handloader 2014-06-07

$5.99 U.S./Canada

June 2014 No. 290Rifle Magazine Presents - HANDLOADER

Display until 7/12/14 Printed in USA7 25274 01240 4

0 6

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.45 ACP Ball Loads for Pistols and Submachine Guns

.32-20 WinchesterHandloads for Plinking and Hunting

Cooper Model 54.243 Winchester

New Bullets &Powders

How To: Beat theRimfireShortage

Break ina NewHandgun

AMMUNAMMUNITITIIONON REL RELOOAADDIING NG JOJOURURNNALAL

Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel

Page 30 . . .

4 Handloader 290

June 2014Volume 49, Number 3

ISSN 0017-7393 Issue No. 290

8 With Thanks to Lester (1920-2013) Reloaders Press - Dave Scovill

12 .38/44 High Velocity Bullets & Brass - Brian Pearce

16 Norma 200 Propellant Profiles - R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

18 How to Break in a New Gun Pistol Pointers - Charles E. Petty

34 Cooper Model 54 .243 Winchester Shooting Midweight Bullets and Modern Powders Charles E. Petty

38 New Powders for the .30-30 Winchester Testing New Loads for Velocity and Accuracy John Haviland

44 Duplicating .45 ACP Ball Loads Handloads for Handguns and Submachine Guns Mike Venturino

50 .32-20 Winchester Loads for Plinking and Hunting with Sixguns Brian Pearce

22 Dan Wesson Arms From the Hip - Brian Pearce

26 11.15x60R Mauser Cartridge Board - Gil Sengel

30 Gun-Writer Wisdom Mikes Shootin Shack - Mike Venturino

Page 22 . . .

Page 38 . . .

Page 44 . . .

Publisher of Handloader is not responsible formishaps of any nature that might occur from use ofpublished loading data or from recommendations byany member of The Staff. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced without written permission fromthe publisher. Publisher assumes all North AmericanRights upon acceptance and payment for all manu-scripts. Although all possible care is exercised, thepublisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mu-tilated manuscripts.

Issue No. 290 June 2014

AMMUNAMMUNITITIIONON REL RELOOAADDIING NG JOJOURURNNAL AL Publisher/President Don Polacek

Publishing Consultant Mark HarrisEditor in Chief Dave Scovill

Associate Editor Lee J. HootsManaging Editor Roberta Scovill

Senior Art Director Gerald HudsonProduction Director Becky Pinkley

Contributing EditorsJohn Haviland Ron SpomerBrian Pearce Stan TrzoniecCharles E. Petty R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.Clair Rees Mike VenturinoGil Sengel Ken Waters Terry Wieland

AdvertisingAdvertising Director - Tammy Rossi

[email protected] Representative - Tom Bowman

[email protected] Representative - James Dietsch

[email protected] Information: 1-800-899-7810

CirculationCirculation Manager Kendra Newell

[email protected] Information: 1-800-899-7810

www.riflemagazine.com

Handloader (ISSN 0017-7393) is published bi-monthly by Polacek Publishing Corporation, dbaWolfe Publishing Company (Don Polacek, Pres ident),2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona 86301 (alsopublisher 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 allow8-10 weeks for first issue. Advertising rates furnishedon request. All rights reserved.Change of address: Please give six weeks notice.Send both the old and new address, plus mailinglabel if possible, to Circulation Dept., HandloaderMagazine, 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona86301. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Hand-loader, 2180 Gulfstream, Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona86301.Canadian returns: PM #40612608. Pitney Bowes,

P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

Wolfe Publishing Co.2180 Gulfstream, Ste. APrescott, AZ 86301Tel: (928) 445-7810 Fax: (928) 778-5124 Polacek Publishing Corporation

Page 64 . . .

Background Photo: 2014 Vic Schendel6 Handloader 290

58 Beating the Rimfire Shortage Duplication Loads in Centerfire Cartridges John Barsness

64 Homer Powley and His Computer Useful It Is, Gospel It Isnt Terry Wieland

74 Supply, Demand and Resupply In Range - Terry Wieland

On the cover . . .Coopers Model 54 cover rifle features French walnut, a checkered bolt knob,inletted swivel studs and a skeleton grip cap. The revolver is a Colt Army Special.

Handloader 2908 www.handloadermagazine.com

RELOADERS PRESS by Dave Scovill

WITH THANKS TO LESTER(1920-2013)

Way back in 1955, my latestepfather bought a set ofLyman reloading dies for the old310 tool, showed me how it workedand explained how to weigh thepowder charge and seat bulletsand primers. The process was fas-cinating, especially since I couldsit down at the improvised bench an orange crate at any time,seat a few primers, size cases orweigh a few powder charges until

the upcoming weekend, shootingsmall game or riddling discardedsoup cans. Because the only limiton the amount of ammunition Icould shoot up was the time thatwas available before and after din-ner, between odd jobs choppingwood or yard work and high-school sports, the only restrictions

were my own. Well, there was oneother restriction, Mr. Konzack, myalgebra, trigonometry and calcu-lus teacher, who thought I shouldbe doing homework.

There was, and still is, a certainsatisfaction in building a hand-load from scratch, which was em-

Mom called us to dinner. Workingpart-time after school during theweek, it was possible to build acouple of boxes of ammunition for

bellished tremendously when theround not only fired but also hitwhat it was aimed at, just likecostly factory loads but with a per-sonal touch. Some loads produceda bit better accuracy than others,but there was always somethingnew to learn, even if it was only tonot use that load again.

During those early years of hand-loading, my mother paid the billsas a sign painter and eventuallymade quite a name for herself inthe Northwest as a portrait painter.Her attention to detail apparentlyrubbed off, along with the pride of making something worthwhilefrom scratch, such as handload-ing, which might be considered anart; not just slapping a cartridgetogether, but building it to design,with purpose. That led to castingbullets, making arrows, buildingstuff around the house and, muchto Mr. Konzacks chagrin, a deci-sion to apply to the University ofOregon to study architectural de-sign and engineering.

Given my grades, Mr. Konzackexpressed an opinion that wasechoed by the guidance counselorthat I might pursue something a bitless challenging, like ranch workor setting chokers for some log-

Daves late stepfather, Lester Martin, brought this 7.7 Arisaka warsouvenir (above) home in 1945. The Krag Model 1899 (below) waspurchased from Ben Serafin (Glide Saw Shop) in the late 1950s.Dave learned to handload for both rifles using the Lyman 310 tongtool and took his first deer with the Arisaka in the fall of 1956.

2014 Alicia Yoder photos

June-July 2014 9www.handloadermagazine.com

ging outfit, which was punctuatedby the comment, Your family does-nt have enough money to pay forcollege, as if I wasnt aware of thatfact. To which I responded, to par-aphrase: Assuming a high-schooleducation had any value at all,why are the teachers and careercounselors telling me, with thehighest SAT score in the entirehigh school, in effect, to go poundsand? This was followed by fiveyears of grunt work on night shiftsin lumber mills, working on sur-vey crews and, during the schoolyear, working the night shift andweekends at a local auto servicecenter, while washing dishes sixnights a week at a couple of soror-ities to cover the cost of a collegeeducation. Admittedly the sororitygig wasnt exactly work, but itpaid for board and room at my fra-ternity, aka the big, white housenext door to Animal House.

Like a number of other things wemight attempt, handloading is notunlike taking a college course in

design, or tinkering around underthe hood of the family car withDad, while taking notes and pay-ing attention to details that justmight amount to useful experiencesomeday.

Simply seating a bullet involvesa few decisions, i.e., making sureit is seated straightly and to theproper depth, so the cartridge willfunction through the action with-out any hiccups, and the bullet isnot jammed into the lands. Or, asone handloader found out afterthe fact, using the wrong bulletthat nearly wrecked the rifle.

Primers require similar attention:seating to the correct depth, so thebolt face wont set it off when theaction is slammed shut and seat-ing them all to the same depth soignition is as consistent as possi-ble. That last is sort of a catch 22in the sense that loading manualshave long recommended that theprimer is seated to the bottom ofthe primer pocket, so the firing pin

thrust isnt reduced if the primeris too high, effectively absorbingsome of the energy stored by thefiring pin spring to fully seat theprimer.

So the seemingly simple task ofseating a primer becomes one offeel, and thusly, educated guess-work where a slightly fouled primerpocket may offer the false impres-sion that the primer is bottomedout in the pocket, but in reality, itsjammed down on top of carbonresidue. This is also why it is agood idea to clean primer pockets.Not so much for any mythical ac-curacy advantage, but in the inter-est of consistency and preventinghangfires or misfires. For the last25 years or so, Ive avoided thetouchy, feely primer approach byusing an RCBS primer seating die,which along with the electronicpowder scale, may well be one ofthe most important pieces of re-loading equipment on the planet.

Primer pockets also tell us a bit

on the amount of pressure thecase head has been subjected toover several loads, but if experi-ence is any judge, sloppy primerpockets should not be the result ofone shot, or even two or three, butmore like six whereupon thecase goes in the trash.

A great deal has been writtenover the years about the condi-tion of fired primers. Some folks


about pressure. Seating a primerin an unfired case usually causessome measure of force. By the timea case has been reloaded and firedfive or six times, it is not unusualfor the primer pocket diameter to spread slightly, and with eachload, the primer seats easier upto a point that after several re-loads it is possible to seat theprimer with your fingers. There isno rule, mostly because it depends

believe a flattened primer is a signof excess pressure or, if nothingelse, the product of a maximumload. My experience suggests a less-than-maximum load can cause thesame visual effect, where the firedprimer backs up in the primerpocket, and when peak pressure isreached, the case backs up, re-seating the primer against the boltface, causing the top of the primerto flatten somewhat.

Cratered primers dont necessar-ily equate to excessive or maxi-mum pressure either, especially ifthe nose of the firing pin doesntform a perfect fit in the firing pin hole in the bolt face. So whenfolks speak of no visual signs ofpressure, Im assuming they arentseeing self-ejecting primers, butthats about it.

Years ago, I somehow managedto overlook the subject of casetrimming, mostly I would assume,because I didnt pay much atten-tion to that part of the summary inthe loading manual. It wasnt longbefore the action of our Reming-ton Model 760 .257 Roberts lockedup, and a brief survey of firedcases compared to factory brassrevealed the problem the casemouth was jammed into the endof the chamber. In retrospect, Iwas just plain lucky to be workingwith suggested starting loads! So,for the last 50 years or so, trim-ming has been a part of the normalroutine, although trimming shouldbe done on fired and full-length re-sized cases, vice unfired.

A number years ago, I becamevaguely aware of Homer Powley,who with all due respect to a num-ber of other handloading expertswho cropped up back in the 1960sand early 1970s was consideredto be the Father of Modern Hand-loading. Mr. Powley had an exten-sive background in engineering,smokeless powder and firearms,and during the 1960s, he designeda slide-rule device that determinedpressures and velocity with IMRpowders. It was based on sectionaldensity of the bullet, expansion ratios (case capacity and barrel vol-

Whispers are developments of SSK Industries.Custom barrels for Contenders, Encores,bolt guns and semi-autos as well as com-plete guns and the cans to keep themquiet are available. SSK chambers over400 calibers. Wild wildcat ideas welcomed.

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.302 .338 .375 .416


ume), IMR powder burning ratesalong with frictional coefficientsof jacketed bullets. I wrote to Mr.Powley and ordered his PowleyComputer for Handloaders and,several years later, we exchangedcorrespondence over notes he pro-vided from time to time.

The Powley slide rule was not asubstitute for loading data listedin manuals but was directed at ad-vanced handloaders who might beworking with wildcats or simplywanted to learn more about thedetails of working up loads. Thelatter covers my interest, althoughthe thought of working for WolfePublishing was the furthest thingfrom my mind, or reality, at thattime.

Working with the Powley sliderule also suggested that a goodnumber of the loads in P.O. Ack-leys books were never fired butsimply worked out on the sliderule. By whom, Im not sure, butrunning the numbers on the slide

rule produced numbers too simi-lar to numbers published in Ack-leys books, suggesting to me, atleast, that those loads were neverfired in a real gun, especially whenmany of the velocities listed forwildcat cartridges ended with a0.

One of the more current computerprograms, QuickLOAD, is avail-able to folks who might like to learnmore about the details involved in handloading. It is simply a pro-gram in which specific data isinput into the program, and itpops up with the desired informa-tion. Again, it is to be used as aguideline, mostly because all pow-ders are not based on the samechemical composition or design,e.g., progressive versus digressive,etc., which changes burning char-acteristics when compared to otherpowders such as the IMR series. Itis even more problematic with pis-tol (handgun) powders, especiallywhen folks learn that a one-grainvariation (mistake?) in the .40 S&W

may result in a real load. As a re-sult, QuickLOAD will get you inthe ballpark with a given set ofvariables bullets, powder andcase capacity but it remains forthe handloader to interpret resultsin a real gun.

Like all computer programs,QuickLOAD produces educatedguesses based on the informationfed into the computer. Most re-sults are well within the 5 percenterror factor for such programs,and some loads are slightly out-side those boundaries, which ex-plains why loads worked up on acomputer should be verified asmuch as possible with loads pub-lished in two or more manuals. Nomagic, just physics and chemistry.Mr. Konzack, who was still teach-ing and driving a school bus 30+years after I graduated from highschool, would probably be dumb-founded to learn that came fromone of his D+ algebra students,who scored a perfect paper on thefinal exam in college calculus.


Q: I have a difficult questionwith a request. But first, Ihave been handloading for 40 yearsand do not plan on blowing my-self up. I have been in the marketfor several months for new .357Magnum cases but have had noluck at all, as MidwayUSA, Star-line Brass, Natchez, Hornady andBrownells are all out of stock,back-ordered or will put you on awaiting list. And handgun bullets,powder and brass locally are al-most nonexistent.

Here is my question. I do haveplenty of .38 Special cases. And Ihave bullets and magnum pow-ders, such as Hodgdon H-110, thatwere purchased for handload ing

the .357. Is it possible that youcould do a handloading article tostoke .38 Special cases with .357Magnum components? I know thatthe quick answer is no, no andno, but with your scientific ap-proach to my problem perhapsyou can offer a solution. Hand-loadermagazine, particularly yourarticles, have always been the de-finitive, trustworthy source andhence my letter. If you dont wantto do a complete article, perhapsyou could forward a couple ofloads that could get me started.

B.W., Irmo SC

A: Prior to the .357 Magnum be -ing introduced in 1935, Smith &Wesson offered its big N-frame or

44 Frame in .38 Special, whichwas known as the .38/44 HeavyDuty (fixed sights) and .38/44Out doorsman (target sights) of-fered in 1930 and 1931, respec-tively. Due to these revolvers not-ably greater strength than S&WsK-frame in the same caliber, am-munition companies began offer-ing 38/44 High Velocity loadsthat pushed various 158-grainbullet designs around 1,100 fps,which became popular. Althoughthese loads were specified to beused in S&W 38/44s, Colt NewService, Single Action Army andguns of similar strength, in theevent they were dropped into a K-frame revolver, their pressurelimits were not so great that theywould destroy the gun, which ex-plains why their performancewas limited. However, if firingthem in a K-frame revolver becamea regular practice, guns quicklyloosened up and appreciable wearand stress became apparent.

Others still recognized there wasgreater power potential with the.38/44s and the .38 Special car-tridge and began experimentingwith heavy handloads. Notablesincluded Phil Sharpe, Elmer Keithand Doug Wesson. These guns weretested extensively and scientif -ically with loads that generated48,500 pounds pressure and be-yond. These experiments soon leddirectly to the development of the.357 Magnum.

It is feasible to develop hand-loads in .38 Special cases that ap-proach .357 Magnum performanceand pressures; however, there aresome warnings that should be addressed. First, be certain thatthese loads are only used in gunsdesigned to handle this muchpressure and labeled accordingly.Next, not all .38 Special cases areconstructed with equal strength,

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.38 130 GR. RNFP/500 $34.00

.38-40 180 GR. RNFP/500 $42.00

.44-40 180 GR. RNFP/500 $42.00

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.458 350 GR. RNFP/100 $26.00

.32 Keith125 GR. SWC /500 $46.00

.380 95 GR. RN /500 $30.009mm 115 GR. RN /500 $31.509mm 125 GR. RN /500 $33.00.38 148 GR. DEWC/500 $34.50.38 158 GR. SWC /500 $35.00.40 180 GR. RNFP /500 $41.00.45ACP 200 GR. SWC /500 $42.50.45ACP 230 GR. RN /500 $46.00.45LC 255 GR. SWC /500 $55.00

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.44 240 GR. SWC-HP /100 $32.00

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.38/44 HIGH VELOCITY


even from the same manufacturer,with some being notably thinnerthan others. I have seen weaker orthinner versions separate justforward of the head when firedwith just a single high-pressureload. I would suggest using +Pbrass (or +P+, if you can find it) and limit them to just two firings.

You dont specify what bulletsyou would like to load. If you in-

tend to use the ever-popular 158-grain jacketed HP, due to the de-creased powder capacity of the.38 Special case and shorter over-all cartridge length, a normalmaximum powder charge for the.357 Magnum must be reduced.For example, a maximum chargefor the .357 would be around 16.5to 17.0 grains of Hodgdon H-110,depending on lot number andexact bullet, but in the .38 Specialcase this charge should be reduced

to 14.5 to 15.0 grainsmaximum, and it willyield similar pressuresbut somewhat less veloc-ity.

A couple of classic .38/44loads and bullets that are

also popu lar for use in .357 Mag-num revolvers include bullets fromeither Lyman Thompson gas-checkmould 358156 (155 to 160 grains,depending on alloy) or LymanKeith mould 358429 (173 grains).The Thompson bullet should beseated and crimped in the lowercrimp groove, for an overall lengthof 1.530 inches, which effectivelyincreases powder capacity. A sug-gested maximum charge of H-110powder is 14.5 grains for around1,300 to 1,350 fps in most re-volvers. The Keith bullet should beused with a maximum charge of14.0 grains, which yields around1,250 fps in most revolvers. Forreliable ignition with H-110 inall temperatures, a small pistolmagnum primer is suggested.These loads will produce similarpressures as factory loaded .357Magnum ammunition, which isgenerally around 5 percent be-low current SAAMI guidelines of36,000 psi. But again, these loadsshould only be used in guns de-signed to handle such pressures.

The .38 Special can behandloaded with .357 Magnum components, butthese comparatively high-pressure loads should onlybe used in .357 Magnumguns or guns designed tohandle similar pressures.


If you are not set up to cast bul-lets, in spite of heavy orders, theyare generally available from com-mercial cast bullet companies.

.35 REMINGTON

Q: Thank you for your articles inHandloader magazine, especiallythose addressing loads for mod-ern strong guns in .45 Colt and.45-70.

Could you provide similar datafor a Marlin Model 336 .35 Rem-ington? I would like to use the 200-grain Hornady and 220-grainSpeer FN bullets at velocities sim-ilar to those claimed by BuffaloBore. More specifically, they list a220-grain bullet at 2,200 fps.

Also, who would you recommendfor action and trigger work onMarlin leverguns?

R.P., Waycross GA

A: There are a number of semi-auto, pump and other actions thatare really not suitable for increasedpressure .35 Remington handloads.Current industry maximum aver-age pressures are established at35,000 CUP, with most factory am-munition being loaded around 7 to10 percent below that figure.

The modern Marlin Model 336

can safely withstand greater pres-sures, even exceeding 40,000 CUP.Using the Speer 220-grain bullet,I suggest starting with 36.0 grainsof Hodgdon H-4895 and carefully in-creasing the charge to 38.0 grains,watching for signs of excess pres-sure. This load will produce the ve-locities you desire.

Regarding Marlin action and trig-ger work, DRC Guns (4201 EastRenfro Street, Alvarado TX 76009);Brockmans (www.brockmansrifles.com); and Grizzly Custom Guns(www.GrizzlyCustom.com) eachdo excellent work, but some have asignificant backlog, and it is worthresearching how fast their turn-around times are before makingyour choice.

.40 S&W

Q: I have been handloading the .40S&W for more than 15 years. Mystandard load consists of the 165-grain Speer Gold Dot HP or 165-grain Speer TMJ FN bullet (forinexpensive practice) with 6.5grains of Alliant Unique. Not onlyam I having a hard time findingbullets on a regular basis, but alsoI have not been able to find anyUnique powder (through mailorder or locally) for more than ayear. Dealers tell me they justcant get it anywhere. I did pur-chase one pound of IMR SR-7625and two pounds of Hodgdon Uni-versal in an effort to use them assubstitutions.

My question is, can you offer asuggested load with both of these

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Q: I have a New Model Ruger Sin-gle-Six .32 H&R Magnum with a458-inch barrel, for which I wouldlike to handload .32 S&W Longcartridges with cast bullets. Anythoughts what might be the opti-mum bullet diameter for theRuger?

Also, are you aware of anyonethat can convert this New ModelRuger to an old model hammerfunction with half-cock, etc.?

G.B., via e-mail

A: Consider yourself lucky to owna Ruger .32 H&R Magnum, as it isaccurate and highly sought after. I

have owned and fired many ofthese sixguns over the years, andthe throats of each measured .313inch. Standard jacketed bullet di-ameter for this cartridge is .312inch, but sizing cast bullets to .313inch generally gives the best accu-racy. I suspect this will likewise bethe best choice for your .32 S&WLong handloads.

Regarding converting your NewModel Single-Six into old modelfunction, contact Jim Stroh(www. alphaprecisioninc.com). Ihave seen his work and fired hiscustom guns, and he will do a top-notch job.


powders that will give velocitiessimilar to what I was getting withUnique? I am using mostly Win-chester and Starline cases andWinchester Small Pistol primers.Thanks in advance for your help.

M.L., Lake Stevens WA

A: You are not alone, as findingcomponents is difficult regardlessof where you live. From most .40S&W pistols with around 4- to4.5-inch barrels, your load will

produce just over 1,100 fps. Toduplicate that velocity with IMRSR-7625, try 6.7 grains. Switch-ing to Hodgdon Universal powder,6.3 grains will produce approxi-mately the same velocity. Natu-rally, the slight burn rate differ-ences from one production lotnumber of powder to the next canchange these figures slightly, butthey will be close to your originalhandload.

.32 S&W Long

IMR SR-7625 andHodgdon Universal

powders can beused to handload

the .40 S&W.

The Ruger NewModel Single-Six .32 H&RMagnum canbe used with.32 S&W Longcartridges. Castbullets sized to .313 inchgenerally give the bestaccuracy.


For almost three years, I havebeen sitting on a secret: knowl-edge that Western Powders of MilesCity, Montana, would be the newdistributer of Norma canister pow-ders in the U.S. I had remained dutifully silent, awaiting the daywhen samples of the new lotswould be available for review andsubsequent reporting. However,within the past year, somebody let the cat out of the bag, and mylong-awaited announcement of thisnew and important relationshipnow carries all the weight of an in-vitation to leftovers for supper.

One aspect salvaged from thewreck, so to speak, is that I haventseen in print any discussion of

packaging. For the past 50 yearsor so, Norma powders importedinto the U.S. arrived in red-and-black metal cans with a paperlabel denoting the powder name.Western, to its credit, was able toarrange for the powders to beshipped in bulk, with all packag-ing and labeling to be done inMiles City. The new containers are plastic with a screw-on topand an attractive label. As before,the powders are manufactured byBofors, a large European powdercompany, for Norma. Both are lo-cated in Sweden.

When samples arrived in thespring of 2013, I still had samplesof earlier lots of each of the pow-

ders in the metal containers andwas anxious to do some side-by-side comparisons. There are somedifferences in the series. My olderlots of rifle powders includedNorma 200, 201, 202, 203-B, 204,URP, MRP and MRP-2. At one time there was a 203, replaced by203-B, and a 205 replaced by MRP.This latest series includes 200,201, 202, 203-B, 204, URP, MRPand 217. MRP-2 has been dropped.Norma 217 is a very slow burningpowder developed principally forthe .30-378 Weatherby Magnum,.338 Lapua Magnum and the Rem-ington Ultra Mag series. There isalso a new powder for the .50 BMGand related cartridges. Norma alsooffers a line of handgun powders,but Western has not imported anyof them to date.

All the Norma powders are of ex-truded, double-base design with asingle perforation. The first pow-der elected to work with was thefastest burning of the series, Norma200. Its makeup is 88.5 percent nitrocellulose and 4.5 percent ni-troglycerin, with the balance beingcoatings, stabilizers and so forth.The nominal length is 1.1mm (.043inch) with a diameter of .67mm(.026 inch). The single perforationis .12mm (.0047 inch), leaving awall thickness of .275mm (.0108inch). Energy is listed a 3,940 J/gand bulk density as .870 g/cc.

Most sources put 200s burningrate somewhere between IMR-4227 on the fast side and IMR-4198on the slower. To narrow the gapa bit more, it is close to Accurate1680. Not all sources agree, how-ever, with some listing the powderas slow as 4198. No matter, really,as handloaders should alwayswork with published data. To thatend, Western has assured me thatall current and future load devel-

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of its moisture content over theyears. When old and new lots werefired side by side, thats exactlywhat happened with every car-tridge and bullet weight. The onlyproblem was that I seemed to havearrived at the correct answer butfor the wrong reasons. The old lot,while slightly faster burning itranged from 65 to 108 fps with thelightest bullets showing the great-est difference and the heaviestbullets the slightest consistentlybetter reflected the published ve-locities of Norma Reloading Man-ual, Edition No. 1. This forced meto conclude that the older lot hadnot changed over the time Ive hadit, but that this new lot was simplya bit slower burning. It is worthnoting, however, that the newerlot consistently produced slightlysmaller groups.

It is also interesting to note thatwhile most of my older lot canis-ters came labeled as containingone pound of powder, the Norma200 can shows a net weight of 500grams. This translates to 17.637ounces, rather than the expected16.

Wishing to confirm my observa-tions regarding the relative burn-ing rate of the new lot of Norma200, a friend at Western was con-tacted. It appears that no suchblanket statement can be made re-garding the powders and lots sentto Western. What I found regard-ing 200 must be considered only inthe light of that powder.

The smallest cartridge elected totry with Norma 200 was the .223

Remington with 50- and55-grain bullets. Pub-lished data exists forbullets of 50 to 60 grainswith 200 in the NormaReloading Manual, Edi-tion No. 1 and down to35-grain bullets in someother sources. Almostneedless to say, thereare powders that willproduce higher veloci-ties in this cartridgethan Norma 200. How-ever, performance as a

Selected LoadsNorma 200

bullet charge velocity comments(grains) (grains) (fps)

50 .223 Remington 24.5 3,39755 .223 Remington 23.5 3,224150 .30-30 Winchester 29.3 2,245170 .30-30 Winchester 27.8 2,089110 .308 Winchester 45.0 3,288130 .308 Winchester 42.5 2,986125 8mm Mauser 45.5 2,983300 .45-70 50.0 2,049 cast 50.0 1,963350 .45-70 44.0 1,771 castBe Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

(Continued on page 71)

opment will include the Normapowder line where appropriate.

Norma 200 is not particularly ver-satile, being best suited for smallcapacity cases, such as the .22Hornet and the .222 family of car-tridges. However, it performs ad-mirably in the .30-30 Winchester,with light bullets in the .308 Win-chester and even in the large ex-pansion-ratio cases, such as the.45-70 and the .458 Winchester Mag-num with light-for-caliber bullets.

My first effort was to comparethe relative burning rate of thisnew lot to the older one. My in-stinct was to assume that the olderlot would likely be faster burning,as I live in a relatively dry area ofthe country, and it seemed likelythe older lot would have lost some

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Avery common question is:How do you break in agun? Scholarly papers have beenwritten telling us to fire one shotand clean the bore. Do that fourmore times; then you can fire twoshots and repeat theprocess. They can bevery convincing butlack only one smallthing proof. Theyare always based onthe opinion of some-one who may havethe best credentialson the planet andmay even be right,but doing it still re-quires a leap of faithand lots of patience.

If the object is tomake a barrel moreaccurate by ironingout minute flaws andconditioning the bore, that soundsreasonable. Since the only way we have to evaluate a barrel, how-ever, is to shoot it; but once it isfired just once, the barrel is nolonger the same so all bets areoff. All barrels are laws unto them-selves. No matter how good themaker is, no two are identical.

While those instructions are gen-erally offered for rifle barrels,some overly enthusiastic folks dothe same for handguns. This is,bluntly, the height of folly. Even ifit did matter, wed never see it, be-

cause all the other much largervariables in gun, ammunition andshooter hide small stuff. In bench -rest rifles, .10 inch may be signif -icant, but with handguns . . . not so much.

The concept of breaking in has

pared to steel or aluminum, forthey often seem to have a bit lessfelt recoil, because the polymerflexes just a bit and softens the re-coil impulse.

I get to shoot quite a few new pis-

changed over time, because thecommercial pistols of today rarelyneed anything beyond a functiontest. Not too long ago, we weretold to shoot a minimum of 200rounds before pronouncing any

pistol fit for dutyuse. The last timemy department is-sued a new pistol,we fired 50 roundsfor qualification andwent merrily on ourway. When I retiredfive years later, theykindly gave me thepistol with an un-blemished reputa-tion for reliability.

I still believe weneed to shoot a newgun maybe as muchas 200 rounds, not

only for the guns sake but tobreak in ourselves and becomecomfortable and familiar with thenew gun. Even if we are shootingthe same ammunition weve al-ways used, we need to become fa-miliar with how it feels underrecoil. A good example is in theway polymer frames feel com-

PISTOL POINTERS by Charles E. Petty

HOW TOBREAK IN A NEW GUN

A brand-new Kimber Team Match 9mmis field-stripped.

Left, a clean, dry patch is runthrough thebore. Above, theslide is inspectedfor unusual wear.


tols as they come from the makerand have developed a routine prac-tice before even thinking aboutgoing to the range. New guns geta short function test before theyleave the factory, but there doesntseem to be a standard practice.Many manufacturers fire one mag-azine, usually ball ammunition.Thats fine because it providessome wear marks to see if every-thing looks right. So my first stepis to field strip the pistol. It is nota crime to read the directions if it is an unfamiliar product. Some-times new guns come awash withpreservative, so it may be prudentto wipe down the outside beforedoing anything. Run a clean, drypatch through the barrel. Excessfluid in the bore might cause pres-sure problems. Then carefully ex-amine everything for any unusualsigns of wear.

When reassembling the gun, thatis the time to apply fresh lube. Ifyou want to start a small war, justtell someone that your favoritelube is best. Ive had a few sales-men tell me theirs was, and Ive

developed a sure-firesquelch for that: Find agun that wont workwith any other lube butyours, and Ill agree.Works every time.

I have two workbenches, a loading benchand a range box. Eachhas several differentlubes, and I always usethe one thats closest.

Most instruction booklets clarifywhere to apply lube. Too muchcan be just as bad as not enough.For pistols, that is usually a dropon each slide rail, one on the bar-rel at the muzzle and another overthe chamber with the slide closed.Cycle the slide a couple of timesand youre done.

The next step is to check thefunction of all safeties and head tothe range. Most mass-producedpistols are not fitted tightlyenough to need many rounds tosettle in, but a true custom gunmay require more. Last year I re-warded myself with one of LesBaers Boss 1911s. Over the yearsIve tested a number of his guns,and without exception they are astight as a well-fed tick. Les recom-mends 500 rounds of ball equiva-lent ammunition.

When the gun came, I had to tapthe muzzle against a bench padjust to free the lockup, and it waswell past 200 rounds before it wasnot so hard to rack the slide. Withevery Baer gun Ive tested, theyfunctioned perfectly from dayone. With any tight gun, the acidtest is function with my every -day load, a 200-grain LSWC with

4.0 grains of Tite-group. It gives 750fps and 10-shotgroups of 2.0 to 2.5 inches at 50yards from a goodgun. Even thoughit is quite a bit be-low the publishedstarting load, ithas worked in al-most every .45 pis-tol Ive tried; and

A drop of lube is placed on the slide rail.

A drop of lube on the muzzle finishesthe lubrication.

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after 50 rounds of ball, it workedin Baers gun too.

Another company also suggests500 rounds with another thoughtin mind; that it takes a high vol-ume of shooting just for the newgun to become as comfortable tothe shooter as an old shoe. I likethat idea, as long as it is di videdover a number of sessions. Ofcourse, you can shoot 500 roundsin a few hours, but there is nolearning there, except maybe howto flinch and jerk the trigger. It isjust converting money to noise.

When we talk about most pistols,sometimes all we need is a checkride. A couple of times around thepattern will reveal most of thestuff we need to know, and if any-thing needs work, it will usuallyshow up pretty soon.

If someone wants a gun for anysort of serious competition, its adifferent story, because accuracyis a big deal. Realistically there isonly one way to find that out, andthat is to do a real test by shootinggroups. Posting a forum questionabout accuracy will surely pro-voke dozens of answers, all ofwhich are largely irrelevant. Thereason is simple: Even if the cor-respondents have the same modelgun and same load, they donthave yours.

Every time I see one of thosequestions, nobody ever asks, Howwell can you shoot? If someonesays fine, how does that help usformulate an answer. Back whenlots of shooters took part in NRA-sanctioned events, their classifica-tion made it easy, but recreationalshooting these days doesnt gener-ate a scorecard.

The next question should be,Why does it matter to you? Goodquality modern pistols should eas-ily be capable of hitting a man-sized target at 50 yards. Mosttactical instructors will say if you need to shoot something thatfar away, you should have broughta rifle.

One of the things heard often isa post saying, My gun jams. I am

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often tempted to ask, Strawberryor grape? There are an endlessnumber of reasons for stoppagesor malfunctions, but the one leastoften considered, and most oftenresponsible, is shooter error. Mostpistols require a firm grip to func-tion properly because a loose holdallows the whole hand to recoiland absorb some of the energyneeded for reliable operation. Inaddition to shooter error, the mostcommon causes are magazines andammunition.

Todays factory ammunition is re-ally good, and most of the older issues about guns that wouldntfeed hollowpoints have been laidto rest, although sometimes oldwives tales keep being repeated.Both gun and ammunition makerstry one anothers stuff to makesure it works. Handloads that areeither too light or too hot can be aproblem, and some shooters stillbelieve all you have to do to bewell armed is shoot stuff that hasthe most recoil, noise and muzzleblast.

For almost all of my adult life,the custom 1911 has been the cen-terpiece of my shooting. Firstthere was gunsmith training in theUSAF, and then as a serious bulls-eye shooter and finally as a writer.Now I see two classes of custom1911 pistols: those built with accu-racy as primary and those whoseclaim to fame is purely cosmetic.My mentor, the late Bob Day, hadno use at all for anything thatdidnt contribute to the guns accu-racy. Excessive polishing that did-nt do anything but look nice hecalled eyewash.

If a gun is to be used for defense,it should be fired with the intendedduty ammunition until it is provenreliable. That might be 50 roundsor many more, depending on in -dividual results, but before onestarts burning the expensive stuff,initial shooting can be done withgeneric ammunition. There reallyare no rules for this, so shoot asmuch as it takes to become com-fortable with the gun.

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My first Dan Wesson revolverwas a slightly used, fixed-sighted Model 11 .357 Magnumwith a 4-inch barrel. It was pur-chased from a portion of the prof-its from coyote, fox and bobcatpelts gleaned from my trapline.The lockwork was an interestingdeparture from competing compa-nies but was reliable. In spite ofbeing accurate, it failed to shoot topoint of aim with my handloadsand, in general, fell short as apractical hunting and field gun. Itwas soon traded off toward a fineSmith & Wesson (pre-Model 27).357 Magnum with a 5-inch barreland adjustable sights.

My next experience with Dan Wes-son revolvers occurred my senior

year in high school, when I was in-vited to participate in an Interna-tional Handgun Metallic SilhouetteAssociation match. This event re-quired 40 shots being fired at eightstations at distances of 50, 100,150 and 200 meters. I had grownup shooting sixguns at game andat a variety of long-range targets,and toppling the steel chicken,pig, turkey and ram targets was almost second nature, not to men-tion fun. When the scores weretallied, I came in second place,and I couldnt help but notice thatthe first-place winner, an expe -rienced competitor, was holding aDan Wesson Model 15 with an 8-inch heavy barrel. I quickly con-gratulated him on his win and fine

shooting, but also wanted to ex-amine his gun and discuss hand-loads.

Quality handguns were hard tofind during the 1970s, but I soonmanaged to get my hands on a DanWesson Model 15 with a 6-inchbarrel. By this time I had several.357 Magnum revolvers includinga Colt Python, Ruger Blackhawkand the Smith & Wesson. In side-by-side shooting comparisons witha variety of loads that includedcast and jacketed bullets, the DanWesson proved the most accurateof them all. It may have lacked thesmooth, double-action pull of theColt or Smith & Wesson, but its accuracy was astonishing, and itbecame clear why it had earnedsuch an outstanding reputationamong silhouette competitors whodemanded top accuracy.

Dan Wesson Arms was foundedby Dan Wesson, the great-grand-son of the colorful Daniel BairdWesson, famous co-founder ofSmith & Wesson. At the age of 22, he went to work for Smith &Wesson as a machine operatormaking tools but was soon pro-moted to the machine shop. Histool-and-die making skills wereoutstanding, as was his insight

FROM THE HIP by Brian Pearce

DAN WESSON ARMS

The Dan Wesson rear sight was fullyadjustable and provided a sharp sightpicture.


to make tools that significantlyhelped production. By 1941 he waspromoted to assistant plant super-intendent and by 1963 becameplant superintendent, where hehelped improve production proc -esses and contributed heavily toSmith & Wessons success. In 1966the Bangor Punta Company pur-chased controlling shares, whichprompted Dan Wesson to resignfrom the company.

In 1968 he formed D.B. WessonArms, located in Monson, Massa-chusetts, and began shipping pro-duction revolvers in August 1970.These early guns, the Model 11(fixed sights) and Model 12 (ad-justable target sights), featuredreadily interchangeable barrels thathad an external barrel nut, givingthem something of a futuristiclook but was generally consideredhomely by traditionalists. The cyl -inder locked at the rear, but therewas also a unique crane-mountedcylinder latch, which locked thefront of the cylinder and helpedhold it in alignment with the bar-rel. The cylinder latch release tooksome getting used to when com-pared to those of Colt and Smith& Wesson double-action revolvers,and it was not warmly received.

By 1971 these guns were im-proved and became the Models 14and 15, with fixed and target sights,respectively. The barrel nut wasrecessed, and the frame was res-culptured, both of which improvedexternal cosmetics, but there weremany other features that made thisgun truly unique and enhanced itsaccuracy and shootability. Thefully adjustable rear sight was up-graded and featured a sharp sightpicture that eliminated shadows,while the front blade was inter-changeable and available with op-tional color inserts. Stocks wereavailable in a variety of styles andwood types and were of a one-piece style that slipped over thegrip frame block and were securedvia a single screw.

The hammer fall was very shortand gave unusually quick locktime, and there was a trigger stopscrew within the trigger that could

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be adjusted to control overtravel.Action parts were fully drop-ininterchangeable, which kept pro-duction costs down and simplifiedrepairs.

The interchangeable barrel sys-tem was truly unique and could be changed in just a couple of min-utes with a factory-supplied tool.The actual barrel is a rather thinrod that measures around .530inch diameter and is threaded ateach end. It is threaded into theframe and a feeler gauge (factorysuggested at .006 inch, although I set them tighter) is used as aspacer between the barrel and theface of the cylinder to set the bar-rel-cylinder gap. The barrel shroudslides over the barrel, and a nut isthreaded onto the muzzle andtightened with the hand tool. Bar-rel lengths measured from 2 to 15inches, while shrouds were avail-able with solid and vented ribs andwith standard and heavy weightconfigurations.

The barrels were straight, sharply

rifled and beautifully made. Thefactory claimed their being undertension at both ends increased stability and therefore accuracy.Regardless, these guns offeredamazing accuracy. I am aware ofone shooter who mounted a scopeon an 8-inch barreled Model 15and experimented with .357 Mag-num handloads until he obtainedsub-one-inch groups at 100 yards.

Dan Wesson passed away unex-pectedly in November 1978, twomonths after I had the privilege ofmeeting him. His son Seth carriedon the business and eventuallyconducted business under WessonFirearms Co., Inc. In addition tothe Models 14 and 15, the com-pany produced a variety of framesizes to house the .41 and .44 Mag-nums, .45 ACP and .45 Colt, andstretched frames to accommodatethe .357 Maximum, .375, .414 and.445 Super Magnums, etc., with se-lect versions available in stainlesssteel. There was even a .22 LR, .32Magnum, .32-20 and a variety of

Dan Wesson revolvers, such asthe Model 15 .357Magnum, featuredreadily interchange-able barrels. Notehow slim the actualbarrel is (bottom),while a shroud(center) slips overthe barrel. The barrel is threadedat both ends, whichhelps make it rigidand contributes to accuracy.

The 1970 vintageDan Wesson

Model 12 (left)featured an

external barrelnut, while the

improved Model15 had a counter-sunk barrel nut,which improved

appearance.

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specialty revolvers, some withfixed barrels and custom options.

Unfortunately, a combination ofevents caused the Wesson familyto lose the business, then regain it,but eventually they were forced toclose its doors. Most of the re-maining assets were purchasedand moved to New York, but thatcompany sold to CZ-USA around1995. Company officials at CZ haveplans to bring the Dan Wesson re-volver back and have even devel-oped CNC programs and built afew prototype stainless steel re-volvers, which I have examined,and they look very nice. But thecompany is so busy producing avariety of high-quality Model 1911pistols that it is hesitant to spendresources to launch the revolver.Nonetheless, Ive been assured therevolver is forthcoming as soon asit is feasible.

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Finding the original barrel nut

wrenches for Dan Wesson re-volvers is very difficult, but EWKArms (www.ewkarms.com) offersa great tool that is probably betterthan the originals and is availablefactory direct for $25.00. In addi-tion to being well machined, thecenter pilot is made from alu-minum and fits the bore diameterperfectly, a combination that is un-likely to cause wear or damagewhile changing barrels.

The EWK Arms Dan Wesson barrel nutwrench features an aluminum guide toreduce bore wear and prevent damage.

EWK Arms also offers inter-changeable front sight blades forDan Wesson revolvers, includingplain black (all steel), which is asignificant improvement over thestandard polymer-colored insertblades that were so commonlyfound on these revolvers.

EWK Arms offers an interchangeablefront sight for Dan Wesson revolvers,such as this all-steel version void of thered polymer insert.


Prior to the cartridge era, Ger-many consisted of many smallstates. The infantry weapons of thebrief Franco-Prussian War (July1870 to January 1871) were largelythe Prussian Dreyse and FrenchChassepot needle guns. Both werebolt-action single shots.

The needle (firing pin) of theDreyse penetrated the base andthe complete powder charge of itspaper cartridge, striking a pellet offulminate of mercury embedded inthe base of a papier-mache sabotholding the bullet. Bore diameterwas 15.43mm (.607 inch), but bul-let diameter was only 13.6mm (.535inch). Also firing a paper cartridge,the Chassepot needle had only topenetrate the base of the cartridgewhere the percussion primer waslocated. Caliber was 11mm (.433inch).

Both the Dreyse and Chassepotdesigns had been proven by manyyears service, but gas leakage atthe breech could be severe, andblack-powder fouling often madeseating the paper cartridges diffi-cult.

Performance of self-containedmetallic cartridges in the Ameri-can Civil War was immediately

known in Europe. They were thefuture. Bavaria saw this and actedfirst, just before the Franco-Pruss-ian War.

The rifle adopted by Bavaria in1869 was designed by Johann-Ludwig Werder, director of theCramer-Klett Machine Factory inNrnberg. He had several mechan-ical inventions to his credit beforebuilding a metallic cartridge rifleusing a rear-pivoted, Peabody-typeaction. Operations of the mecha-

nism and the lockwork were en-tirely new. This was about 1865-66.It is important to note that PaulMauser was working on his pro -totype bolt-action cartridge rifledesign (that would become theModel 71 rifle) during the sametime frame.

The stage is now set for the intro-duction of a puzzling feature ofthe first German cartridges: theMauser base, sometimes calledthe Mauser A-base. Here the rimarea is made at least twice as thickas necessary. The outside edge ofthe rear of the base is then swageddown in a radius curve to form arim of normal thickness. A ring ofthick metal in the center of thebase around the primer remains.The cartridge drawing shows thisclearly.

Original drawings for both theWerder rifle (before military adop-tion) and Paul Mausers prototypesexist. Both show functioning ofthe rifles using cartridges havingthe Mauser base. The fact that twovery different designs used theMauser base case would seem to

CARTRIDGE BOARD by Gil Sengel

11.15X60R MAUSER

M71-Single Shot

M71/84-Repeater

Cartridge DimensionsA - Overall Length -------------3.090B - Case Length----------------2.376C - Length to Neck------------1.576D - Length to Shoulder-------1.433

E - Rim Diameter ----------------.590F - Head Diameter --------------.516G - Shoulder Diameter ---------.512H - Neck Diameter --------------.466I - Shoulder Angle -------------857

ABC

D

F HG

E

I

3.025OAL

These dimensions may differfrom other sources, but mostare measured from cartridgesin Gils collection. Dimensionsfor the M71/84 are the same asthe M71 except overall length.


indicate that it was not needed bythe rifle design, but rather was re-quired for case construction.

It is known that very early Germancases were made of both drawncopper tubes closed at one endthen the same from different al-loys of brass. The rim was formedlike a modern .22 rimfire but withno hollow space for priming com-pound, as these cases were cen-terfire. In the U.S. this was calledfolded-head construction. Ger-man cases then had a ring of metalpressed and crimped against theinside of the base, extending for-ward about a quarter-inch. Thisoperation was possibly the reasonfor the strange base. There areother theories involving extrac-tion, extractor function, mass pro-duction and on and on.

At any rate, when the Werder riflewas adopted by Bavaria in April1869, it fired a slightly bottleneckedcartridge having a Mauser baseand a swaged lead bullet of about11.5mm (.453 inch) diameter weigh-

ing 22 grams (340 grains). Its black-powder charge was 4.3 grams (66.4grains). Only a few of these riflessaw service in the Franco-Pruss-ian War.

Prussia had been looking atMausers experimental rifle justbefore the war. These tests re-sumed after the conflict. It is notknown what cartridges were usedin the Mauser before the war, butwhen testing resumed, BavarianWerder rounds were obtained andthe Mauser modified to fire them.Then, almost immediately, bulletweight was increased to 25 grams(385 grains) and decreased in di-ameter to caliber 11mm actualbullet diameter is not given in myreferences. The case was length-ened from 50mm to 60mm, andthe powder charge was increasedto 5 grams (77.2 grains).

The black powder used in theWerder cartridges was known asBavarian new gunpowder, con-sisting of 76 parts saltpeter, 10

parts sulfur and 14 parts coal.Some lots worked well enough,but others gave great differencesin performance from shot to shot.The Prussians changed to a pow-der of their manufacture, yet it lefttoo much fouling. English Curtis &Harvey performed best! A changein the manufacturing process thenresulted in an adequate powder.Production started in late 1871 forwhat was standardized as RiflePowder 71.

An increased powder charge andhigher quality powder gave greatermuzzle velocity. It also caused boreleading problems. A grease wadunder the bullet and a paper patchon the slugs driving surface con-trolled the leading while also de-creasing powder fouling. It was inthis final form that the CartridgeM/71 was adopted to be fired inthe new Model 71 Mauser single-shot infantry rifle. It produced1,410 fps from the rifles 32.6-inchbarrel.

Unfortunately, the folded-head

case was subject to failure at thebase and sidewalls. Such failuresreleased gas back toward theshooter and hindered extraction.A two-piece case having a solidbase riveted to a brass tube thatwas closed at the rear workedwell but was difficult to produce.Then, in 1874, a drawn-brass casewas perfected that eliminated allsuch problems.

The M/71 (11.15x60R) round hadits bullet tip flattened when a tu-bular magazine was added to theModel 71 rifle in 1884, creating theModel 71/84. Occasional misfireswere eliminated by a modifiedprimer, and an improved blackpowder was used beginning in1881. It was this cartridge and riflethat is considered to be the finestblack powder military combina-tion ever produced. It was replacedby the 7.9x57mm and Model 88Commission Rifle in 1888. Germangovernment production of M/71rounds stopped in 1893.

Other military cartridges con-sisted of the usual training dum-mies and the ubiquitous blankround used for ceremonial pur-poses. These rounds and standardball loads are not rare today. Thisis probably because both theModel 71 and Model 71/84 rifleswere sold to other governmentswhen Germany rearmed with theModel 88 rifle. Eventually many ofthese appeared on the surplusmarket in the U.S. and Canada.Commercial ammunition, whichonly duplicated the military ballload, was loaded in at least Ger-many, Austria, Britain, France, theU.S., Canada and probably China.All this ended before World War II,but CIL of Canada (under the Do-minion brand) listed the rounduntil at least 1970. The companyeven offered shot cartridges loadedwith No. 6s!

It should also be mentioned thatother names for the M/71 round include 11.15x60R (used by every-body), 11mm Mauser, 11x60RMauser and .43 Mauser (commonin the U.S. and Canada). There areseveral very similar rounds thatare not interchangeable.

Today new empty brass is listed,though expensive, while loadingdies and bullet moulds are like-wise available. New reproductionor substitute black powders allowa lot of shooting without foulingbuildup. Since the rifles are nothard to find and most all seem tohave excellent bores (I have noidea why), firing a real piece ofshooting history is eminently pos-sible today.



There are things we think weknow from reading gun mag-azines for decades. I call this gun-writer wisdom. One such made amonkey out of me when a newSmith & Wesson Model 22 .45 ACPrevolver arrived. I called a friendat Smith & Wesson to complainthat its shallow rifling would neverhandle cast bullets well. His wiseresponse was, Have you tried it?No, I had not, because I knew fromreading gun magazines for 50 yearsthat such rifling would not griplead alloy bullets. So just to showhim, I put it in a machine rest andfired a few Remington .45 Auto-Rim factory loads with soft, 230-grain lead alloy bullets. It put themin a nice group at 25 yards. I had

to call my friend again and admitto not having any idea about whatI thought I knew.

Another bit of gun-writer wisdomwe all know is that the .44 Spe-cial is an inherently accurate re-volver cartridge. It is not at leastno more so than others, such as

.38 Special, .357 Magnum, .38-40,

.41 Magnum, .44-40, .44 Magnum,

.45 Colt or .45 Auto-Rim. In fact, Ido not think that revolver car-tridges hold the key to inherentaccuracy, which actually is a mis-nomer for precision.

In my experience, the source of

MIKES SHOOTIN SHACK by Mike Venturino

GUN-WRITER WISDOM

Mike embarrassed himselfby shooting this group

with very soft lead bulletsin a new S&W Model 22after he had complainedto a friend at the factory

that its shallow riflingcouldnt possibly shootsoft lead bullets well.

its worth, .45 Auto GovernmentModel specs were .450 and .451inch.

The true part is that some earlierColt SAAs did indeed have .454-inch barrel groove diameters. Ivechecked several dating from thelate nineteenth century to earlytwentieth century, give or take adecade (1890s and early 1900s).Some of those with .454-inch bar-rels had chamber mouths measur-ing only .450/.451 inch.

Some gun writers decades backcharged the .45 Colts lack of in-herent precision to small chargesof fast-burning, smokeless pow-

ders floating about in its voluminous case. Iknow, for I was one. Theproblem, however, waswith factory revolverspecs and not with pow-der charges. In those daysColt, S&W and Ruger .45 Colts had .451-inchbarrel groove diametersbut .456/.457-inch cham-

revolver accuracy is the quality ofthe handgun in which the car-tridges are fired, or perhaps betterstated, the match-up of dimensionsof those revolvers. In essence, thechamber dimensions should coin-cide with the barrels interior di-mensions with a related factorbeing the smoothness of the bar-rels forcing cones. That is takingfor granted that the ammunition factory load or handload is ofgood quality.

Here are some examples. ColtSingle Action Army revolvers havebeen stand-out offenders in this re-gard. Once I owned an early 1980s,nickel-plated .44 Specialwith a 4.75-inch barrel.From a machine rest, itwould not group 10 shotsunder 4 inches at 25 yards.Why? It had a barrel groovediameter of .427 inch, ashave all Colt SAA .44 Spe-cials, Russians and .44-40snominally. However, itschamber mouths were all

.435 inch. I traded it to a fellow fora Shiloh Sharps .45-70. He didntcare how well it shot because itwas pretty.

Another bit of gun-writer wisdomis that pre-World War II Colt SAA.45s were given barrel groove di-ameters of .454 inch, while post-war Colts (reintroduced circa 1955)were given .451-inch groove diam-eters. Thats not exactly false, butnot exactly true either. I have aColt factory spec sheet dated 1922that gives barrel groove diametersfor both SAAs and New Service.45s as .451 inch (minimum) and.452 inch (maximum). For what

The reason many .45Colt revolvers havebeen less than super -lative in group shootingwasnt the fault of thecartridge itself. Theproblem was with oversize and varyingchamber mouths.

June-July 2014 www.handloadermagazine.com 31


ber mouths. After I started to ex-periment myself and found that iflead alloy bullets of .454 and even.455 inch were fired in those .45Colts, they became very accuratewith the same powder charges giv-ing poor accuracy with .451/.452-inch bullets. Another method toget around the mishmash dimen-sion problem with .45 Colts was touse hollowbase, soft lead alloybullets. Dave Scovill has coveredhis successes with Remingtons250-grain conical hollowbase inhis columns several times.

Another bit of gun-writer wisdomthat I have come to truly despiseis that we have placed untold em-phasis on group shooting in the

guise of advising readers to huntdown the best load. There is nosuch thing, as Ive come to realize.Components vary from lot to lot,so do conditions at the range, andshooter competence can changefrom day to day. In other words,group shooting past a certain pointis a waste and I actually enjoyshooting groups!

Once a handload has been foundthat delivers bullets into groupssuitably tight for the type of fire -arm, then further group shootinggains the shooter nothing. Whatare suitable groups? I would sayabout 2.0 inches at 25 yards fornon-competition grade pistols andrevolvers. For a scoped bolt-action,big-game rifle, I am happy with 112MOA groups at any distance. Ofcourse, for a varmint rifle, oneshould be happy if the rifle deliv-ered clusters about half that. Withmy old, iron-sighted leverguns,groups of 2 to 3 MOA are enough.

Once rifles or handguns reliablydeliver that sort of precision, shoot-ers are far better served by usingtheir trigger time to actually hitsomething with a bullet one at a time. Thats what I do now withmy various military rifles whenweather and work allow me tospend an afternoon pleasure shoot-ing from my shooting shack. Ihave targets of various sizes atvarious ranges out to 300 yards,and I work at actually hitting whatI am aiming at.

Hows that for a bit of gun-writerwisdom?

Once a varmint rifle will cluster shotslike this, additional group shooting is awaste of time and components. Instead,focus on putting bullets in specific spots.

CooperModel 54.243Winchester

Shooting Midweight Bullets and Modern Powders

Charles E. Petty

Back in the late 1950swhen the debate du jourwas .243 Winchester ver-sus .244 Remington or

.270 Winchester versus .30-06, Iwas conflicted. OConnor souredme on the .270, and it was com-mon knowledge that 6mm any-things were much too small forbig game. One of the universalcurses of late teens is that thingsrarely go where you think theywill, so instead of getting a rifle,I got the U.S. Air Force.

Bob Maddox shot the Cooper .243Winchester with an assortment offactory and handloaded ammunition.

34 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 290

A charge of 11.0 grains of Trail Boss andan 85-grain Sierra bullet gave this 0.17-inch, 50-yard group with the Cooper.


Real cut checkeringand a hand-rubbed

finish set theCooper apart.

Years later when I got out andneeded a deer rifle, it was almostcertain it would be a .30-06. Thistime economics intervened, and Ifound a great deal on a left-handedRemington 788 6mm Remington. Iwas a bit concerned about powerthe first time I went hunting withthe 788, but the deer fell in histracks, graveyard dead, with oneshot. Lesson learned.

At home my hunting was geo-graphically confined to deer andgroundhogs, and the 6mm was justright. That rifle served well, and Ihave it still, but I had always beencurious about the .243 Winchester.Well, when the chance came to testone of Coopers new magazine-fed,left-handed rifles, it wasnt hard topick a caliber.

I am a long-time owner of severalCooper rifles, all single shots cham-bered for varmint-class cartridgeslike .223 and .22-250 Remingtons.My very first one, though, was a.221 Fireball, which most folksthink is obsolete. Its not, just un-derappreciated.

Coopers well-deserved claim tofame has two parts: nice wood thatdoesnt look like it came out of acookie cutter with checkering thatisnt pressed in and a hand-rubbedfinish done just the way they teachin gunsmithing school. Second is a virtually endless list of calibers re-cently expanded to include beltedmagnums all the way up to .338 Win-chester Magnum, and test targetsthat are almost always one hole.

that didnt kick much. Of course,orthopedic injuries take awhile,and a couple of months went byand it still hurt. Call me a wimp ifyou like, but I dont think it fair totest a rifle if you arent capable ofyour best shooting. The good newsis that I have a friend who helpsme often, who is just as good ashot, so I asked Bob Maddox to dothe shooting.

Its funny, but nobody at the rangesays anything when they see meshooting a right-handed rifle, but it drew a crowd when they sawBob shooting a port-sided gun. Ina way, it was interesting to watchthrough the spotting scope as heshot, and I saw something prettycommon for light rifles with scopethe Cooper weighs 812 pounds with skinny barrels. The first twoshots of a group would cuddlenicely, sometimes well within .5inch, and the third would doubleor triple the group size. Barrel tem-perature is often thought responsi-ble for stuff like that, and thatstrue, especially with a cold barrel.However, that didnt seem to betrue here, because the phenome-non occurred both with the barrelnicely warm or stone cold. Theconfusing thing is that it didnt doit all the time.

As is my custom, shooting beganwith several factory loads to estab-lish a baseline, and then a series of handloads were shot. Since thegoal was to look at new compo-nents, bullets and powders withwhich I had little or no experiencewere used. Fortunately, these daysloading data is usually available by the time components hit the mar-ket, so even though three of the fourpowders were complete strangers,I had good starting points. The onlyexception was with the 90-grainbullet and Power Pro 2000-MR, so I fell back on an old standby,Reloder 15.

In the last few years powder man-ufacturing has changed a bunch,and makers are now able to craftpropellants to fit relatively narrowniches in the market. Three new

When the rifle came, I startedgathering stuff and studying all thenew components available todayand designing a test program. Ajazzy Zeiss Victory FL 4x16 scopewith its new Rapid Z reticle wasmounted, and as the componentsarrived, handloading began. Some-where along the way, I acquired a pain in my left shoulder. Eventhough the .243 Winchester ishardly a hard-kicker, a few roundsdrove me to the doctor. He pokedand prodded. Does it hurt when I do this? Owie . . . Well, dontdo this. The x-rays showed nopermanent damage, and the kindlyorthopod said, All you need is alittle tincture of time.

The project went on the backburner, and I worked with stuff


well in winds, which are a givencondition when shooting across avalley or two. Deer were whackedwith 85- or 90-grain bullets. So Istarted with a Berger 70-grain Tar-get, Barnes 80-grain TTSX (TippedTriple-Shock X) and Swift 90-grainScirocco II.

I have been a longtime fan of the Barnes X-Bullets, and the newversions with grooves in the body

curacy observation here isthat the majority of loadstried achieved the vauntedminute of angle, and thecombination of Barnes andIMR was almost half that.Some shooters believe laminate orcomposite stocks must be usedfor best ac curacy, but Cooper hasbuilt its reputation by doing it withnice walnut, real checkering and a

mended by Hodgdon, the case wasfirst filled with powder to thepoint representing the base of theseated bullet and weighed. Then Istarted with 75 percent of theweight and loaded 9.0-, 10.0- and11.0-grain charges. Running lowon the Barnes TTSX, an 85-grainSierra was used instead.

My early work with Trail Boss intypical centerfire high-power riflecartridges was concerned with ve-locity and recoil, which providedonly impressions about accuracy.It seemed pretty good, but I reallywasnt shooting groups. But afterwatching the Cooper exhibit whatI think of as skinny barrel accu-racy groups getting bigger as thebarrel gets hotter and knowingthat the modest charges of Trail

Cooper.243Winchester

All thepowders

used in thetest are

newcomers.

Factory Load Accuracy extreme

load velocity spread accuracy(grains) (fps) (fps) (inches)

85 Black Hills Barnes TSX 3,017 66 1.08; 2 in .4195 Federal Fusion 2,769 122 0.99; 2 in .3190 Nosler E-Tip 3,217 53 1.51; 2 in 1.01

Table I

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powders were chosen: IMR-4007SSC, Hodgdon Hybrid 100V andAlliant Power Pro 2000-MR. Bulletselection is actually problematic,because you can shoot everythingfrom 55 up to 115 grains in 6mmbores. One of the great beauties ofthe .243 or 6mm is that it canlive happily in the worlds of bothvarmint and big game hunters.

Much of my experience has beenwith eastern whitetails and the wilygroundhog that frequents moun-tain pastures that can present shotsat many hundreds of yards. Thatcaused me to eliminate the lighterbullets, because they dont do as

to reduce contact surfaces donicely with data for conventionalbullets, but they keep the expan-sion and weight retention of theearlier models. The Cooper quicklydelivered a favorite combinationthat turned out to be the new IMR-4007 SSC (super short cut) and theBarnes 80-grain TTSX.

Perhaps the most important ac-

finish applied by hand instead of aspray gun.

After Bob was through with theaccuracy testing and load workups,I really wanted to shoot the littleCooper; so even though my shoul-der was better, I decided to trysome reduced velocity loads usingIMR Trail Boss (Handloader No.265). Using the formula recom-

Handloads used bullets from Berger, Barnes and Swift.


Boss do not heat up nearly as fast,I shot some groups. There was anabsolute correlation between ve-locity and accuracy.

With most varmint and benchrestcartridges in the smaller calibers,best accuracy is usually found ator near the top of the chart, but as the Trail Boss loads were shot,the improvement in accuracy wasdramatic as the speed went up.That certainly fit the pattern, butthe difference between top chargesof conventional powder with thoseof Trail Boss cant be explainedthat way. I think heat really is an issue, because when we shotequal numbers of rounds with twoclasses of powder, the barrel wastoo hot to touch after 10 to 15rounds of stick powder but onlyslightly warm after Trail Boss.That cant be the only factor, how-ever. Logic suggests there is a

real happy harmonic at around1,500 fps.

Shooters always learn lessons onthe way to somewhere else, andthis one is great: You dont have to shoot hot loads to have fun, and after I finished the formal partof the Trail Boss test, I loaded upa bunch of ammunition and set outon a mission. There are any num-ber of annoying rocks and weedsout on the backstop that requireattention, so the neat little Cooperhas acquired new status as a high-grade plinker. It doesnt make muchnoise, and the modest recoil letsme clearly see the demise of thoseoffensive rocks and dirt clods.

The renewed interest in Trail Bossalso brings more opportunities. Myhunting days are limited, but Ivegot more than a few good rifleslanguishing in the safe and allthose nasty rocks.

.243 Winchester Handloadsbullet powder charge velocity accuracy(grains) (grains) (fps) (inches)

70 Berger Target IMR-4007 SSC 41.5 3,115 0.99 43.5 3,303 1.11 45.5 3,520 1.71 Hybrid 100V 42.0 3,109 1.91 44.0 3,241 1.18 46.0 3,424 1.90 Power Pro 2000-MR 41.0 3,294 0.96 43.0 3,482 1.41 45.0 3,619 1.1980 Barnes TTSX IMR-4007 SSC 39.0 2,953 0.91 41.0 3,137 0.62 43.0 3,313 0.59 Hybrid 100V 40.0 2,978 1.37 42.0 3,201 1.18 44.0 3,389 1.30 Power Pro 2000-MR 39.0 3,110 1.05 41.0 3,235 1.21 43.0 3,411 0.7790 Swift Scirocco II IMR-4007 SSC 39.0 3,032 1.71 40.5 3,170 1.25 41.5 3,309 1.42 Hybrid 100V 40.0 2,755 1.60 42.0 2,880 1.33 44.0 3,000 2.50 RL-15 34.0 2,869 0.70 36.0 3,042 0.75 38.0 3,168 1.0385 Sierra HP Trail Boss 9.0 1,347 0.48 10.0 1,399 0.30 11.0 1,478 0.17Notes: The 85-grain Sierra HP loads are reduced recoil. Velocities are the average of five shots at 12feet. Accuracy is three-shot groups at 100 yards from benchrest.

Be Alert Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

Table II

New Powders for the.30-30 Win chester

ACCURATE LT-32

Rob Behr of Western Powders (Accurate and Ram -shot) said LT-32 was originally a military surplus pow-der sold under the Thunderbird name decades ago andwas the powder for the 6mm PPC. We specified a sec-ondary coating for stability, and General Dynamics inCanada is making it for us, Behr said. LT-32s burning

John Haviland

The .30-30 Winchester is such along-lived cartridge, its easyto become complacent andload it with a traditional pow-

der and call it good. Recently, though,I noticed handloading manuals listedseveral new powders for the .30-30, afew of which significantly increasedvelocity. After loading and shootingthese powders with 150-, 160- and170-grain bullets, I found accuracywas great too.

Most of these recent powders are intended primarilyfor cartridges like the .223 Remington and .308 Win-chester, but as luck would have it, powders suitablefor those cartridges also work well in the .30-30 Win-chester. These powders include Accurate LT-32; Al-liant Power Pro 1200-R; Hodgdon CFE 223, IMR-8208XBR and LEVERevolution; and Ramshot TAC.


These Montana homesteaders, in

the early 1900s, used

lever-action .30-30s for a pole fu

ll of whitetail deer.

New Powders for the.30-30 Win chester

rate falls between Reloder 7 and H-4198, which makes it relatively fastfor the .30-30 Winchester. Its chiefingredient is nitrocellulose, andthe single-base, extruded powderhas fine kernels.

LT-32 produced fairly high veloc-

ities with 150- and 170-grain bulletsshot from the 24-inch barrel of aWinchester Model 94 Legacy rifle.Extreme velocity spreads were 8fps with 150-grain bullets and 32fps with 170s. So the loads strangeaccuracy was rather mediocre with

groups shot with 150- and 170-grain bullets having a vertical stringto them.

ALLIANT POWER PRO 1200-R

Alliant states this double-based,spherical powder provides consis-tent velocity across a range of tem-perature and humidity extremes.The 150- and 170-grain bullets shottight groups with 1200-R, with threeSierra Pro-Hunter 170-grain FN bul-lets landing in .84 inch. The firstthree 150-grain Ballistic Silvertipsshot a 1.46-inch group. To makesure that group was not a fluke, Ifired three more 150s, and theyclustered in 1.65 inches.

Velocities were about 70 to 100fps slower than those listed for150- and 170-grain bullets in the Al-liant Reloaders Guide 2013. Thespeeds I recorded with the powderwere not all that fast compared toother powders, but then 1200-R isa relatively fast burning powder,

Testing New Loads forVelocity and Accuracy

Left, with open sights, Hornady 160-grain FTX bullets and LEVERevolutionpowder shot acceptable 100-yardgroups. Below, jacketed bullets used to test new powders include (left toright): Combined Technology 150-grain Ballistic Silvertip, Hornady 160-grainFTX and Sierra Pro-Hunter 170-grainFlat Nose. Bullets cast of wheelweightsfrom a SAECO 307 180 FPGC mould(right) were also used.

and a rather light amount of it is loaded in the .30-30 Winchester.For instance, LEVERevolution loadsuse about 10.0 grains more powderthan 1200-R. That additional LEVER -evolution powder results in a gainof 200 fps for 150-grain bullets and


While velocity of 170-grain bullets was not too impressive with Power Pro1200-R, accuracy was great.


CFE 223 shot groups slightlyunder and over an inch with thethree different bullets. Thats ex-cellent accuracy from a rifle witha Nikon 1.5-4.5x 20mm scope thatprovides just enough definition tosee a one-inch aiming square at100 yards. Those tight groups onlyoccur, though, when the barrel re-mains cool. When the rifle heatsup from six or more shots, themagazine and forearm clamped onthe barrel act like shackles thatapply stress and cause bullets todrift off target like leaves carriedon the breeze.

CFE 223s burning rate is at theslow end of powders suitable forthe .30-30 Winchester. From aModel 94 with a 20-inch barrel,CFE 223s velocity with 150-grainbullets was nearly 200 fps slower,and 170s were 100 fps slower thanfrom a 24-inch barrel.

IMR-8208 XBR

According to Hodgdon, this short-grain, extruded

handloader 2014-06-07

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