March-April, 1968 Vol. 3-No. 2 Rt. 4-Box 3482, Peoria, Ill

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2 The Handloader Magazine Dave Wolfe Editor and Publisher Maj. Goorge C. Nonte Jr. Supervising Editor Roger T. Wolfe. Ph.D. Associate Editor Edward M. Yard Technical Editor Homer Powley Ballistics Adviser John T. Amber Editorial Adviser EDITOR OF GUN DIGEST & HANDLOADING DIGEST James D. Carmichel Cast Bullets Parker 0. Ackley Wildcats 6. Gunsmithing GUNSMITH COLUMNIST GUNS & AMMO MAGAZINE John Wootters Shotshells ASSOCIATE EDITOR GUN WEEK Les Bowman Rifle Loads Harvey A. Donaldson Historical Adviser Ken Waters "Pet Loads" ASSOCIATE EDITOR GUN DIGEST Ted Smith Bullet Swaging Bob Hagel Hunting Adviser A. Robert Matt On Gun Laws EXECUTIVE SECRETARY NATL. RELOADING MFG. ASSN. John Buhmiller African Cartridges Bob Wallack Field Editor Barbara Killough Advertising Director Tina Taylor Circulation Manager Otto Schofield Production Manager Walter Schwarz Photo 6 Art Director March-April, 1968 Vol. 3-No. 2 Rt. 4-Box 3482, Peoria, Ill Features: Weatherby's New 240 Magnum... Maj. George Nonte Cartridge of Month-.220 Swift... Staff Pressure Excursions Explained... Prof. Lloyd E. Brownell Loading the.35 Whelen... Steve Miller Ultralight Loads for 12 Gauge... John Wootters My 20 Caliber Wildcats... Edward M. Yard Manuals Ain't Gospel... Capt. B. Frits Pet Loads-.35 Remington... Ken Waters Company Profiles-Speer, Inc... bob Hagel Loading Berdan Casest.....Maj. George Nonte Homemade Powder Measure... Richard V. Underwood 7mm's-Past & Present (Part 11)... Bob Hagel Departments: Editorial Book Reviews Lock, Stock & Barrel... 7 Answers, Please LAW-MATTers... 9 ProducTests Reader By-Lines Harvey Donaldson SHOOT1 NG i SPORTS I The HANDLOADER, Copyright 1968, is published bimonthly by the Dave Wolfe Publishing Company, Rt. 4-Box 3482 (1406 Hendryx Place), Peoria, Illinois Telephone (309) Second Class Postage paid at Peoria, Illinois, and additional mailing offices. Single copy price of current issue-75c (back issues priced at $1.00 from publisher). Subscription price: six issues $4.00: 12 issues $7.00; 18 issues $9.50. (Outside U.S. possessions and Canada $5.00, $9.00 and $12.50). Recommended foreign single copy price, $I.@). Advertising rates furnished on request. Publisher of The HANDLOADER ii not responsible for mishaps of any nature which might occur from use of published loading data, or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written permissiop from the editor. Manuscripts from free-lance writers must be accompanied by stamped self-addressed, envelope and the publisher 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. +Box 3482 (I406 Hendryx Place), Peoria, Illinois Your March-April Cover Here is Roy Weatherby's latest rifle and cartridge-the,240 Magnum. Staff reports at The HANDLOADER Magazine indicate the entirely new case is a "natural" for reloaders, and shows high versatility of load combinations. (See story by Mai. George Nonte in this issue.) Due to increasing popularity of the 6mm bullet, and the fact that this particular cartridge will be adequate for most North American big game, your Staff predicts an immediate success for Roy. Another "smashing" cover transparency by Photo & Art Director, Walter Schwarz. 6 Handloader-Mmch-April. 1968

3 Roy Weatherby s New MAXIMUM CARTRIDGE t-t ^r By Moj. George Nonte REF. I T ISN T TOO OFTEN that we re introduced to an entirely new case when :I new cartridge comes along. It does happen occasionally, as with the,224 Weatherby,.222 Remington, and.284 Winchester - but more often than not, new cartridges are simply based on a shortened or lengthened and otherwise reshaped version of something already in existence, As examples of this practice (and we don t mean to imply there s anything bad about it), we have the 6mm Rem. based on the old.257 Roberts necked down;.243 Winchester, ditto on.308 case; 6.5mm and,350 Rem. Mags. from the 7mm Rem..Mag; and, of course, the Winchester belted magnum series based on the old.300/.375 H&H case. There are good reasons for doing things this way -namely cost and convenience. Tooling up to produce a case that is new in all its dimensions is tremendously expensive - much more so than to change length, shoulder angle and head markings on yomething already being turned out. In spite of all this, we like to see new cases. Perhaps it s because they make life more interesting and present new handloading challenges. And so it was when we saw the first samples of the new.240 Weatherby Magnum cartridge almost a couple of toolroom production of special cases. years ago. We liked it all the more Using the British belted.240 Apex cartbecause it wasn t merely a rehash of ridge as a guide, which has essentially an existing basic case. It was belted, of the same head diameter as the.30-06, classic Weatherby shape and style, but belts were swaged on new arsenal 06 with head and belt diameter midway cases. More correctly, the portion of the between the existing Holland Pi Holland case ahead of where the belt was dcsize and the much smaller,224 Weath- sired was swaged down, leaving the orerby of a few years back. iginal 06 head to form the belt. Necked to 6mm caliber, these cases became the MY Personal interest was even more basis for the first rounds of.240 Weathintense since I had been contacted ear& erby Magnum to be loaded. er by Weatherby s and asked if I could, by means of the methods outlined in my Eventually, well over a year ago, we book on case forming, turn out a acquired a sample of the.240 cartridge small lot of belted cases in which the in its final form, along with a halffirst.240 test rounds could be loaded - dozen fired cases - hardly enough to without the cost and delay involved in accomplish anything, especially since.240 Weatherby Loading Data (Recommended by Weatherby) Bullet Wt. Powder wt. Velocity Pressure - 90 N ,444 53, N ,346 53,140 Nosler 85 N ,480 53,480 Nosler 100 N ,345 53,540 Hornady 70 N ,790 53,830 Note that all the above pressures run well over 50,000 psi average, indicating individual rounds may run as high as 60,000 psi, or greater. Approach all loads from 10 per cent below the charges stated above. 14 Hrmdloader-Murch-April, 1968

there were no.240 rifles to be had. All the same, we wanted to find out what the cartridge would do. A sample round was shipped off to Clymer Grinding Co.

4 there were no.240 rifles to be had. All the same, we wanted to find out what the cartridge would do. A sample round was shipped off to Clymer Grinding Co. (14241 West 11 Mile Road, Oak Park, Michigan) with a request that the sawy lads there grind us a chambering reamer - which they did with alacrity. Reamer and two M actions (with Timney triggers installed and bolt handles altered by Badger Shooters Supply) were dispatched to Frost Arms Service (then Engle & Frost) for fitting and chambering of medium weight 24-inch barrels with 1-10 twist. The barrels were rifled and contoured by Small Arms Manufacturers, Inc., Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. This outfit, by the way, supplies barrels of all sorts to the arms industry - turning out more in a year than any other U.S. barrel-making firm. In due time we received the custom.240 Weatherby Magnums back at the office. One was stocked by Fajen, and the other stuck in an altered Mauser military stock. While all this went on, Fred Huntington, out at the California headquarters of RCBS, Inc., made up case forming and reloading dies from sample.240 empties we d sent him. Other people had had the headaches up to this point, but then we had to go to work. It took a weekend of prime Handloader-March-April, 1968 drinking time to make a hundred.240 cases from new, unprimed Federal.270 cases ( works just as well, but we had more.270 s). Three operations were required to belt the cases, then five more to bring them close enough to final dimensions for loading and fireforming. Finally, after firing, cleaning and resizing, they were ready to be called.240 Weatherby. Our forming loads were simply heavy 6mm Remington loads with 100-grain bullets, That all the people involved in making up guns and dies had done a careful job was evident, for the formed cases chambered with just a wee bit of pressure on the bolt handle. There were, incidentally, no failures in fire-forming the 100 cases. Only the 1909 in the military stock was used for the shooting tests. Our formed cases had slightly less powder capacity than the sample factory brass (produced by RWS in West Germany). While the factory case ha5 a thicker head,,270 and 06 bras5 has thicker walls, resulting in an overall reduction in capacity. The reformed cases weighed 190 grains, as oppoced to 176 grains for the Weatherby tactory brass. Initial shooting with one test rifle was with the fire-forming load of Sierra 100- grain spitzer bullets and 40.0 grains of When factory rifle arrived, author braved snowdrifts to test fire it. The 240 Weatherby flanked on the left by the.30-06, and by the ancient,240 Apex to which it bears a close resemblance. 15

5 The two test rifles above were made up for The HANDLOADER long before cartridge specifications or factory guns were available. Redfield 4X-12X big game/varmint scopes and mounts did yeoman service in staff tests. IMR 4350 powder-which is a top 6mm Remington load. No check was made of velocity, but this load deliver-., ed 1% to l%-inch five-shot groups at 100 yard$. Not bad for a scratch case-forming load, though well below the capabilities of the cartridge. Since this is a hot magnum cartridge in typical Weatherby style, it requires slow-burning powders for best performance. We d heard that factory loads were being assembled with Norma 205, so this seemed the logical powder choice. Filled to the mouth, factory cases held 62 grains of this propellant, while our formed cases (after fire-forming and full-length resizing,) held 59.5 grains. Based on this evidence, we considered about 46 grains of N205 a good place to start with 100-grain bullets and formed cases. This load appeared mild and did nothing at the target to distinguish itself. Progressing upward with Sierra 100-grain spitzers, we got to 52 grains without signs of excessive pressure. Extraction was easy, primers were only slightly flattened, and there was no measurable case head expansion. This load produced 3,250 fps, with five-shot groups running slightly under 1% inches. Substituting the Nosler 100-grain 6mm bullet produced essentially the same results, still without any indication of excess pressures. Factory cases, obtained later, took a full two grains more powder without excessive pressure signs and produced slightly more velocity, though not enough more to brag about. Since the 100-grain 6mm bullet isn t generally considered in the varmint class, we dropped down to the 70- grain Hornady, one of the lightest available in this caliber. Again in formed cases, N205 was used, progressing upward from 50 grains. At 57.5 grains, sticky extraction was encountered, so we backed down to 56 grains, which produced 1% to 1 /2-inch groups without any indication of undesirable high pressure. At this level, velocity was just a shade under 3,700 fps- (Continued on Page 52) Reading left to right:.270 case: first belting operation; second belting and first form operation; second form and trim; neck ream; full length size; loaded for fire-forming; fire-formed; Weatherby Factory.240 Magnum. 240 Weatherby Magnum Factory Ammo Data Velocity Energy Mid-Range Trajectory Bullets fps Foot Pounds In Inches Wt. Type Muzzle yds. yds. yds. Muzzle yds. yds. yds. yds. yds. yds. 70 Pt. SP Pt. SP Pt. SP Handloader-March-April. 1968

3uu! Zeuiecud History of Modem US. Military Small Arms Ammunition by F. W. Hackley, W. H. Woodin and E. L. Scranton, published by the MacMillan Co., $25.00.

6 3uu! Zeuiecud History of Modem US. Military Small Arms Ammunition by F. W. Hackley, W. H. Woodin and E. L. Scranton, published by the MacMillan Co., $ We have available today a plethora of books devoted to the subject of military small arms. Unfortunately, most of those books give only the most cursory treatment to the ammunition without which those arms would be, at best, very poor clubs. So, it was with considerable anticipation that we waited to receive a copy of History of Modern U.S. Military Small Arms Ammunition. We were aware that this book had been in preparation for many years, and that the information it would contain was being drawn from the extensive collection and massive records gathered by William H. Woodin of Tucson. This book is not intended for casual reading. It is a serious work for the ammunition student and collector. You don t find any risque stories or information on how to con an elderly widow out of rare specimens. However, you will find extensive information and data on U.S. Military small arms ammunition of the period , below 37mm caliber. Part I refers only to pistol and revolver ammunition, to include adaptions thereof intended for submachine guns and special purposes. Information presented on individual calibers and models include headstamps, quantities manufactured, bullet and case types, box labels, and a great deal more. 11- lustrating these various characteristics of individual rounds are extensive drawings and tables of dimensions. Material is not restricted purely to ball ammunition, but includes various special purpose types such as shot and blank cartridges. Also, various experimental components which never saw field service are described in considerable detail. Part I1 is the most extensive in the book, comprising nine chapters devoted to rifle and machine gun ammunition. This section begins with the various forms of the.236 (6mm) U.S. Navy cartridge, and finishes with SO Browning machine gun ammunition. A vast amount of hitherto-unpublished data on experimental bullets, cases and loadings is included. Part I11 is devoted to Miscellaneous 56 All Round Gun? I ve had my Model 700 Rem. 7mm Mag. throated out and I am now able to seat my 175-grain Noslers with bullet base flush with bottom of case neck, as you advocated. I am now loading 67 grains of No and 175-grain Nosler. Would it be wise and feasible to increase the powder charge, as I now have considerable air space in the case and I am sure I could increase another two grains, coming right up to the 7mm Mashburn ballistics. Also, what do you think of the 700 Rem. in 7mm Mag. as an all around Ammunition of Conventional Calibers. This section deals not only with ammunition per se, but with items such as the caliber.22 Hoffer cartridge holder which was used to fire.22 rimfire cartridges in the 1903 gallery rifle. Other items covered are the military loading of the.25 Remington cartridge, which was used in tests to determine the suitability of semi-automatic rifles for military use, and also in various bullet effectiveness tests. Also of interest are the various foreign military calibers (7.62mm Russian, 7.9mm Mauser, etc.) which were loaded specifically for U.S. Government use, either for testing foreign arms or for use in foreign arms pressed into domestic service during emergencies. The last part of the book is devoted to experimental and unidentified ammunition, beginning with the caliber.22 experimental M1895-which appears to be the Krag case lengthened to 234 and necked down to.22 cal. Various U.S. experimental rifle and machine gun cartridges in calibers.25,.276,.28, etc. are covered in detail and illustrated with fine line drawings, accompanied by tables of dimensions. Even the Gerlich-type squeeze-bore bullet models are discussed in detail. A fairly extensive list of appendices contains information invaluable to the collector of military cartridges. In this reviewer s opinion, no serious student of either arms or ammunition can afford to be without this, the first truly useful and accurate reference work on U.S. military ammunition. Maj. George C. Nonte, Jr. U gun? I also use the old Model Magnum, which I like very much. I killed an 8-foot Kodiak Bear at 275 yards, one shot with 300-gr. factory Silvertip this last spring. I was going to sell the.375 and use nothing but the 7mm, but somehow I just can t seem to get rid of the old.375. Intend in the next year or so to hunt the Yukon, probably in the MacKenzie mountains and figured the 7mm should be the ticket for this. I have Weaver top mounts and Leupold 2x7 power scope which I like very much. Am also using CCI primers with this gr.- No load. Pressure seems mild. Do you think or would you yourself increase powder charge? This load is very accurate. One more thing, how do you suggest sighting at 100 yards? Three inches high? You have done a lot of long range shooting at big game, so I will sight in as you suggest. B. M., Taylor, Mich. It is impossible to say just what the maximum load would be in your rifle with the 175-grain Nosler bullet. Some barrels will take a grain or two more powder than another exactly like it, yet give the same pressures. However, I believe that you can use grains of Would suggest that you go up /2 grain at~a time and check for pressure signs until the maximum load is reached. If you have a micrometer caliper you can check the diameter of the belt after each firing (also check the same case prior to firing to get the average diameter). When the average reading shows any read- able head expansion-say,.0002-,0003, drop the charge at least one grain. Such a load normally gives good accuracy, but you can drop back I grain at a time until you find the right load for your particular rifle. These loads should NOT be worked up in cold weather and then fired in hot weather, as pressures may be increased somewhat. I recently had a M/700 7mm Remington Magnum that would take only 66 grains of 4831 behind the 160-grain Nosler and that load chronographed 3,003 fps from the 24 barrel. After throating it to take the same bullet with.base seated flush with base of neck, it would handle 70 grains of 4831 and clocked i n at 3,129 with no head expansion. I believe that you may do better by using H-870 with the 175-grain bullet. The new Handloader-March-April, 1968

7 ~ Back ~ Binderb) WP-- No. I.3&W Loads.4S ACP Varmint Shotshells Know Your Powder OKH Cartridges.37S HIH Magnum for you (or your friends)! Our black, grained-vinyl binder keeps 12 hues (2 years) of The HANDLOADER at your fingertips. And you'll agree this top-quality cover is a handsome addition to your bookshelf. Order one or more today at only $4.50 each postpaid. Have you missed an issue of The HANDLOADER? Complete your set now. Back issues cue available in limited quantities at $1.00 each from your local dealer or the publisher. Or take advantage of our Special Offer-our quality binder plus your choice of any nine back issues for just $ Complete your set of The HANDLOADER for your reloading library-and save S1.W on the single copy price. Whether you're a beginner or an "old pro"-there's something for everyone in each issue of The HANDLOADER. It's a big package packed with valuable information at a low price1 Subscribe now and increase your enjoyment of the reloading hobby. I I No. 8 New Wanda Shotshells.NO H6H Pet Loads Do's L Don'ts Reloading Principles Clay Bird Loddinq 222 Remington Bullet Friction Study No. 1, May-June NO. 2, JUly-AUgUSt No. 3, Sew-Oct No. 4, Nov.-Dec CITY STATE ~ No. 5, Jan.-Feb New Subscription - Renewal- No. 6, March-April year $ years $ years $9.50- No. 7, May-June 1%7 - Special Offer: 1 Binder and choice of 9 Back Issues for NO. 8, JUly-AUgUSt $ (Magazines shipped separately.) at $4.50 each. (Illinois residents add 5%) No. 9, Sew.-Oct Issues at $1.00 each. Check issues wanted No. 10, Nov.-Dee

In the 1940s, Roy Weatherby began WEATHERBY MAGNUM

6.5-300 WEATHERBY MAGNUM Brian Pearce In the 1940s, Roy Weatherby began developing a series of hunting cartridges that would become the famous Weatherby magnums. Perhaps the most popular and best known