A top-notch pistol cartridge.

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2 24.45 Colt Trapper (Pet Loads) A new look at the old Colt. Handloading Heavy Cast Bullets in the.44 Magnum A top-notch pistol cartridge. Sledgehammer loads for the big.44. John J. Stransky Ken Waters John Zemanek Velocity! 22-inch,.270 Winchester Don Zutz Straight dope on newer powders..270 JDJ G. Sitton Reloader s Press Dave Scovill 257 Roberts Model 700 Mountain Rifle. Page Handguns 6 A Stitch in Time? Mike Bane Benchtopics Layne Simpson 10 Notes from Rufunsa Camp Part Reader Bylines A Li l 01 Winemaker s Recipe. Aiming for Answers 14 Resizing Cases for Longer Life, Which Bullet s Best?, Loads for Krag 22 R-2 Lovell. 16 Capitol Watch Neal Knox Battle Lines Reforming. 18 Cartridge Board Gil Sengel.33 Winchester. 52 ProducTests Leupold Vari-X Compact 3x9 Riflescope, Steiner Whitetail Hunting Binoculars. 60 Book/Video Reviews The Big-Bore Rifle, Shadows on the Tundra, Ammunition Making. Product & Service News 67 C.N.C. Products, nc.; Nosler Bullets, nc. Propellant Profiles Accurate 2015BR. G. Sitton COPYRGHT WOLFE PUBLSHNG CO style hammer; skeletonized match trigger; post front sight and Bo-Mar adjustable rear sight; enlarged magazine release; extended ambidextrous safety; bevelled and flared magazine well; and custom wood grips by Kim Ahrends. Unseen features include honed bearing surfaces, polished feed ramp, recut extractor, throated barrel, lowered ejection port and upgraded mainspring. PSC National Champ Jerry Barnhart s.45 pistol (rear) features hand-polished finish and Hogue grips. Photo by Gerald Hudson. January-February

3 PUBLSHNG STAFF President Dave Wolfe Publisher Mark Harris Editor Dave Scovill Executive Secretary Roberta Montgomery Associate Editor Holly McLean-Aldis Art Director Gerald Hudson Production Director Becky Pinkley Advertising Manager Jana Kosco Book Sales Manager Sharon Zalitis Circulation Manager Tamrny Rossi Circulation Mardell Harms Ruth Robinson Graphic Designer Kathy Beard TECHNCAL STAFF A Miller Senior Associate Editor Sam Fadala Gil Sengel Bob Hagel Layne Sirnpson Neal Knox Charles R. Suydarn Wallace Labisky Ken Waters Advertising nformation Jana Kosco Wolfe Publishing Company 6471 Airpark Dr., Prescott. Arizona (602) or - Bernard & Associates 3965 Gibralter Dr., Reno, Nevada (702) The Handloader is published bi-monthly by the Wolfe Publishing Company (Dave Wolfe, President), 6471 Airpark Dr, Prescott, Arizona (Also publisher of Rifle magazine.) Telephone ( Second Class Postagpaid at Prescott, Arizona, and additional mailing office! Subscription prices: US. possessions and Canada - sing1 issue, $3 50; 6 issues, $19 12 issues, $35; 18 issues, $5( Foreign - single issue, $4.50; 6 issues, $25; 12 issues, $47 18 issues, $68. Advertising rates furnished on request. A rights reserved. Change of address. Please give six weeks' notice. Sen, both the old and new address, plus mailing label if possibli to Circulation Dept.. Handloader Magazine, 6471 Airpar Dr., Prescott, Arizona POSTMASTER Send addres changes to Wolfe Publishing Co., 6471 Airpark Dr, Pmcotl Arizona Publisher of Handloader is not responsible for mishap of any nature which might occur fmm use of published loa< ing data, or from recommendations by any member of Th Stan: No part of this publication may be reproduced withou written permission from the editor. Manuscripts from free lance writers must be accompanied by a stamped, sel addressed envelope. Publisher assumes all North America Rights upon acceptance and payment for all manuscript! Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannc accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscript: Writers send for free editorial guidelines. 4 RELOA DER 'S PRESS Dave scovill.257 Roberts Model 700 Mountain Rifle Remington Model 700 Mountain Rifle Short Action Version. Calibers:,243 Winchester,,257 Roberts, 7mm-08 Remington & 308 Winchester. HEN REMNGTON introduced W the.257 Roberts in the shortaction Model 700 Mountain Rifle at the writer's seminar last November, was a bit skeptical. For as long as can remember, the short versus long action,257 Roberts debate had, to my mind at least, been little more than an unnecessary distraction that muddied the reputation of a fine deer and varmint cartridge. t seems that prior to World War 11, when there was a decided lack of midrange cartridges that could bridge the gap between varmints and deer-sized game, Ned Roberts came up with the.25 Roberts, the predecessor to the.257 Remington-Roberts. To obtain the greatest efficiency from the neckeddown 7x57mm Mauser case with existing bullets and powders, a number of writers decided that the cartridge was better suited to length actions that were throated to accommodate 100 to 120-grain bullets. t was a handloader's dream and more than one writer turned his nose up at the factory loads, pointing to the increased velocity and energy produced by the long-action version. The longer throat, however, was not particularly conducive to producing good accuracy with lighter varmint bullets. When Remington introduced the,257 Roberts in 1934, in the Model 30 and later in the short-action Model 722, those same writers cried foul, claiming that the short action stifled the potential of a fine cartridge. At the time, it probably did. At the center of the controversy was the fact that heavier bullets had to be seated to an overall loaded length of inches to accommodate the shorter actions. As such, the base of the bullet intruded on the powder capacity, enough so that factory loads only managed to muster a leisurely 2,650 fps from a 24-inch barrel with a 117-grain roundnose bullet. (That roundnose bullet could be the subject of a debate all by itself.) Seating the same bullets, or similar spitzer versions, out to an overall loaded length of three inches or more, depending on the length ofthe throat, in a longer action made it possible to boost velocities up to around 2,900 fps for the 117 to 120-grain bullets and something close to 3,000 fps with a 100-grain bullet in 24-inch barrels. Some claimed slightly higher velocities, but in the absence of chronographed data, the velocities claimed by a few writers would appear to have been a bit optimistic. Longer barrels added up to 50 fps per inch. Since 3,000 fps was the magic number, the die was cast. Although the.257 Roberts was, and always has been, a fine cartridge, it was consistently ridiculed because the factories saddled it with an arbitrary 43,000 CUP limit in shortaction rifles. Bear in mind, when all this was going on, the.25-06,243 Winchester, the 6mm Remington and the.308 Winchester did not exist. n other words, there was one heck of a gap between the.218 Bee and the.30-06, and the only cartridge that even came close to matching the.257 Roberts was the, When the.243 Winchester made its debut, comparisons between the 6mm upstart and the mild-mannered,257 Roberts were made ad nauseam. nterestingly, no one complained that the.243 Winchester was chambered in short-action rifles as well. By the time the 6mm Remington, aka.244 Remington, which was also limited to an overall loaded length of inches for Handloader 149

4 ~ shorter actions, entered the debate, the.257 Roberts was just about written to death, apologetically, of course. Now that Remington has introduced the.257 Roberts in the short-action Model 700 Mountain Rifle, the short versus long-action debate is bound to resurface. Never mind that modern.257 Roberts +P factory loads easily match their 6mm counterparts, or that +P handloads can push a 100-grain spitzer to 3,110 fps from a 24-inch barrel, or that modern bullet designs make the quarter bore the equal of any 6mm in the field, or that newer canister powders offer respectable versatility with.257-inch bullets which weigh 60 to 125 grains at velocities ranging from 3,700 to 2,700 fps, respectively. Alas, the.257 Roberts will be politely praised despite the fact that it is underloaded and restrained by short actions, slamming the lid on the coffin once again Phooey, those old backhanded compliments were warranted 25 years ago when oldcr 93 Mausers may have been the underlying reason for holding the,257 Roberts to 43,000 CUP, but modern +P loads push 54,000 CUP and the magic 3,000 fps barrier is easily within reach of a 22-inch sporter barrel. No, Remington didn't pay me to write this. As a matter of fact, on the way home from the seminar, was seriously thinking about having a long-action,257 Roberts made up. Then it occurred to me that if really wanted a highstepping long-action.25, it would be a lot easier and cheaper to lay my hands on a Remington. did, however, order a.257 Roberts Mountain Rifle. They should be available by the time this issue reaches your mailbox. *** n working up varmint loads this spring, a couple of points warrant attention. According to tests conducted by Sierra, a one degree increase in temperature generally produces a two fps increase in rifle velocity. For example, if a particular load produces 3,000 fps at 55 degrees Fahrenheit, that same load will be pushing 3,090 fps at 100 degrees. f the sun is allowed to bake the cases prior to shooting, ammunition temperatures may rise to 120 degrees or more. Here in northern Arizona, at about 5,200 feet elevation, daily highs hover below 50 degrees until the end of March. Varmint loads that generate 3,400 fps in my Remington Model Remington Varmint rifle will be January-February 1991 pushing 3,500 fps in June and July. That is about a 3.4 percent velocity increase. Unfortunately, when velocities increase by x percent, pressures increase by about twice that amount, or 2x. f my loads are working at 50,000 CUP in cooler weather, they will be operating at 53,400 CUP next summer. That may not be enough pressure to pop a primer, but if those loads were operating at pressures in December, there is a good chance they would be cratering primers and causing sticky primers six months from now. f those same loads are allowed to NE - GLEN SlNCLAlR Five shots in,208" with a cast lead bullet. A new Cast Bullet Association National record and the smallest 5 shot group ever fired in a C.B.A. registered match at 100 yards. NE1 is proud to be involved in Glen's winning bullet design.nel is pleased to announce that Glen's 192 grain,308 Gas Check style bullet mold is available as a single sprue plate nose pour mold at our standard price. BULLET lay in the sun while 'm sniping at prairie dogs, all sorts of excessive pressure signs could show up. This phenomenon may also explain why some loads may shoot exceptionally well in the spring, yet by midsummer ambient temperatures may cause velocity and pressure to increase while accuracy goes sour. *** Contest Winners The following winners were selected ' (Continued on page 51) GC GC GC Glen Sinclair GC NE1 bullet molds offer an affordable alternative to high priced jacketed bullets. The above featured bullet designs are just a small sample of the more than 500 designs currently available GC NWTOOCDY NE 9330 N.E. Halsey Portland, OR USA (503) NE1 bullet molds are offered in 1 to 6 cavities, in aluminum, brass, or iron. Certain bullet designs are also offered in Soft Lead Point, Hollow Point, and Nose Pour. Satisfaction Guaranteed - Send $2.00 for product information 5

5 0 Please accept my payment for the first bool, Mouser Rifles & plsrols by Walter Smith $ Please set up my account for the Revolving Charge Plan to reserve this volume and all future releases c] Please charge my credit card for this book only 0 prefer to pay cash Enclosed S my check for $

6 Ken mounted a Weaver K-3-1 scope on the USRA 94-AE 45 Colt Trapper in Weaver bases and rings. one reader, such loads would be extremely dangerous in a new rifle of inferior design strength, and the danger is equally ominous for those who also own a.45 Colt revolver, where ammo developed for one could become mixed with that for the other. Although the Trapper benefits from its 16-inch barrel, that is only one reason for its ballistic advantage. the higher velocities this round has given us in the Trapper carbine, probably the strongest firearm currently chambered for the.45 Colt. That have found it possible to achieve velocities of up to 1,450,1,500 and 1,600 fps with 240,225 and 200- grain bullets, respectively, in the Trapper illustrates this quite clearly. Such ballistics constitute a gain of some 300 to 400 fps (or around 30 percent), depending upon barrel length, over the strongest modern.45 Colt revolvers. Federal factory loads with 225-grain SWC hollowpoints clocked an average 1,150 fps from the muzzle of the Trapper test carbine. Not having seen one previously, the sample Trapper received on loan has far exceeded my expectations. The genuine walnut stock is above average for a standard hunting rifle, with a pleasing amount of grain and well Ken Waters VENTURE TO say that many of us have been surprised at the extent of reader interest in obtaining handload data for the USRA Winchester Model 94 Trapper.45 Colt carbine. Apparently there are plenty of hunters out there who prowl the thickets and woods after deer and wild boar, who don t feel any need for a longrange, high-velocity rifle, and there s something to be said for that. wonder, however, whether the typical buyer of one of these little carbines chose it because he admired its light weight and compactness, believing that with judicious handloads the.45 Colt would be adequate to meet his short range hunting needs? Or was it with the intent of having a companion carbine in the same caliber as his.45 Colt revolver? f the latter, then had better make it crystal clear at the outset of this piece that the loading data set forth in this article was developed in a Model 94 Trapper carbine and is intended for use solely in rifles of that make and model - NOT for revolvers, nor old or replica rifles! As recently cautioned Colt When this cartridge is chambered in a Model 94 Winchester, even a short barreled carbine, two additional factors come into play. First, regardless of barrel length, we have a closed breech. That is, there is no pressure loss, as occurs with the cylinder-to-barrel gap of a revolver, resulting in a decided gain in efficiency. Then there is a considerable advantage in physical strength conferred by both the breech bolt lock-up supporting the cartridge, and the fact that the cartridge is chambered in the barrel. When fired, the cartridge is surrounded by heavier steel of the barrel tenon, as well as the receiver ring. Together, these factors allow the.45 Colt to be loaded to substantially higher chamber pressures. Of course, it is these greater pressures, apart from barrel length (although that too is a contributing factor), which account for finished. Barrel and receiver are nicely polished and deep-blued. The action was smooth right out of the box, which is not exactly typical of many new lever-action rifles. Especially pleasing to me is the test rifle s bore. t is mirrorsmooth, likely accounting for the fact that it doesn t lead-up when firing cast bullets of reasonable hardness. Rifling consists of six lands and grooves with a twist of one-in-38 inches. Slugging the bore shows it to have a groove diameter of.451 inch. Measuring just 34 inches overall, the.45 Colt Trapper weighs 6 pounds, 2 ounces with issue sights; 7 pounds, 2 ounce with the Weaver K-3-1 scope installed. This should be short enough and light enough to satisfy those hunters who dote on short barrels and featherweight rifles. n fact, like everything about this Handloader 149

7 A lineup of bullets featured in.45 Colt Trapper loads includes the (0 200-grain Speer JHP, (2) 225-grain Speer MHP, (3) 240-grain Sierra JHC, (4) 250-grain Hornady JHP, (5) 260-grain Speer JHP and (6) 255-grain Carroll SWC Keith-type cast bullet. Trapper diminutive carbine with the single exception of the front sight, which is a plain blued steel blade which doesn t show up well in dark woodland cover. A Lyman blade with ivory bead, or a gold Patridge insert would be a real improvement for relatively little additional cost. Of course, if the shooter installs a scope, the iron sights will only be used in an emergency. That about covers this fine little carbine. There is so much to tell about handloading the.45 Colt as a rifle cartridge that without further ado, propose to go into considerable detail concerning components, as they have such significant effects on performance. f there is another popular American handgun cartridge the cases for which prompts more discussion than does the.45 Colt, don t know what it is. To begin, let s consider their strength. Loading manuals have traditionally January-February 1991 pointed out that.45 Colt cases are not as strong as.44 Magnum cases, but an article written by a highly respected handloader some years ago claimed that was wrong, basing his conclusion on a comparison of sectioned.45 Colt and.44 Magnum cases, showing them to be of similar construction. There s no doubt that modern solidbase.45 Colt brass is far stronger than the old balloonhead cases, but m afraid he overlooked an important point of which was not aware until it showed up in this trial series. Following some three firings with heavy loads, many cases resisted entry into either the RCBS-20 or Lyman X-11 shellholders and was forced to switch to an RCBS-26. At first suspected that the solid bases of these cases (which must enter a shellholder but can t be reached by the sizing die), had expanded, but the micrometer readings showed they hadn t. That wasn t the problem, nor had case rims expanded. Next, using the knife-edge of a dial caliper, checked the depth of extractor grooves in front of the rims. They measured the same as those of oncefired cases. Then noticed that the extractor grooves appeared to be closing up; that is, they looked narrower so as to leave insufficient room for the beveled gripping edges of shellholder heads to enter. Were those extractor grooves closing up under the higher pressures of heavy loads? n an effort to determine whether this was indeed the problem, took a Winchester case which adamantly refused to enter either the RCBS or Lyman shellholders, and rolling it slowly on the bench top, lightly not deepened) the extractor groove, using a three-cornered file, constantly turning the case as stroked it with the file. t worked! With the groove widened only slightly, that case thereafter readily entered the shellholder. That revelation was followed by another of equal significance. The extractor grooves of Federal cases were found to be perceptibly wider before fir- 25

8 A Federal factory load with a 225-grain lead hollowpoint (left) is shown next to an unfired case (center) and J handload with the 255-grain Carroll, SWC (right). Note the cannelures on the unfired cases are ironed out after repeated firings with handloads. ing and appear to stay that way, avoiding the trouble experienced with the Winchester brass. Remington cases were used only with the lighter loaded cast bullets so a fair comparison couldn t be made. However, this further reinforces my contention that.45 Colt cases are not as strong as.44 Magnum brass. They were not designed to function at magnum pressure levels. This is not to say they aren t capable of providing materially higher velocities than factory loads when supported by the barrel and strong breech action of the Trapper. t is to say, however, that handloaders shouldn t attempt to match the.44 Magnum, the.45 Colt case, rather than the rifle, being the limiting factor. The new Sierra manual, for example, using Model 94 Trappers as test rifles in both calibers, shows the.44 Magnum to be capable of handling top loads that are 200 fps faster than those listed as for the.45 Colt. That s not scare talk; it s hard fact! All this points to the need for a close examination of.45 Colt brass. As the manuals warn, only solid-head cases should be used. Of these, had brass from the three major makers. Average weight (empty) turned out to be: Remington grains; Winchester grains; and Federal grains. Not surprisingly, Federal cases showed the least expansion (.0017 inch less than 26 Winchester) with equal loads, but used W-W for most of the load trials, partly because they represented the middle weight, and also because had more of them. Especially aggravating was the discovery that these W-W cases, though full-length-sized in the same die, showed varying degrees of neck tension. Unnoticed until it came time to seat bullets, this variation was not only mechanically distracting, but was a suspect culprit for the occasional load that chronographed 100 fps slower than the norm, particularly with loads of slower burning powders. Whether this was due to differences in case neck thickness or brass elasticity, didn t determine. My guess is the latter. n any event, this complicates case mouth expansion. f cases are run into the expander die even slightly too far (though nowhere near the limit), they come out too large to hold jacketed bullets friction tight. n fact, only the shortest entry onto the expander plug is necessary, and then it is difficult to hand-start jacketed bullets into cases. Part (but not all) of this trouble can be properly attributed to the jacketed bullets themselves, which vary from.450 to.4515 inch depending upon their make. This is why the manuals advise that loading dies of recent manufacture intended to size.45 Colt cases down to firmly hold.451-inch bullets be used, rather than older dies meant for.454-inch bullets. % increase case neck tension, ran cases half their length into an RCBS Carbide.45 ACP sizing die. Speer s new Manual No. 11 suggests that the expander plug should not be larger than.450 inch; Sierra s manual specifies no larger than.4505 inch. My expander tapers from.451 to.452 inch, which indicates why it can t be run all the way into cases, but doesn t account for the differences in cases themselves, nor would it compensate for them. As will be noted from the table, used Remington (R-P) cases for cast bullet loads and encountered no variation in case neck tension. Here s another potential problem for.45 Colt handloaders. The primer you use will almost certainly affect powder combustion, and therefore velocity as well as accuracy, depending on the powder selected. started trials with Winchester-Western Large Pistol WLP (Regular) primers, intending to use them throughout. Although they worked fine with fast and medium-burning powders such as Unique, 800-X, AAC-5, Blue Dot and AAC-7, soon found them to be borderline with 2400, and quite incapable of properly and consistently igniting slow-burning propellants including AAC-9, H-110, W-296 and either H-4227 or MR With those powders, excessive muzzle flash and blast indicated poor, uneven burning, instantly confirmed by erratic chronograph readings. didn t have any Winchester Magnum Large Pistol primers, and those CC 350 Magnum Pistol primers had in my primer cabinet had been there for quite a few years. thought about trying rifle primers, but abandoned the idea. Both Hodgdon and Speer manuals caution against the use of rifle primers in pistol cases, and with good reason. Not only do rifle primers have thicker cup metal; Large Rifle primers also have a greater height than Large Pistol primers, a.013 inch difference in Winchester- Western brand accordingto my micrometer. Thus, although the Trapper should have no problem in firing a rifle (Continued on page 41) Handloader 149

9 Loads for the -45 Colt in a Winchester Trapper 225 Speer MHP 800-X 800-X Blue Dot AAC AAC-9 W-296 W-296 W-296 Blue Dot ,605 AAC ,525 AAC , ,401 F , , , , , , , , , ,518 w-w WLP FC F 155 FC w-w w-w FC FC overall case cartridge length expansion remarks tinches) 1.56 third best accuracy; highest muzzle velocity second highest velocity fourth best accuracy near rnax near rnax second best accuracy highest velocity w/225 grains very accurate accurate 240 Sierra JHC 800-X 800-X Blue Dot AAC-7 AAC AAC-9 H-110 W , , , , ,360 F , , , most accurate load highest velocity w/240 grains very accurate sixth best accuracy 250 Hornady JHP 800-X ,396 W;W WLP 1.60 AAC ,359 AAC , ,301 FC F ,376 FC AAC ,443 W-W 1 H ,374 W-W W ,401 FC accurate fifth best accuracy; highest muzzle velocity ~1250 grains near rnax accurate cast bullet loads 255 Carroll SWC Unique Herco 800-X 800-X ,357 AAC , ,308 AAC ,402 H ,333 W ,378 AAC-5 Blue Dot AAC MR , , , , , , ,245 factory loads 225 Federal SWC-HP 1,150 FC F F 155 near rnax highest velocity ~1260 grains accurate second best cast bullet accuracy most accurate cast bullet load Test Gun: USRA Winchester Model 94-AE Trapper Carbine with 16-inch barrel; Weaver K-3-1 scope. Five-shot groups fired from sandbag rest at 75-yard range. Chronographed with Chrony F-1 and Oehler chronographs for dual readouts. Be alert - Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. January-February

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