedabout onesixteenth inch from the lands, are a factory 87-grain Power-Lokt, Hornady 75-grain, Speer Using the new rifle with its factory lmgrain and new Homa p A chambering,l and new commercial cases, 16 MANDLOADEB - Septembar-October, 1870

9 ~~ it was found that there was very little difference;& loading data' from that which had been used with various 1 custom rifles - at least no more than ' exists between different rifles from different custom gunsmiths. However, Bullet we are listing only loads which were 87 Factory PL-HP tested in the factory rifle with factory cases. The Remington M700 rifles have 75 Hornady HP a barrel with a 1-10 twist, which is what most custom barrels have, so there is little difference in this department except that found between barrels from different makers, as far as pressures and velocities are concerned. When testing with any cartridge, however, one usually checks his results against data furnished in various loading manuals and other sources. n the case of the.25-06, the check data was of necessity that compiled using custom rifles chambered for the old wildcat cartridge. n this connection, ran into something that still has me puzzled, and mention it here not as criticism of the loading manual, but to head off trouble for someone who runs into the same situation and does not approach manual-listed loads with caution. The fvst bullets used for handloading for the new rifle were the various weights of the excellent Speer.25 line. Starting with the 87-grain and going up through the O0 and 120, maximum loads were worked up with various powders in this rifle. This was done by the head expansion method. n checking these results against the Speer Manual found that my maximum loads for all bullet weights were almost identical to theirs using 4350 and faster powders, but that velocity in my rifle ran somewhat higher - than in their custom test rifle. This would indicate that my pressures were at least as high as they had received. Yet when 1 went to 4831 my top loads were two or three grains below their maximum loads, with velocities still running slightly hrgher. When 1 tried to go on up to listed max loads of 4831 primers did not completely blow, but pockets were too loose on the first &g for reuse of the case. Neither could use the loads of Norma 205 listed in the new No. 8 manual. Why this should be 1 do not know. Maybe a difference in powder lots, but whatever it is, take it very slow on top listed loads of these powders with the new Remington rifles. The chart will show the various loads used in this factory rifle, he (Continued on Page 58) 115 Nosler P-SP *'-iter serni- Remington Model 700 rifle, 24" barrel, 1-10 twist. R-P cases, weight 202 grains. CC #200 primers. Oehler #lo chronograph, 80 degrees temp. Powder c H N N N Velocity Remarks 3,388 1" groups, occasional flyer. Charge ,769 Max. 1 " (best varmint) Max. 2$" (bullet used) Max. 1" Max. 3/4" best load Max. 7/8" Max. Mrrx. 3/48, Max. 1yu Max. 1 9/16" Mild 1$" Max. l?!l Max. l$' Mi d 5/8" Max. 1 l/8" Max. not tried 1 1/16" Max. 14" Mild 7/8" Max. Max. 120 gr. Speer P-SP Max. 5/8" Far Too Hot Max. poor accuracy N Max. not tried 190 Hornady P-HP Max. 11/161' * This load is far too hot for continued use in this rifle and should not be used withoul working up very carefully. t is given here only to show that accuracy sometimes come! only with very hot loads with certain bullets in certain rifles. Other maximum listed loads should be approached with caution in other rifles. A atgame such as this wary pronghorn. The cartridgs shoots flat and packs plenty of punch for game of this size, in addition to being en excellent onpram varmint rifle. With bullets of 100 to la a.-,..-,..._. a good choi-,._.-..-._.. ~....a