.25-35 Loads for the Classic M94 Ammunition Reloading Journal.357/44 BAIN & DAVIS in the T/C.300 Magnum Cast Bullets Rifle Primer Variations TESTED: IMR-4166 Rifle Powder June 2015 No. 296 Rifle Magazine Presents - HANDLOADER $5.99 06 7 25274 01240.357 Magnum Handloads 4 $5.99 U.S./Canada Display until 7/11/15 Colt Python Printed in USA Encore
On the cover... A Thompson/Center Encore with a custom shop grooved pistol grip and 15-inch.357/44 Bain & Davis barrel and muzzle brake. Photo by Stan Trzoniec. Volume 50, Number 3 ISSN 0017-7393 6 28 Years with 10 14 Handloader Reloader s Press - Dave Scovill.444 Marlin Bullets & Brass - Brian Pearce.44 S&W American Cartridge Board - Gil Sengel 16 IMR-4166 18 22 Propellant Profiles - R.H.VanDenburg, Jr. Colt Python.357 Magnum From the Hip - Brian Pearce Return of the Colt Pocket Pistol Mike s Shootin Shack - Mike Venturino 26 Chronographs Pistol Pointers - Charles E. Petty 28 34 40 48 54.357/44 Bain & Davis Loads for a T/C Encore Stan Trzoniec Cast Bullets in.300 Magnums Experiments with Short and Standard Cartridges John Haviland Loading the.257 Roberts A Fresh Look at an Old Cartridge R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. Rifle Primers Tackling a Variety of Inaccuracies and Myths John Barsness.25-35 Winchester Loads for a Classic Model 1894 Mike Venturino 60 Shotshells from Leftovers Loving the Unloved Terry Wieland 66 Ultimate Cartridge Check System Product Tests - John Haviland Issue No. 296 June 2015 Ammunition Reloading Journal Publisher/President Don Polacek Publishing Consultant Mark Harris Editor in Chief Dave Scovill Editor Lee J. Hoots Managing Editor Roberta Scovill Senior Art Director Gerald Hudson Production Director Becky Pinkley Contributing Editors John Haviland John Barsness 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: 1-800-899-7810 Circulation Circulation Manager Kendra Newell circ@riflemag.com Subscription Information: 1-800-899-7810 www.riflemagazine.com Handloader (ISSN 0017-7393) is published bimonthly by Polacek Publishing Corporation, dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek, Pres - ident), 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona 86301 (also publisher of Rifle magazine). Tele - phone: (928) 445-7810. 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, $39.00. Foreign and Canada single issue, $5.99; 6 issues $29.00; 12 issues, $51.00. 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 86301. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Handloader, 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona 86301. Canadian returns: PM #40612608. Pitney Bowes, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2. Wolfe Publishing Co. 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A Prescott, AZ 86301 Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124 Polacek Publishing Corporation 70 Welcome Addition from Woodleigh In Range - Terry Wieland 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. 4 Handloader 296 Background Photo: 2015 Vic Schendel
CARTRIDGE BOARD by Gil Sengel It is hard today to grasp the importance of the invention of the large-caliber, metallic-cartridge revolver. In military use, both infantry and cavalry could now reload while in action, thus allowing handguns greater offensive use. For ordinary citizens, it meant the first time in history folks who were not much interested in guns could load a handgun and be fairly certain it would fire when needed. Smith & Wesson began selling small.22-caliber rimfire (and later.32 rimfire) revolvers in 1857. S&W also owned U.S. Patent No. 12,648 issued to Rollin White on April 3, 1855. The patent covered a revolver cylinder bored through from end to end, obviously necessary to al - low loading and firing of rimfire cartridges. It would be in force until April 3, 1869. Anyone could freely make single-shot, rimfire pistols. For percussion revolver makers, it was a different story. The cartridge-firing revolver was like the end of the rainbow; it could be seen but not touched. If anyone tried, S&W sued and won. Therefore, it is simply unbelievable that S&W did not also market a large-bore revolver before the Rollin White patent expired. While 14 www.handloadermagazine.com.44 S&W AMERICAN C Cartridge Dimensions A - Overall Length -------------1.465 B - Case Length -----------------.880 D B A E C - Rim Diameter ----------------.500 D - Head Diameter --------------.440 E - Neck Diameter---------------.440 it appears that S&W was selling all the small-caliber revolvers it could make, the need for a larger caliber is so obvious it hurts. The company must have realized that every maker of percussion revolvers would begin selling cartridge guns as soon as legally possible. Nevertheless, S&W did nothing. In 1869, shortly before the White patent expired, Daniel B. Wesson purchased other patents. One was for a frame that latched at the top rear and pivoted open at a joint on the lower front. Another provided simultaneous ejection of all empty cases when the frame was pivoted open. These features and others were added to a design Wesson must have been working on, because the first revolvers were a reality by year s end. So what type of revolver had S&W created? Basically a fighting handgun. Called the S&W No. 3 (No. 3 referred to frame size.), it was designed to hold six,.44-caliber cartridges. Single action in operation with an 8-inch barrel standard, it provided accurate shooting and the fastest reloading of any revolver until the advent of modern speed loader gadgets. The revolver was apparently not intended for fast-draw or other fancy gun-play glorified in western legend. Weight, cost and availability prevented it from becoming as popular as some others, but one country s cavalry understood its superiority. This is covered in the column on the.44 Russian cartridge in Handloader No. 216. Interest here is in the second cartridge for which the S&W No. 3 was originally chambered. References are a bit confusing, but it seems that the U.S. War Department tested the No. 3 at the time of or just before its introduction in 1870. The S&W came in second to a.50-caliber single shot on a Remington rolling block action. Many reports of the event later opined that the result said more about the intelligence of the offi- Handloader 296
cers on the Ordnance Board than it did about the S&W revolver. At any rate, the Ordnance Board also reportedly suggested that S&W chamber its revolver for a centerfire cartridge and increase its caliber to the then-u.s. standard of.44. Such a request is a bit puzzling, because there were no centerfire U.S. handgun cartridges extant at the time. As for caliber, there were only four or five rimfire pistol cartridges, with the oldest being the.44 Henry. The others were smaller except for the.46 Short, which came along in 1868 to allow Remington to convert its stock of.44 percussion revolvers to fire cartridges. S&W licensed this activity. Given that the No. 3 revolver was designed for and chambered the.44 Henry rimfire, the Ordnance Board s second suggestion makes no sense. Winchester records in - dicate the Henry rifle had a.440- inch bore diameter and.447- to.448-inch groove diameter a true.44 caliber. What is true is that the army quickly purchased 1,000 S&W No. 3s with serial numbers beginning in the low 100s. The revolvers fired a new cartridge, the first centerfire U.S. pistol round, the.44 Smith & Wesson. There is some disagreement as to the origin of the.44 S&W, but reviewing cartridge dimensions of the.44 Henry, it becomes obvious it is nothing more than a centerfire.44 Henry. The case was brass and of folded head design. Very early rounds contained Berdan primers designed by an American, Col. Hiram Berdan about 1866. These primers are somewhat larger in diameter than the later Boxer caps invented by Col. Edward Boxer. The.44 S&W used the same heeled, outside case diameter, outside lubed, pointed bullet as the early.44 Henry rounds (similar to today s.22 rimfires). Slugs weighed from about 205 to 220 grains, depending upon manufacturer, again just like the.44 Henry. Propellant charges ran from 23 to 25 grains of black powder. The first.44 S&W loads were probably assembled by Union Metallic Cartridge Company. Winchester, U.S. Cartridge Co., Western and no doubt smaller makers produced the round also. Many of the small outfits and foreign makers did not headstamp cases. These cannot be identified unless the paper box survives. Although Winchester was making cartridges prior to 1875, it was its first catalog to list any. Here the cartridge is called the.44 S&W American. American was added to the name in 1871 to differentiate it from the similar.44 Russian round. The 1879 catalog showed a 205- grain, pure-lead bullet and 25 grains of black powder. Smokeless rounds first appeared in the 1911 catalog, still with a 205-grain slug. Shot cartridges and blanks were also available. The 1918 catalog listed the smokeless load giving 682 fps/212 foot-pounds (ft-lbs) at the muzzle of an 8-inch barrel. Some authors have indicated the blackpowder round added 100 fps to this velocity. Both black and smokeless were still available in 1935 but did not reappear after World War II. Even though the.44 S&W was listed in various No. 3 revolvers from 1870 to 1912, it didn t become popular. It never had a chance. In 1871 the.44 Russian cartridge was created for the No. 3 Russian revolver contract. Very fine accuracy was achieved, credited to the Russians reducing the.44 S&W s twodiameter bullet to one diameter (.428 inch/.42 caliber) with its driving portion fitting totally inside the brass case. Cartridge diameter was also increased slightly due to thicker case walls, and newer rounds were created for cartridgefiring revolvers that appeared immediately after the White patent expired. The.44 Colt and.44 Remington held more powder and launched heavier bullets than the.44 S&W. Even though they used the old two-diameter heeled bullet, their greater power sold lots of revolvers. It is possible to experience the.44 S&W today if one can borrow a 1917 Colt or S&W revolver. The old round is the same as the.45 ACP/.45 Auto Rim but with a.003- inch smaller diameter bullet, because these.45s aren t.45 caliber. Just duplicate bullet weight and velocity of the.44 S&W using smokeless powder or black. Then appreciate it for what it is the link between the old and the new that made every handgun previously produced instantly obsolete. June-July 2015 www.handloadermagazine.com 15
.357/44 BAIN & DAVIS Loads for a T/C Encore Stan Trzoniec At one time my interest in handloading turned to the.357 Herrett, as I liked the idea of sending a common 158- grain,.38-caliber bullet through the bore at around 2,000 fps. Thompson/ Center offered a custom shop barrel for this cartridge, and loads could be made from.30-30 Winchester brass. As I dug deeper, however, it seemed like an awful lot of work to reach the end result. The.357 Maximum was then considered, but I had sold my Ruger so continued to look, eventually settling on the.357/44 Bain & Davis. 28 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 296
Further research revealed that comparisons between the.357/44 B&D and the.357 Herrett are narrow. Using a 158-grain,.357-inch bullet in a 15-inch Thompson/Center barrel, velocities around 2,100 fps seemed reasonable with Winchester 296 powder. Using the same bullet, the.357 Herrett reached 2,000 fps with RL-7, depending on the gun and barrel. Developed around 1964 by gunsmith Keith Davis, the.357/44 has had a variety of names. Starting out as the.357/44 Dreadnaught, it went to the.44/357, then as the final version as we know it today, the.357/44 B&D with a more practical shoulder angle. Another variation, the.357/44 Bobcat, was a look-alike but used a neck sleeve adapter in conjunction with an abrupt and sharper shoulder, thus making it easier to use a.44 magnum cylinder on the revolver while only installing a new barrel. This helped prevent cartridge set-back in a revolver but at the extra cost of the polycarbonate sleeves that, for the most part, only last a few firings without splitting. When it came to chambering the.357/44 B&D, research revealed everything from Smith & Wesson Model 27s to Ruger Blackhawks to the single-shot Merrill Sportsman were tried, including taking a standard Ruger.357 Blackhawk and reaming out a spare 9mm cylinder as a go-between simply because of the thicker cylinder wall. Later, guns were custom built with specially designed, unfluted cylinders. Still, and according to reports, case extraction was a problem, depending upon the gun, and in the end, the Thompson/Center Contender or Encore was the only reasonable match for this cartridge. The longer barrel also enhanced its ballistics. Thompson/Center actually offered the Bain & Davis cartridge as a standard option from 1969 to 1978. Today barrels can be ordered from T/C s custom shop. For low mounting on a handgun, the Leupold scope has a compact 32mm objective lens. While the Contender was introduced in 1960, the Encore came almost four decades later. It has a larger frame and a modified trigger with a hammer block and is chambered for both standard and magnum cartridges, including a large array of wildcats from the company s custom shop. My Encore checks in at 5½ pounds with its 15-inch bull barrel and muzzle brake. The barrel diameter mikes at.850 inch, is highly polished, blued and finished off with a vented brake with 10 holes and a target The.357/44 B&D is surrounded with a barrel chamber wall that measures.280 inch thick. The extractor/ejector is automatic and works when the action is unlocked and opened. crown. The trigger breaks cleanly at 4 pounds. To help develop handloads, a new Leupold VX3 2.5-8x 32mm handgun scope was cinched down in Warne rings. With the combined weight of the gun and the muzzle brake, even full-power.357/44 B&D loads were a pleasure to shoot off the bench. Making.357/44 B&D cases was straightforward using new, unprimed Winchester.44 Magnum brass. They formed smoothly, and out of the initial batch of 100 that went through the forming die, only one was lost due to a split mouth. Cases are sized in a full-length RCBS.357/44 B&D die (part number 56426). They are from the RCBS Group N series, which uses the No. 18 shellholder. To this, you need to add the RCBS CFDS (case forming die set) 58276 that turns.44 Remington Magnum brass into the Bain & Davis. An extended shellholder The grip on this Encore features finger grooves for control and can be used by both right- and left-handed shooters. The underlever is large enough to be used with gloves on. June-July 2015 29
.357/44 BAIN & DAVIS (55005-18) provides the needed reach for the case to fully enter the forming trim die. With a capacity of 33 grains of water, using slower propellants like Alliant 2400, Accurate No. 9, Winchester 296, IMR-4227 and Accurate 1680 would fill the bill. Since I did not consider it for target practice, no light or midrange loads were developed. Barnes, Hornady, Remington, Sierra, Speer and Winchester bullets from 125 to 170 grains were considered. Using the extended shellholder, run all new cases into the forming or trim die. A little lube will make the operation effortless. None of the Winchester brass I used projected above the die, so no trimming was necessary; other brands may be different. Cases should never exceed 1.280 to 1.290 inches. Before removing any of the lubricant, run each case up and into the full-length sizing die. Granted, the trim die does form the basic.357/44 case, but the internal dimension of the mouth is.365 inch, too large to obtain a positive hold on bullets. The full-length die not only cleans up the shoulder but also reduces the mouth dimension The Encore is made to withstand the pressures of the larger cartridges. to.352 inch. Any standard neck expander will bell the case mouth just enough to seat bullets. Case cleaning is next, followed by priming with CCI 350 Large Pistol primers. After that, powder charging takes over, and for the record, even though there is no rotating cylinder on the Encore, I did make it a practice to moderately crimp every round to ensure consistent ignition. The Encore was set up on a benchrest for tests with three-shot groups fired at 50 yards with the scope set at 6x. Results were mixed as expected with this wide variety of powders and bullets. With the 125-grain bullets, the smallest group was.625 inch with the Hornady HP/XTP using 25.0 grains of Winchester 296 at 2,366 fps. While not the highest velocity reading of the grouping, anything with more zip opened the groups to 2.25 inches. The Barnes XPB hit 1.375 inches with Alliant 2400 using 22.0 grains for 2,226 fps. An interesting anomaly was the Sierra JHP with 19.0 grains of Accurate No. 7 for 2,122 fps, placing two shots in one hole, which may warrant more consideration next time out. Moving on, Winchester Silvertip hollowpoints with 20.0 grains of Accurate No. 9 spread out to two full inches with quite a bit of muzzle flash. On the other side of the coin, however, Accurate 1680 delivered one-inch groups while upping velocity just over 100 fps with groups half of what the previous sampling provided. Left, the Leupold scope in Warne rings is attached to a Picatinny mount. Below, Stan had a muzzle brake installed at the factory. 30 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 296
.357/44 BAIN & DAVIS From left, a.44 Magnum case, one formed in the trim die and a case after sizing but before crimping. Remington s 158-grain Semi-Jacketed Hollow Point shot best at.375 inch. With 23.0 grains of IMR- Stan used a common.38 Special die set to bell the case before inserting the bullet. 4227, velocity was only around 1,900 fps, which would work well for smaller game at moderate distances. With the Speer 158-grain hollowpoint, one-inch groups were right in there at 2,039 fps but with some signs of pressure noted around the primer area. Hornady 158-grain HP/XTP bullets and 24.0 grains of Winchester 296 topped an inch with a higher velocity of 2,138 fps. No bullet above 158 grains fared well; in fact, both samples gave 2.25-inch groups. With the Hornady The case at left was damaged by seating a bullet without prior use of an expanding die. The case at right has been belled slightly. JTC/SIL, velocity only reached around 1,950 fps, as did the Sierra FMJ with a paltry 1,855 fps. For those who might want a bet- 32 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 296
.357/44 Bain & Davis Handloads overall loaded bullet powder charge length velocity group (grains) (grains) (inches) (fps) (inches) 125 Barnes XPB 2400 22.0 1.610 2,226 1.375 125 Hornady HP/XTP W-296 25.0 1.600 2,366.625 (2) 125 Remington JHP IMR-4227 27.0 1.615 2,440 2.250 125 Sierra JHC A-7 19.0 2,122 1.250 IMR-4227 26.0 1.600 1,952 1.750 125 Speer JHP A-9 21.0 2,088 2.500 W-296 24.5 1,835 1.250 125 Winchester STHP A-1680 29.0 2,123 1.500 145 Winchester STHP A-9 20.0 1.605 1,958 2.000 A-1680 28.0 2,069 1.000 158 Hornady FP/XTP 2400 20.0 1.585 1,735 2.000 158 Hornady HP/XTP W-296 24.0 2,138 1.000 158 Remington JHP IMR-4227 23.0 1.620 1,902.375 (1) 158 Sierra JSP A-9 20.0 1.605 1,848 1.500 158 Speer HP A-1680 28.0 2,039 1.000 (3) W-296 24.0 1.600 1,915 1.500 160 Hornady JTC/SIL W-296 24.0 1,948 2.250 170 Sierra FMJ A-9 19.0 1,855 2.250 Notes: Winchester unprimed.44 Magnum brass and CCI 350 primers were used in all loads. The threeshot groups were fired at 50 yards over a rest. All velocities clocked with an Oehler Model 35P chronograph. Handgun was a T/C Encore with its custom shop 15-inch barrel and muzzle brake. (1) = best overall group (2) = second best group (3) = showed moderate signs of pressure around the primer Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. ter jumping off point, Winchester 296 powder gave the highest velocity average of 2,150 fps. Next was IMR-4227 with 2,098 fps, followed by Accurate 1680 at 2,077 fps. For best accuracy, the same powders stood out but in a slightly different order: Winchester 296 (0.95 inch), Accurate 1680 (1.16 inches) and IMR-4227 (1.45 inches). Is the.357/44 B&D a viable cartridge? Personal opinion dictates that to get the most out of the.357/44 B&D, a barrel length of around 15 inches is a good start. Research shows that using identical charge weights of IMR-4227 in a revolver with a 6½-inch barrel results in a net loss of around 300 to 400 fps. Above, the Hornady 125-grain hollowpoint grouped.625 inch at 50 yards. Right, Remington 158-grain semijacketed hollowpoints grouped.375 inch at 50 yards. June-July 2015
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