$4.99 U.S./$5.99 Canada

August 2005 No. 236Rifle Magazine Presents - HANDLOADER

Printed in USA0 74808 01240 4

0 8

$4.99US $5.99CAN

New Load Data!• .44 S&W Special• .38 Super Auto• 7.62x54R

New Load Data!• .44 S&W Special• .38 Super Auto• 7.62x54R

FamousHandguns:WebleyMk VI

Ruger’sMark IIIRevised andUpdated!

Ruger’sMark IIIRevised andUpdated!

Handloading Tips:• Custom Bullet Moulds• Case Trimming• Priming

Handloading Tips:• Custom Bullet Moulds• Case Trimming• Priming

DANGER SIGNS: VELOCITY & PRESSURE!

4 Handloader 236

AMMUNAMMUNITITIONON REL RELOADING NG JOJOURURNALAL

RIFLE'SFLE'S August-September 2005Volume 40, Number 4

ISSN 0017-7393Issue No. 236

34 Handloading the.44 S&W SpecialLoads for anAmerican ClassicBrian Pearce

44 OverlookedReloading StepAre YouTrimming Cases?John Haviland

52 Webley Mk VILast of the BritishService RevolversAl Miller

62 Velocity andPressureAn Overviewof Internal andExternal BallisticsJohn Barsness

72 Handloadingthe 7.62x54RLong Gone butNot ObsoleteMike Venturino

6 ChecksandBalancesReloader’sPress -Dave Scovill

12 .58 U.S.MusketCartridge Board -Gil Sengel

18 Custom BulletMouldsMike’s Shootin’ Shack -Mike Venturino

22 IMR-7828 SSCPropellant Profiles -R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

26 PrimingFrom the Hip -Brian Pearce

28 Ruger Mark IIIRevised andUpdated

Clair Rees

Page 28. . .

Page 18. . .

Page 26. . .

Page 44. . .

Page 72. . .

5August-September 2005

On the cover . . .The Kimber Model 1911Custom Stainless II ischambered for the .45ACP, .40 S&W and .38Super. The Ruger Mark IIIfeatures a 51⁄2-inch barreland target sights.

80 HandloadingColt’s .38 SuperIn Search of the

“Wonder” LoadBob Campbell

90 Top BrassProduct Tests -

98 .45 Versus .44Bullets & Brass -

02 What’s New inthe MarketplaceInside Product News -Clair Rees

10 Which Manual?Hunting Handloads -John Barsness

Page 62Page 80Page 28

Publisher of Handloader™ is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of publishedloading data or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproducedwithout written permission from the publisher. Publisher assumes all North American Rights upon acceptance andpayment for all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility forlost or mutilated manuscripts.

Publisher/President – Mark Harris

Editor in Chief – Dave Scovill

Managing Editor – Roberta Montgomery

Art Director – Gerald Hudson

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Associate Editor – Al Miller

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Handloader® (ISSN 0017-7393) is published bi-monthly by Mark Harris Publishing Associates, Inc.,dba Wolfe Publishing Company (Mark Harris, Presi-dent), 2625 Stearman Rd., Ste. A, Prescott, Arizona86301. (Also publisher of Rifle® magazine.) Tele-phone (928) 445-7810. Periodical Postage paid atPrescott, Arizona, and additional mailing offices.Subscription prices: U.S. possessions – single issue,$4.99; 6 issues, $19.97; 12 issues, $36.00; 18 issues,$48.00. Foreign and Canada – single issue, $5.99; 6issues $26.00; 12 issues, $48.00; 18 issues, $69.00.Please allow 6-8 weeks for first issue. Advertisingrates furnished on request. All rights reserved.Change of address: Please give six weeks notice.

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Copyright © Mark Harris Publishing Associates, Inc.

John Barsness

Brian Pearce

Clair Rees

Gil Sengel

Ron Spomer

Stan Trzoniec

Mike Venturino

Ken Waters

Issue No. 236 August-September 2005

AMMUNAMMUNITITIONON REL RELOADING NG JOJOURURNALAL

Page 80. . .

Page 102. . .

Background Photo: © 2005 L. Voorhis/Royal Tine Images

102

110

6 Handloader 236

don’t have the time, but I dowork on personal projects quite abit, and while most standardpowder charges are etchedsomewhere in the back of myhead – like 16.5 grains of 2400with RCBS 45-270-SAA cast bul-lets or 250-grain Remingtonswaged lead bullets over 7.3grains of W-231 in the .45 Colt – Ido venture into new territorynow and then, such as the 7mmand .325 WSM. I used W-760 inboth cartridges, since it is closestto the non-canister powder Win-chester uses in factory loads, butthere was data available for the7mm, and all I had to do waswork up a suitable load.

The .325 WSM was another mat-ter entirely, since no load datawas available. So I started fromscratch, working up in one-grainincrements from 10 percentbelow a charge used in factoryloads. The list of loads used waslogged in my ledger and tapedto the upper shelf on the load-ing bench while work was inprogress. Final charges werechosen by miking case heads andcomparing that data to factoryloads as described in Hand-

loader No. 235.

Now those loads are pro-grammed into the memory of theRCBS 1500 and entered in the logbook. Maybe I’m getting lazy orsomething after 50 years of hand-loading, but the memory featurein the 1500 is just too easy.

Many years ago, as an aspiringfreelance outdoor/shooting/hunt-ing/handloading writer, I sub-scribed to the magazine Writer’s

Digest. I was using an Olympicelectric typewriter at the timebut followed new developmentsin computers and word process-ing programs. In one issue, a

generation measure/trickler thatwas a bit, well . . . sluggish. Thenew unit is also smaller, morecompact, and takes up less spaceon the bench – and on my benchthat is a decided plus.

I suppose the feature that at-tracted me the most was the pro-grammable memory. I don’t dofeature handloading projects any-more, mostly because I simply

More recently, the second gen-eration of measures/scales hasfine-tuned the powder measuringchore a bit more. The one I’musing now is the RCBS Charge-Master 1500 Scale and Dispenser.As the name implies, it consistsof a scale and dispenser that areconnected to work as an integralunit. It is programmable, withmemory for up to 30 charges, andsomewhat faster than the first

John Wootters once said the

magnetic dampened balancepowder scale was the greatest in-vention in the evolution of hand-loading. If that’s true, then theelectronic powder scale tops thebalance scale by a measure of 9,heck, make it 10 on a scale of 10.

The problem with a balancescale is time – it takes lots of it todump the powder in the pan,wait for the scale to stop oscillat-ing, then top the charge off ortake a bit of powder out of thepan, and wait for the scale to sta-bilize. Then adjust the powder abit more, and wait again, repeat-ing each step until the desiredpowder charge is obtained. Evenif you use a powder measure todump the initial charge, it will beoff just a tad one way or theother, and requires fine-tuning –more time.

An electronic powder scalereads the weight of the charge al-most immediately and reacts tofine-tuning in a second or so. Inretrospect, an electronic powderscale would have saved days,possibly weeks, when I was aver-aging well over 1,000 rounds aweek, 52 weeks a year using thebalance scale for handgun andrifle reloading projects, some-times three or four projects at atime.

When the new electronic pow-der measure with integral scalesshowed up a few years ago,the handloading process wasspeeded up a bit more, althoughthe real time savings was withlarger powder charges used inrifles. Handgun cartridges couldstill be charged fairly quicklywith a volume dipper and/ormeasure and/or electronic scalewith cases set up in loadingblocks.

www.handloadermagazine.com

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Handloader 236

columnist went on sort of a rantregarding word processors – ex-plaining, “If you are a writer, orpretend to be one, and you aren’tusing a word processor (as op-posed to a typewriter) you are anidiot.”

Those were somewhat harshwords, but later I went to thelocal Radio Shack and bought aTRS-80 computer, a word pro-cessing program and a printer.The ensemble was primitive bypresent standards (it had to beprogrammed to do anything), butit worked, although I could typefaster than the printer couldprint.

As personal computers evolved,I tried to keep up, and finally justquit, mostly because of the pro-hibitive cost of keeping up, andwent back to the electric type-writer. Then, a few years back, I

decided it would be a lot betterfor me (and the other folks in theoffice) if I at least had a com-puter in my office – just in case Imight learn how to use it. So it iswith electronic powder measuresand scales.

It’s just a guess, but I’ve beenusing an electronic powder scalefor five years or so. When thenew dispensers came out, I re-jected them outright – muchslower than doing the job manu-ally. Now that the RCBS 1500 issitting on the loading bench, andI’ve had a chance to becomesomewhat familiar with it – I’mstill learning – I’m inclined to re-member the comment by thatcolumnist many years ago, toparaphrase and tone it down abit, “If you think you want to be ahandloader and you aren’t usingan electronic scale (and dis-penser), you’re kidding yourself.”

The following is the result of ahunt a couple of months back, asthis is written. The rifle was aKimber Model 8400 that was re-barreled to .325 WSM by BillAtkinson (910 Garland Drive,Prescott AZ 86305) with a 26-inchDouglas barrel and a Dave Man-son .325 reamer. Velocities were3,080 fps for the 200 grainers and3,187 fps for the 180-grain BarnesTriple-Shock. A Swarovski 4-12xrail mount scope was mountedon Weaver bases and set on 5x to6x throughout the hunt.

The first animal addressed withthe Model 8400 was a blackwildebeest at 190 to 200 yards,slightly downhill, with the bullfacing the rifle. The 200-grainNosler AccuBond hit an inch orso to the right of dead center inthe chest. The bull dropped in histracks. The recovered bullet wasa bit roughed up but penetratedabout two feet, making a seriousmess of the clockwork.

A gemsbok was taken at around80 yards, again facing the rifle.The Barnes 180-grain Triple-

8 www.handloadermagazine.com

.325 WSM BULLET

PERFORMANCE IN NAMIBIA

These recovered bullets are fairly representative of performance inplains game. Left to right, Barnes Triple-Shock (gemsbok), Swift A-Frame (red hartebeest) and Triple-Shock (zebra).

Handloader 236

Shock hit dead center, and theanimal ran a few feet and fellover. The bullet passed over theheart and was recovered fromthe lower stomach.

Another gemsbok took a 200-grain A-Frame behind the shoul-der, about midway between thesternum and top of the back as itstood broadside about 80 to 90yards. It dropped immediatelybut was shot again in the lowerneck with a 200-grain AccuBond.Neither bullet penetrated com-pletely but were not recovered.(The insurance shot on the gems-bok, or any spiral-horned animal,is basically because even a seri-ously wounded bull can get upand stick one or both of thoselong, beautiful horns throughyou.)

A bull kudu was shot broadsideat around 80 yards with a 180-

grain Triple-Shock just below thespine. The bull dropped instantly,but an insurance shot was admin-istered from a few yards to finishthe matter. Both bullets passedthrough.

A blue wildebeest was hit witha Barnes Triple-Shock at about225 yards just below the spine.The bull tried to get up but wasfinished with a similarly placedshot but from the opposite side,from a range of around 150 to160 yards. Both bullets passedthrough.

grain Barnes Triple-Shock. Thebull staggered and fell over.

Yet another gemsbok was hit abit off the mark – I was aiming atthe last rib for a forward rackingshot from the left side, similar tothe hartebeest mentioned above– in the left leg with a Swift A-Frame at something less than100 yards. The bullet exited theupper leg and entered the lowerstomach, traveling forward to theright lung. Averaging estimatesoffered by the ProfessionalHunter Pete Kibble, the tracker,

10 www.handloadermagazine.com

A 600- to 700-pound Hartman’smountain zebra was hit at a bit ofan angle, behind the shoulder onthe left side at a measured 174yards. The Barnes Triple-Shockstopped in the offside shoulder,and the animal dropped where itstood.

A red hartebeest was hit nearthe last rib on the left side at aslight quartering angle. The SwiftA-Frame stopped in the shoulderon the offside. The beast ran afew yards and dropped.

Craig Boddington borrowed theKimber 8400 and shot a gemsbokclose behind the shoulder ataround 100 yards with the 180-

This exceptional kudu was taken with a Barnes Triple-Shock at about75 to 80 yards.

Professional Hunter Pete Kibble and cameraman Tyge Floyd joined inthe hunt for Hartman’s mountain zebra.

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the cameraman and myself, thebull covered close to five milesbefore collapsing. I don’t know ifthe bullet hit a limb, it was a bitbrushy, or if I misjudged theangle. Either way the result is thesame: a poor hit.

In all, the first .325 WSM toenter Africa produced fine re-sults on plains game rangingfrom 300-pound wildebeest to600- to 700-pound zebra withthree bullets. Not to ignore theerrant shot placement on thegemsbok, all three bullets pene-trated well and dropped a varietyof plains game with considerableauthority.

As an anecdote to the effective-ness of the .325 WSM, several ofour party were gathered on thepatio. There was a discussion re-garding a bit of difficulty onehunter had in putting a particularanimal on the ground. I noticedPete and his tracker, Poulus,were having their own little par-lay as well. Then Pete walkedover and said, “Poulus thinksthey should let the old manshoot.” I had no idea who he wasreferring to and asked, “Who’sthat?” Pete raised his index fin-ger, pointed it at my nose and of-fered in his best British brogue,“You, because you have the biggun, old boy.” (Of course, Pouluswas not referring to “big caliber,”but “big medicine.”)

For those who might be con-templating a hunt in Africa forplains game, contact Dirk De-Bod, Dirk DeBod Safaris Namibia(PO Box 11621, Windhoek Na-mibia; phone 011-26461221038). Ihad the pleasure of hunting withPete Kibble for most of the 10-day excursion and enjoyed hisexpertise and sense of humor im-mensely. The accommodationswere first-class, and as Bodding-ton quipped when we first en-tered our tent, “This is the firsttime I’ve been in a tent that’snicer than my house.” And hehadn’t even seen the plush bath-tub and chrome plumbing in theback of the tent!

August-September 2005 11www.handloadermagazine.com

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44 Handloader 236

John Haviland

The stunned look on myson’s face indicated some-thing had gone wrong withthe cartridge he had just

fired. Opening the bolt on his Rem-ington Model Seven rifle requiredtapping the handle with a hammer.The primer pocket of the fired7mm-08 case was blown to abouttwice its normal size, and the caseand bolt face were covered withblack soot from escaping powdergas. Brian’s safety glasses hadshielded his eyes, and other thana few flecks of powder that hadstung his cheek, he was no worsefor the wear.

case mouth could not safely ex-pand to release the bullet. Thepressure went through the roof.

Ever since that evening, I havechecked to make certain everyrifle case is the correct lengthbefore reloading it. Paying at-tention to that neglected re-

The question remained, though, of what hadcaused the cartridge to develop such excessivepressure. I had loaded the 7mm-08 with a reducedpowder charge to lessen recoil for practice. A dou-ble charge of the powder would not fit in a case.However, just to make certain, I weighed each ofthe remaining cartridges. I also measured the lengthof the cartridges and the cases. Of the 80-some re-maining cartridges, two of the cases measured way

www.handloadermagazine.com

Are You Trimming Cases?Are You Trimming Cases?

Facing page, cases stretch most when they are inserted in a resizing die. Below, trimmingcases is an often overlooked reloading step. The difference in the maximum length andtrim-to length of most cases is .01 inch. Below right, this .01 inch is all the brass that hasto be cut off a .30-06 case to make reloads safe and more accurate.

Overlo Re

Overlo Reover the 7mm-08’s maximum

length of 2.035 inches.

I was confident those fewhundreds of an inch of exces-sive case length caused thehigh pressure that had jeopard-ized my son’s safety. On cham-bering, the mouth of the toolong case neck jammed into thefront of the chamber throat.Closing the bolt jammed thecase mouth into the bullet. Thecase mouth was wedged sotightly between the bullet andthe chamber throat that the

August-September 2005 45www.handloadermagazine.com

okedloading Step

okedloading Step

Handloader 236

they had been fired with mini-mum and maximum amounts ofpowder. The .22-250 case has abody taper of .053 inch, a rela-tively large amount. The .22-250cases were neck-sized and full-length sized to determine whichsizing method kept case stretchto a minimum. The .25 WSSMcases have a body taper of only.010 inch, so they were all full-length sized.

After the Winchester factorycartridges were fired, the .22-250Remington cases measured from1.908 to 1.915 inches in length.

.22-250 cases from the two setsof light loads actually shrank .001inch in length. The two remain-ing cases stayed the same length.This ever so slight amount ofshrinkage may have been fromthe cases forming themselvesmore completely to the riflechamber. With real low-pressureloads, the force of the firingprimer may even shorten a caseenough to cause excessive head-space. The five neck-sized andfive full-length sized cases loadedwith the maximum amount ofpowder remained the samelength after firing.

(The .22-250’s trim-to length is1.902 inches, and maximum caselength is 1.912 inches.) I neck-sized half the cases and full-length sized the remaining halfand trimmed all the cases to1.902 inches in length. Five eachof the neck-sized and five each ofthe full-length sized cases wereloaded with 31.0 grains and 36.0grains of Varget powder andSierra 55-grain BlitzKing bul-lets. The loads were fired in anold Ruger Model 77 .22-250 Rem-ington.

Believe it or not, 8 of the 10

The .25 WSSM cases were full-length resized and trimmed to1.660 inches in length. Half thecases were loaded with 42.0grains and the other half with44.5 grains of H-4350 and Hor-nady 117-grain Spire Point boat-tails (SPBT). The length of the.25 super short cases remainedunchanged when fired with thelight amount of powder. Thecases firing the maximum amountof powder grew in length, at themost, .002 inch.

The resizing die is where thecases stretched in length.

loading step has made my hand-loads safer, a better quality andmore accurate. Along the way Ialso learned a few techniques tominimize case stretching andfound a few tools to reduce thetime required to trim cases.

CASE STRETCH CAUSES

Cases supposedly stretch onfiring and lengthen even morewhen fired with a maximum

amount of powder. Case bodieswith a lot of taper from theirhead to the shoulder also pur-portedly stretch an inordinateamount. To determine how muchcases of various designs stretchon firing, I measured a batch ofonce-fired Winchester factoryloaded .22-250 Remington casesand .25 Winchester Super ShortMagnum cases before and after

46 www.handloadermagazine.com

OverlookedOverlooked

Left, cartridges that require acrimp on the bullet cannelure allmust be trimmed to the samelength. Above, a case must be ofthe correct length for a propercrimp on the bullet.

Case necks grow inlength during insertion

into the sizing die.

August-September 2005 47www.handloadermagazine.com

The once-fired Winchester fac-tory .22-250 Remington casesgrew in length .002 inch whenhalf the length of their neckswas sized by backing a full-length

sizing die out of the press a cou-ple turns. In comparison, full-length sized cases grew in lengthabout .005 inch. The extra lengthwas no doubt from sizing the

case body and the fact that thesqueezed down brass had to gosomewhere.

The .25 WSSM cases stretched asimilar amount. Fired with the

Above, with this RCBS Trim Pro about 150 cases perhour can be trimmed. Right, a hand-powered trim-mer, like the Forster, works fine for trimming a lim-ited number of cases. Its adjustable collet acceptscases with about any size head.

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Handloader 236

CARRYING OUT A BORING JOB

When I was first married, theonly rifle cartridges I reloadedwere the .30-06 and .250 Savage. Ihad only a few boxes of cases ata time to trim. So in the evenings,my wife read her mystery novels,

rod from the resizing die as I re-moved the case. This left the ex-pander ball inside the case. Imeasured the case length, thenran it back into the die farenough to rethread the decap-ping rod. Measuring the case

pander ball to easily slip throughcase necks and, I was sure,stopped any stretching of thenecks. About all lubricating thenecks does, though, is reducewear on the inside of the necks.

Case necks grow in length dur-

ing insertion into the sizing die,not when the cases are removedand the necks dragged over theexpander ball. I ran a .25 WSSMcase into an RCBS resizing die,then unthreaded the decapping

after it had been pulled out of thedie and over the expander ballshowed no increase in length.This test was done with severalcases, and none of them changedin length.

minimum amount of powder, thecases lengthened .003 and .004inch. Cases that fired the maxi-mum powder charge grew .004inch. However, after .25 WSSMcases have been fired a few times,they do seem to quit stretching.

For years I thought a case neckstretched at least somewhatwhen an expander ball in a resiz-ing die was pulled squeaking andrasping through the inside of adry neck. Lightly lubricating theinside of case necks removed thegrating noise, allowed the ex-

48 www.handloadermagazine.com

OverlookedOverlooked

Above, the RCBS Trim Mate Case Prep Center deburrsthe outsides of case mouths, chamfers the insides ofcase mouths and cleans primer pockets. Above right,a hand tool can quickly deburr and chamfer casemouths. Right, the RCBS 3-Way Cutter fits on theTrim Pro Power Case Trimmer. The 3-Way Cuttertrims a case to length, chamfers the inside of thecase mouth and an outside blade deburrs the mouth.

One way to reduce time setting up a trimmer is to keep a case that hasbeen trimmed to the proper length with reloading dies.

Repeated trimming isunnecessary when anRCBS X-Die is used.

and I sat across the room, littlesqueaks coming from the Leehand tool as I trimmed cases, onetwist of the cutter at a time.Small bumps of muscles formedon my index finger and thumbfrom hours of twisting the Leecase trimmer.

For my birthday one year, mywife gave me a Forster case trim-mer. The Forster’s collet held andreleased cases with a flick of thewrist. I could crank the Forster’shandle pretty fast too. Afterawhile I rigged up my powerhand drill to the cutter shaft. Thetrimming didn’t go much faster,but it did give my hand a rest. Idid find it was faster to cycleevery case in a batch through thetrimmer, instead of measuringeach case to determine if itneeded trimming.

A few years ago, I bought aproper power trimmer, an RCBSTrim Pro Power Case Trimmer.It’s really no faster than a manualtrimmer to trim a small numberof cases. Most of the time is con-sumed stopping the trimmer, re-moving a case, inserting anothercase and turning the trimmerback on. Recently it took about40 minutes to trim 90 .204 Rugercases. I can trim that many casesin the same amount of time witha hand-powered trimmer, butmany more cases than that andthe power trimmer starts to savetime and energy.

Another 40 minutes was re-quired to deburr the outside ofthe .204’s case mouths, chamferthe inside of the case mouth andclean the primer flash holes withthe RCBS Trim Mate Case PrepCenter.

This past winter I looked reluc-tantly at a couple of gallon buck-ets of .223 Remington cases thatneeded reloading for the springcampaigns in the gopher fields.There was no way I was going tosit hunched over my reloadingbench for hours on end trim-ming, chamfering and deburringall those cases.

August-September 2005 49www.handloadermagazine.com

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Handloader 236

die’s mandrel is screwed in untilits lip comes into contact withthe case mouth. I’ve used an X-Die for the .270 Winchester setupthis way for five years. The casesgrew a few thousands of an inchat first, but then stabilized atslightly shorter than maximumlength. Every once in awhile atoo long case makes it into the X-die and the case buckles. Butthat’s a small price to pay forsuch convenience.

BETTER RELOADS

Ensuring all cases in a lot aretrimmed to a uniform length goesa long way in producing good re-loads and, if nothing else, attrac-tive cartridges.

One time I started loading sev-eral hundred .30-30 Winchestershells. I made sure none of thecases were over length. Butlargely through sloth, I didn’ttake the time to trim all the casesto the same length. Some of thefinished shells had their case

mouths crimped heavily in thebullets’ cannelures. Other shellshad little or no crimp. At therange one Saturday morning, apersnickety friend picked throughmy box of reloaded .30-30 car-tridges. His nose turned up morethan slightly.

My shells did border on defec-tive looking. The varying amountof crimps probably contributedto less than consistent velocityand perhaps accuracy. They firedadequately at the range. How-ever, that might not have beenthe situation in the hunting field.A cartridge with a light crimp onits bullet in the tubular magazinemay have had its bullet shovedinto the case from the recoil offiring or from just the pressure ofthe magazine spring. About thetime that shell’s turn came tocycle through the action, thebiggest buck of the season wouldhappen past. Of course, themessed up shell would seize upthe action.

Properly trimmed cases alsopromote accuracy, or at least re-move one cause of inaccuracy. Irecently trimmed several boxesof .22-250 Remington cases. Icarefully removed the burrs onthe inside and outside of themouths on most of the cases. Buton a few of the cases, I left a bitof a burr on the outside of themouths. Checked on a SinclairConcentricity Gage, the caseswith the smooth mouths thatwere loaded with Nosler 55-grainBallistic Tips had .002 inch bulletrunout. By comparison, caseswith a burr remaining on theirmouths had a bullet runout of upto .009 inch. That doesn’t takeinto consideration how cockeyedthese cartridges would sit in thechamber.

In the end, keeping casestrimmed to the proper length isprimarily a safety measure. Com-pleting this simple, yet oftenoverlooked, reloading step goes along way to guard the safety ofyour reloads and the people whoshoot them.

The next Saturday I drove tothe local sporting goods storeand bought an RCBS 3-Way Cut-ter that fit on the Trim Pro PowerCase Trimmer. The 3-Way Cutterreduced my time by half to trimall the cases. At the same time,the 3-Way Cutter trims cases tolength, a blade on the pilot cham-fers the case and an outsideblade deburrs the case mouth. Ifthis little tool had been available20 years ago, the time I wouldhave saved could have been di-rected toward building a boat tosail the oceans or earning a de-gree in brain surgery.

Repeated trimming is unneces-sary when an RCBS X-Die is usedbecause the X-die stops stretch-ing in the die. Cases that will besized in an X-Die are initiallytrimmed to length. A trimmedcase is run into the die, and the

50 www.handloadermagazine.com

OverlookedOverlooked

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Handloader 23690 www.handloadermagazine.com

the primer pocket, punch theflash hole and cut the extractorgroove. There are also trimmingoperations, washing, polishing,packaging and finally a finishedproduct. Quality control is con-stant.

After the tour, we sat down toreview the Top Brass productline. At the present time, newcartridge cases are being manu-factured in .44 Russian, .44 S&WSpecial, .44 Remington Magnum,.45 Colt, .45 ACP and .45 ACP +P.They are available either un-primed or with Federal primers.Reconditioned cases are avail-able in several categories from“as is” to “reamed/cleaned/sized/

time of my visit there were bar-rels and barrels of cups on hand,and at each of several stationsa worker was overseeing a par-ticular operation. There are a se-ries of draws to form somethingthat resembles a cartridge case.These are followed by other op-erations that form the head and

trimmed/primed.” For the mostpart, reconditioned cases arehandgun cartridges, notably .380Auto, 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .40S&W and .45 ACP. Cases for .223Remington and .308 Winchesterare also available from both mili-tary and civilian sources. Theentire product line seems to be

quite reasonably priced.

There are some unusualitems being offered that Ifind intriguing, but not nec-essarily for the reasons theyare being manufactured.One is the .45 Colt blankcase, identical to its parentexcept the flash hole isopened to .140 inch. Anopen flash hole, necessaryfor blanks, is also requiredwhen shooting wax bullets.Scharch’s blank cases aremost sought after by cow-boy mounted shooters. Fastdraw competitors, and thoseof us who like to keep ourhand in firing wax bulletsindoors when weather orcircumstance dictate, stuffthem with bullets cut fromwax cakes used in canning,

prime them and have at it. They,too, are available unprimed orprimed.

Soon, Scharch will have avail-able .45 Colt rifle cases with thelarger flash hole. They differfrom their handgun counterpartsin the length, being .400 inchlonger. The purpose is to allowthe use of blank cartridges inlever-action rifles or carbineschambered for traditional hand-gun cartridges. Without a bulletseated, most standard lengthhandgun cases won’t feed prop-erly in such guns. My ears perkedup when he mentioned these. Iimmediately thought of all thetrouble I’ve gone to over the

For years I’ve stopped by

the Scharch Manufacturing,Inc. booth at the annual SHOTShow to check on its wares.When I began, the company man-ufactured cartridge case handlingequipment for sale to ammuni-tion companies. Offhand, I canremember sorters, military crimpremovers, resizers and soon, as well as packagingsupplies. Sales were good,but eventually such a mar-ket had to dry up, at least onthe equipment side. Packag-ing supplies sales continueunabated, I’m told. Antici-pating this, company ownerand president Dan Scharchset his sights on the manu-facture of cartridge cases.As he put it, it was a naturalextension of what he al-ready knew. That he choseto name his brand Top Brasshints strongly at his goalsand expectations.

Since the company loca-tion in Salida, Colorado, isnot all that far away, I beganpromising Dan and his wifeand partner, Kay, I’d comedown for a factory tour and pickup some Top Brass samples fortesting and reporting on in Hand-

loader. It’s disconcerting to notethis took longer than expectedbut gratifying that the trip waswell worth it.

After my arrival and with theobligatory greetings out of theway, Dan Scharch gave me a tourof the case manufacturing opera-tion. It begins with cylindrical“cups” of pure brass (70 percentcopper and 30 percent zinc) fromwhich each case is formed. Thecups are purchased from an out-side source. All operations toform a completed cartridge caseare performed in-house. At the

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years to make cylinder lengthcases for shot loads in revolvers.In the .45 Colt, I began with .444Marlin cases. They had to betrimmed to length, of course, butalso rims had to be thinned,something of a nuisance. Withthese Top Brass cases, even withthe large flash hole . . . I hope tofind out soon. There are other in-novations in stages of develop-ment. We’ll just have to waitawhile.

As promised, I picked up sam-ples of Top Brass to take homefor study. I had chosen the un-primed .45 Colt and .44 Russiancases. At home I began by select-ing 10 cases at random from thenew .45 Colt Top Brass supplyalong with 10 each from newsupplies of three other manufac-turers’ .45 Colt cases. Upon these40 cases I performed a series ofmeasurements. I charted resultsand variations of results for eachbrand of case in weight, caselength, wall thickness, flash holediameter, rim diameter and rimthickness. By assigning a 1 to thebrand with the smallest variationin each category up to a 4 for thelargest, I was able to make com-parisons. The brand with thelowest number, the most consis-tent overall, was Top Brass by afairly large margin.

I also assigned values to weightand wall thickness in the beliefthat heavier cases with thickerwalls will have a reduced interiorcapacity. I consider this a plus as

the .45 Colt case, beginning lifeas a black-powder cartridge, ismuch larger than it need be formodern smokeless powders. Alsothe heavier cases better with-stand the higher pressures theround is being loaded to in someheavy bullet hunting loads foruse in Ruger and Freedom Armsrevolvers. Moreover, I get a bet-ter chamber fit, frequently betteraccuracy and higher velocities inthese special loads with heaviercases. I found the Top Brass .45Colt cases to be the heaviest ofall that I tested, as well as havingthe thickest walls.

Sharp-eyed handloaders, peer-ing inside Top Brass cases willnotice something is different.There is a circular depressionaround the flash hole; otherbrands are simply flat. Question-ing Scharch about this he said,from a manufacturing standpoint,it makes for a more consistentproduct and reduces the effortneeded to punch the flash holes.As Top Brass was also first in themost consistent flash hole cate-gory, I certainly couldn’t arguewith him. It did occur to me,however, that this technique alsoreduces the distance the primerflame must travel to reach thepowder and could aid in shot-to-shot consistency. There is no wayto prove it, I suppose, but myrange tests suggest the unusualcase shape certainly didn’t hurtanything.

For these range tests, I loadedeach case brand with two loads:a standard Colt load of 8.5 grainsof Unique with a 250-grain castbullet at 860 fps or so and aheavy bullet hunting load with23.0 grains of H-110 under a300-grain cast WFN of LBT de-sign at about 1,200 fps. The bul-lets were from Meister Bulletsand Beartooth Bullets, respec-tively. All loads were fired ina customized Ruger Bisley Va-quero with a 51⁄2-inch barrel at 50yards. Each shot was chrono-graphed and each group meas-ured.

In the former, standard velocitygroups, the Top Brass load pro-duced the highest velocity and

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August-September 2005

The Classic Cast press is justthat: classic O-frame design, sturdycast iron construction with a fewthoughtful innovations thrown infor good measure. The principaljustification for this press andmost of the other new ones on themarket has been the increasedpopularity of loading cartridgeshaving longer-than-usual caselengths. These range from the new

Remington Ultra Mags at 2.850inches to black-powder cartridges,such as the .45-120 Sharps at 3.25inches, to the British cartridges de-signed for African use such as the.470 N.E., also at 3.25 inches, andeven the .50 BMG at 3.291 inches.With a frame opening of 5 inches,the new Classic Cast press willhandle them all.

Ambidextrousness is not a word

tied for best accuracy. In the lat-ter, heavy bullet groups, the TopBrass loads earned both top ve-locity and best accuracy laurels.

My .44 Russian tests are farfrom complete, but I was able todiscern the same level of consis-tency in weight, length and othermeasurements I found in the.45 Colt cases. My only other .44Russian cases are REM-UMCfrom probably the 1960s. The Topbrass cases are slightly longerand somewhat heavier, but wellwithin specs, of course. At Russ-ian pressures, they should last along time.

On a wall in the factory is achart showing the level of consis-tency to which other cartridgecase manufacturers are holdingtheir case length, based on actualmeasurements of their products.Scharch informed me his stan-dard for the .45 Colt is 1.280inches, ± .001 inch, something noone else is able to meet consis-tently. In the measurements Imade of the Top Brass cases athand, I found a case length of1.280 inches, with a range of ±.001 inch! It’s clear to me aftermeeting Dan Scharch and view-ing his operation he understandsthere is no room at the bottom ofthe pile for so-so cartridge cases,no matter how attractivelypriced, but there is room at thetop for, well, Top Brass.

For more information, contactScharch Mfg., Inc., phone: 1-800-836-4683; send an email to:topbrass@scharch.com; web site:www.handgun-brass.com; or website: www.top-brass.us. – R.H.VanDenburg, Jr.

LEE CLASSIC

CAST PRESS

I suppose it was inevitable. Withmost of the other reloading pressmanufacturers upgrading theirbasic product line in recent years,could Lee Precision of Hartford,Wisconsin, be far behind? Actually,Lee did not upgrade any existingmodel but rather added anotherpress to the line: the Lee ClassicCast press.

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102 Handloader 236www.handloadermagazine.com

C l a i r R e e s

THE BIG SHOOTER

PORTABLE BENCH

THE BIG SHOOTER

PORTABLE BENCHIN

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Big Shooter bench. First, the low,tripod leg arrangement makesthe bench stable, even on uneventerrain. The four-legged benchesin my collection require levelground for stability. Second, thisbench is incredibly rigid andsturdy – and its “load-locking”design makes it sturdier yetwhen you sit down to shoot.Adding sandbags, rifle and your-self to The Big Shooter’s alreadysubstantial heft gives you ashooting bench weighing in theneighborhood of 300 pounds!

In addition to providing rock-solid support, the bench allowsboth the generously propor-tioned padded seat and shoot-ing platform to rotate through afull 360 degrees. Unlike someportable benches I’ve used, thetable top is plenty roomy enoughfor prolonged shooting sessions.The bench adapts for right- orleft-handed shooters and adjuststo accommodate a wide range ofheights and body types.

I’ve used The Big Shooter benchseveral times now, and it’s workedgreat. I’ve cussed its weight whenlugging it from the car but havereally appreciated its stellar per-formance. If I wanted to shave afew pounds, I could always buythe “Lite” Big Shooter version. At60 pounds, it’s 25 percent lighter

was used to secure each bolt inplace. I didn’t need a wrench –the ball knobs were supposed tobe fastened only finger-tight.

A pair of 3⁄8-inch, four-prongedstuds allowed adjusting theground-to-leg angle on the twodismountable legs.

Next, a 6 inch diameter mastwas inserted into the base frame.This heavy, tubular post incorpo-rated a mounting assembly thatallowed the seat to be installed(with another set of 1⁄2-inch boltsand ball knobs) at several dif-ferent heights. Finally, the angle-iron-reinforced top deck of3⁄4-inch plywood was slipped overthe post. Rotate the deck to thedesired position, snug it in placewith another four-pronged stud,and you’re ready to shoot.

I like several things about The

For an embarrassing num-

ber of years, I’ve made myliving as a writer specializing inhunting, shooting and testingguns. That means I’ve spent a fairshare of time hunched over anunimaginable variety of portableshooting benches. While I’vesometimes taken advantage ofthe permanent benches availableat shooting clubs and commer-cial ranges, I much prefer pack-ing a portable bench in my carand driving to the nearby desert.

Hauling my own bench is abother, but when I have a dozendifferent rifles that need testing,being all by my lonesome sur-rounded by several square milesof barren sagebrush is a huge ad-vantage. I don’t need to wait forothers to finish firing beforeheading downrange to switch tar-gets. I can shoot at my own pace– all day long, when necessary.

I’ve experimented with manydifferent shooting benches, rang-ing from super-light models thatset up quickly to poorly engi-neered behemoths that were askinned-knuckle nightmare to as-semble. My garage is filled withbenches I’ve tried once or twice,then abandoned. One day soonI’ll hold a yard sale.

A few weeks ago, the UPSdriver showed up with anotherportable bench. The first thing Inoticed when unpacking TheBig Shooter was its impressive82-pound heft. The heaviest com-ponent was the base, which con-sisted of a base frame with anintegral leg, to which a pair ofadditional legs were bolted forconvenient transport.

A single 1⁄2 inch diameter boltwas all that was needed to attacheach leg to the base. Instead of aconventional nut, a ball knob

August-September 2005

pense the correct powder weight.”This eliminates the need for an ex-pensive powder measure in eachcaliber, producing significant sav-ings in both time and cost.

“This product has been four yearsin the making, and I’m excited tofinally bring it to market,” says LeeLove, UniqueTek’s product design

engineer. “There just isn’t anothermicrometer adjuster for the DillonPrecision Auto Powder Measureavailable anywhere.”

For more information contact:UniqueTek, Inc., Dept. HL, 222E. Stonebridge Drive, GilbertAZ 85234; or visit the web site:www.uniquetek.com.

than the original Big Shooterbench. It also costs a bit more –$480 versus $425 for the standardunit. Carrying bags are availableto protect the bench’s finish as itbounces around in the bed ofyour truck.

The Big Shooter bench will seelots of use in the years ahead.It’s one of the sturdiest, best-designed portable benches I’vetried. This is one bench that willnever be relegated to the discardpile.

For more information, contactMectron LLC, Dept. HL, PO Box32382, Minneapolis MN 55432-0382; or visit its web site at:www.thebigshooter.com.

UNIQUETEK

MICROMETER

POWDER BAR KIT

FOR DILLON AUTO

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UniqueTek, Inc. recently intro-duced its Micrometer Powder BarKit, which upgrades existing Dillonpowder bars to a micrometer pow-der bar. It’s said to provide, “bothtrue indexing capability and1/1000-inch adjustment incre-ments.”

According to the company, theMicrometer Powder Bar Kit elimi-nates the need to guess how manyturns of the adjustment screw willreturn you to a previous powderweight. It fits all powder bars forthe Dillon Auto Powder Measureand Belted Magnum Powder Mea-sure. The kit includes all-metalmicrometer head, LocTite® and in-structions. The powder bar is notincluded.

“The primary advantage of theMicrometer Powder Bar Kit is thatit allows users to return to anypowder charge weight previouslyrecorded with an accuracy equiva-lent to 0.002 grains of Winchester231 gunpowder,” UniqueTek says.“One powder measure can be eas-ily moved from one toolhead to thenext, then instantly adjusted to dis-

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