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P.O. Ackley’sBig .450

.38-Caliber Loads forClassic Revolvers

The Road Less Traveled:Tips for OddballCartridges

August 2017 No. 309

Display until 9/18/17 Printed in USA

4 www.handloadermagazine.com

COLUMNS FEATURES

36 Accurate Rifle Powders Surveying an Eclectic Propellant Line John Haviland

42 P.O. Ackley’s Big .450 Still Good After All These Years Terry Wieland

48 Loading Oddball Rifle Cartridges Time-Saving Tips and Techniques John Barsness

54 The .38 Caliber Loads for Classic Revolver Cartridges Mike Venturino

60 .223 Remington Loading for Accuracy, Efficiency and Versatility Brian Pearce

On the cover . . .A custom FN Supreme .450 Ackley with Swarovski scope (photo by Terry Wieland); Savage Model 10 Predator Hunter Max .223 Remington with Nikon 3-12x M223 scope (photo by Brian Pearce); Smith & Wesson Heavy Duty .38 Special (photo by Yvonne Venturino).

6 7mm Wildcats Reloader’s Press - Dave Scovill

12 Colt Lightning .38-40 Winchester Bullets & Brass - Brian Pearce

16 .300 Winchester Short Magnum Cartridge Board - Gil Sengel

20 IMR Target Propellant Profiles - R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

24 Starline Brass From the Hip - Brian Pearce

28 Colt SAA .38-40/.38 WCF Mike’s Shootin’ Shack - Mike Venturino

32 .277 Wolverine Wildcat Cartridges - Richard Mann

70 Loads from the Intrepid Years In Range - Terry Wieland

Handloader 309

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16 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 309

Development of the center- fire, rimless, bottleneck, smoke-

less powder military cartridge seemed to give all anyone could ask for in a round intended for small arms. It was hard to imag-ine how the 7.92x57mm Mauser or .30-06 Springfield could be im-proved upon. Of course, both were immediately taken into the hunt-ing field and, given suitably con-structed bullets, they performed well on all but the largest game.

Nevertheless, many riflemen felt improvement was possible by increasing both velocity and bul-let diameter. This would require a larger case diameter to accommo-date larger charges of powder and allow maintaining an adequate shoulder for headspacing as bul-let diameter got larger. Then some-thing strange happened.

In 1905, English gunmaker Hol-land & Holland introduced a case slightly larger in diameter for a round called the .400/.375 Belted Nitro Express. Instead of head-spacing on the rim or shoulder, it used a wide belt just forward of the extractor groove. It appears this idea was borrowed from ar-tillery shells. In 1912, this belt was slightly modified to create the .375 H&H Magnum cartridge. The idea

CARTRIDGE BOARD by Gil Sengel

.300 Winchestershort magnum

Cartridge DimensionsA - Overall Length . . . . . . . .2.860B - Case Length . . . . . . . . . 2.100C - Length to Neck . . . . . . . 1.802D - Length to Shoulder . . . . 1.664

E - Rim Diameter . . . . . . . . .0.535F - Head Diameter . . . . . . . .0.555G - Shoulder Diameter . . . . 0.538H - Neck Diameter . . . . . . . .0.344I - Shoulder Angle . . . . . . . . . 35º

E

F GHI

AB

CD

NOTE: Dimensions may vary among manufacturers.

worked, but nobody else seemed interested, preferring instead to just make much larger bottleneck cases, like the .404 Jeffery and .416 Rigby.

The only enthusiasts who even-tually took to the belted case were American wildcatters, with Roy Weatherby leading the pack. By the 1950s, major U.S. companies were turning out new cartridges using the belted case, but they used a 2.5-inch long case, rather than the 2.850-inch H&H case. The reason was that powder develop-ment had progressed to the point where greatly increased case ca-pacity was not thought necessary. The shorter case also allowed

these rounds to fit in a “standard” .30-06 length bolt action.

There was, however, no need for the belted case as all the new rounds, except the .458 Winchester Magnum, had adequate shoulders to maintain headspace. Market-ing alone justified its existence by creating the idea of the belt’s mys-tical powers; cartridges couldn’t be “magnums” if they didn’t have belts. Period. Unfortunately, given the belt’s thinness (some .012 inch), it is hard to manufacture. The same applies to chamber reamers and headspace gauges. More than a few rifle/ammunition combinations give enough head-space to cause head separations in two to three loadings, unless the sizing die is set to headspace the case on its shoulder rather than the belt. This would have been a perfect time to create a new case not having the silly belt.

Forty years later, benchrest shooters discovered that in some instances short, fat cases gave slightly more uniform shot-to-shot velocities than smaller diameter cases of equal volume. Theoret-ically, this should mean smaller groups. It is more important in long-range target competition, be-

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18 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 309

may see some benefit, if exact dis-tance to target can be determined. If not, an error in range of 40 to 50 yards would have more effect on where the bullet landed than a normal velocity variation. Then too, both handloaders and ammu-nition companies have come up

with very uniform loadings for all popular hunting rounds. Velocity spreads of only 30 to 50 fps or less for 10 rounds are common. This is simply not a concern for shooting game under at least 400 yards.

Given the foregoing facts, it was rather interesting to see the an-nouncement of a new cartridge called the .300 Winchester Short Magnum (WSM) early in 2001. Gone was the useless belt. In its place ap-peared a new rebated-rim case hav-ing a base (head) diameter of .555 inch and rim of roughly .535 inch, the latter figure being roughly the rim and belt diameter of the old H&H case. The much larger body diameter was carried forward in-stead of stopping at a belt. Case ca-pacity increased greatly per unit of length over the old magnum.

Case length is where we see an-other surprise. It is 2.1 inches, or just slightly more than the .308 Win-chester. Capacity, however, is al-most equal to the .300 Winchester Magnum, depending upon bullet weight and seating depth. Shoul-der angle is 35 degrees. The new round looked noticeably different than anything else – even wildcats. Marketing teams were ecstatic.

Of course, Winchester produced a shorter Model 70 action to accom-modate the new cartridge. The com-plete rifle was listed with a 24-inch barrel and a weight of 4 to 8 ounces less than the .300 Winchester Mag-num with a 26-inch tube. The first year of ammunition production showed a 150-grain Ballistic Sil-vertip at 3,300 fps, a 180-grain Fail Safe at 2,970 fps and a 180-grain Power Point at the same muzzle velocity. All were equal to .300 Winchester Magnum velocities. Indications are that factory am-munition achieves figures slightly less than this, but then shooters’ chronograph screens are set 10 feet or so ahead of the muzzle while the factory corrects its read-ings to muzzle velocity. Since the .300 Winchester Magnum’s 3,500+ foot-pounds of muzzle energy is, with proper bullets, adequate for any game in North America, the same can be said for the identical figures produced by the .300 WSM.

cause velocity variation yields a change in vertical bullet impact.

All this is of interest to com-petitors who shoot at long, known distances, but it is of little use to hunters who never fire at extreme ranges. Certain varmint shooters

.300 Winchester Short Magnum Select Loads

bullet powder charge* velocity (grains) (grains) (fps)

150 Hornady W-760 70.2 3,238 SST H-4350 70.9 2,936 IMR-4350 69.5 3,211 IMR-4831 70.9 3,212165 Hornady W-760 69.1 3,112 SST IMR-4350 67.6 3,098 IMR-4831 68.7 3,079 RL-19 70.1 3,000180 Hornady W-760 67.5 2,959 SST IMR-4350 66.5 2,896 IMR-4831 67.2 2,963 RL-19 67.8 2,882* All listed powders are maximum.Source: www.loaddata.comBe Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. Listed loads are only valid in the test firearms used. Reduce initial powder charge by 10 percent and work up while watching for pressure signs.

The most popular .30-caliber sporting cartridges in the U.S. include: (1) .308 Winchester, (2) .300 WSM, (3) .30-06, (4) .300 Winchester Magnum and (5) .300 Weatherby Magnum.

1 2 3 4 5

19August-September 2017 www.handloadermagazine.com

Left, a caliper shows the .300 WSM actually has a rebated rim so it will fit in a standard belted case bolt face recess.

Right, the .308 Winchester (left)

and .300 WSM (right) both fit

into .308-length bolt actions.

And, yes, to be absolutely correct, the longer barrel of most .300 Win-chester Magnums, combined with its very slightly greater case ca-pacity, means careful handloaders will always see to it the .300 WSM comes in second to their round.

Nevertheless, the .300 WSM is, for all practical purposes, a short .300 Winchester Magnum. After all, once the base of the bullet clears

the muzzle, it behaves exactly the same as if it had come from a .300 Winchester Magnum. Any benefits derived from the .300 WSM can only exist from buttplate to muzzle of the rifle firing it. In that light, if a .300 WSM weighs the same as a .300 Winchester Magnum, it will pro-duce the same recoil. Also, given the burning rate of the powders necessary for the .300 WSM, any •

shortening of the barrel would only increase an already devastating muzzle blast and push velocities down toward .30-06 levels.

There are really only two prob-able pluses for the .300 WSM. One is more uniform velocities due to the short, fat case, though this is largely negated by years of load development lavished on the .300 Winchester Magnum by competi-tion shooters and the military. Sec-ond is that a slightly shorter bolt action with a shorter bolt throw is used for the .300 WSM. For those who feel this is important, there is now that option.

The .300 WSM seems to be a suc-cess. Last year, Winchester listed 10 factory loads for the .300 Win-chester Magnum, and 11 for the .300 WSM. All totaled there are some 37 by at least seven different makers in the .300 WSM column. On the other hand, just think what a big-game and target cartridge we could have had if the .300 Winchester Magnum had originally been designed on a 2.4-inch .300 WSM case!

P.O. Ackley’s

Big .450

Still Good AfterAll These Years

www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 30942

Terry Wieland

In 1990, Jack Carter, developer of the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, made his last safari in Africa, hunting first in Tanzania, then

in Botswana. He took two rifles. One was a pre-64 Winchester Model 70 .243 Winchester, the other a pre-64 .450 Ackley Magnum. The big .450 was for use on Cape buffalo. It was a rifle Jack carried for 20 years and the one that set him on his quest for a good, premium big-game bullet in the first place. In East Africa in the 1970s, hunting elephant, a conven-tional 500-grain bullet had riveted, bent into an L shape, and caused all manner of problems. Jack set out to correct them.

Throughout the development of the Trophy Bonded Bear Claw, that .450 Ackley was his major test rifle, and when I saw it, I fell for it instantly. Jack loved that particular rifle, but he was a realist. “If you’re going to get a .450,” he told me, “You’re better off with a .458 Lott.” The Lott, even back then, was on its way to be-coming a factory cartridge that would do everything the Ackley would do but with a lot less trouble. In the 27 years since, the Lott has become a standard while the .450 Ackley has largely faded from sight.

Needless to say, I did not take Jack Carter’s advice. Instead, I came home, surveyed my meager inventory of rifles and actions, and chose a rather poorly cus-tomized .375 H&H on an FN Supreme action as the starting point. I delivered it to a veteran German gun-maker named Siegfried Trillus with instructions to turn it into a .450 Ackley.

Siegfried removed the barrel and stock and threw them away. He replaced the FN shroud and trigger safety with a new shroud and Model 70-style wing safety, then installed a 22-inch Douglas barrel. He

carved a stock out of American black walnut from a tree he had cut down, sawn into blanks and sea-soned. Claw mounts were ordered from Germany and a 26mm Swarovski Habicht Nova 1.5x20 scope was installed. With a few odds and ends to come, I had my longed-for .450 Ackley. Little did I know what tra-vails lay ahead.

The .450 Ackley Magnum (not Improved) was de-veloped by Parker Ackley in the 1950s, during the heyday of converting Enfield P-17s to cartridges for elephant and Cape buffalo. The Ackley was not alone. There was also the .450 Watts that enjoyed brief fame, because Jack O’Connor took one on an early safari, and a couple of others. The Ackley gained exposure, however, through P.O. Ackley’s 1960 Handbook for Shooters & Reloaders, and it came to stay. Like most of its brethren, it was based on the .375 H&H case necked up and blown out, so it would also fit in the Winchester Model 70.

The introduction of the .458 Winchester in 1956 cut the ground out from under most of the wildcat

Facing page, in some African countries, it is important that the cartridge headstamp match the rifle. This can be a critical concern with wildcat cartridges, like the .450 Ackley. Quality Cartridge specializes in wildcat, obsolete and hard-to-find calibers. Right, the Big .450s include (left to right): .458 Winchester, .458 Lott and .450 Ackley.

August-September 2017 www.handloadermagazine.com 43

44 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 309

most miniscule of shoulders – ut-terly pointless as a shoulder, and any resulting increase in case ca-pacity is imaginary. It does have the one advantage of giving the case a definite neck, and this al-lows for more consistent grip ten-sion on the bullet. It also reduces wear and tear on case mouths, which is important when fashion-ing your own brass.

For years, it has been an arti-cle of faith that these cartridges should reach 2,400 fps with a 500-

grain bullet. When starting off with this cartridge, I used Carter’s fav- orite load, which was a com-pressed charge of W-748. At the time, it was about the only pow-der that would deliver the goods.

It took a number of bulged cases, creeping bullets and wear and tear on my shoulder before I concluded that this is a losing game. In reality, 2,250 to 2,350 fps is just as good – whatever is most comfortable and accurate for the hunter, the rifle and for the cases themselves.

To begin with, case length is an immediate concern. If all brass is made from one brand of .375 H&H, you’re fine. The process of neck-ing up and blowing out shortens each case slightly, so while the charts show the .450 Ackley to be the same length as the .375 H&H (2.85 inches), in reality it is not. There are even variations among different types of factory brass that has been produced, off and on, over the last few years.

Another consideration is the headstamp. Some African coun-tries with ammunition restrictions require that headstamps match the rifles you’re bringing in. In the 1980s, Art Alphin started mak-ing .450 Ackley brass under the A-Square name, but it was spotty of quality and inconsistent length. Later, some brass was produced

P.O. Ackley’s

Big .450

Terry with a Cape buffalo in Tanzania in 2006. The .450 Ackley and 500-grain Swift A-Frame bullets accounted for two bulls in the space of a couple of minutes.

.450s, but problems with the fac-tory cartridge soon manifested themselves. This ultimately re-sulted in Jack Lott developing his own .458 in 1971 – merely the .458 Winchester lengthened by .3 inch, which solved the problems. Most of the serious hunters who owned an Ackley, Watts or other wildcat .450, already having load-ing dies, and with brass easy to make, stuck with what they had. Jack Carter was among them.

Although articles have been written arguing that one of these wildcats is better than another, in this way or that, the harsh truth is they were all very simi-lar: belted cases for reliable head-spacing and tossing a 500-grain bullet at between 2,150 and 2,400 feet per second (fps), depending on how adventurous you were or how much you liked being belted around.

Most were the full-length 2.85-inch .375 H&H case. The Ackley was a little different in that the case was blown out to give it the

under the Barnes Brass name. It was better than the A-Square and had no caliber stamp at all, but that is still better than having the wrong one. Like A-Square brass, length varied.

In a cartridge of this power, you need to properly crimp every bullet. This is partly due to recoil and partly the constant pressure against the base of the bullet if

the powder charge is compressed. Like most things in handloading, a domino effect can be set off. If a bullet is not solidly crimped, the combination of recoil and powder compression will cause the bullet to creep, which can create feeding and seating problems in the cham-ber. These you most definitely do not want with a Cape buffalo bearing down. Cases of slightly

different lengths – even a few hun-dredths of an inch – can place the crimp incorrectly or cause case bulging by crimping outside the bullet’s cannelure. Even a slight bulge, so slight you can’t see it and barely feel it with your fingertips, can prevent a cartridge seating in the chamber.

One of the problems with the .458 Winchester, early in its life,

The .450 Ackley can be loaded down to .45-70 levels using lead bullets like the Carroll Bullets 405-grain bullet and Accurate 5744 powder.

Quality Cartridge’s .450 Ackley brass is of excellent quality and made to exact dimensions.

46 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 309

P.O. Ackley’s

Big .450

velocity of 2,400+ fps. Art Alphin himself helped to aggravate this by publishing statements about the radically increased killing power of 2,500 fps in any cartridge. As op-posed to what, 2,480? Or 2,450? I have seen loading data alleging a velocity of 2,500+ fps with the Ack-ley and the Lott, but I have never pursued them.

Bullet weight is another consid-eration. The standard for a big .450 is 500 grains. It is the Hammer of Thor. Some advocate 400 grains, because of increased velocity, and truth to tell, you can easily get ve-locity exceeding the .416 Rigby by dropping bullet weight to 400 grains. Personally, for anything requiring a .450, I want 500-grain bullets.

One of the great advantages of all the .450s, however, is their ver-satility. I have loaded and hunted with bullets ranging in weight from 300 to 500 grains. At one point, I took my .450 Ackley to Africa and left it for two years, with a supply of ammunition of different types,

intending to have a rifle ready and waiting whenever I went back. During that time, I used the .450 exclusively, hunting everything from greater kudu, gemsbok and zebra to Cape buffalo, and even carried it one time while tracking a leopard. If reduced to just this one rifle for all the hunting I will do in the future, I would not feel too badly.

It should be noted that, in a pinch, .458 Winchester or .458 Lott ammunition can be used in a .450 Ackley rifle. Obviously, the reverse is not true. However, should your ammunition get separated from the rifle en route to Deepest Dark-est, either of the above cartridges is available, you’re back in busi-ness. Lott ammunition works best, while .458 Winchester tends to lose velocity because of the roomy chamber, which is something most factory .458 ammunition can’t af-ford. Neither is ideal, but it beats being unarmed.

This year, with a possible Cape buffalo in the offing, I decided

was the severe powder compres-sion needed to even approach ad-vertised ballistics. This caused the powder to cake and resist ig-nition. At one point, I decided to deactivate some loaded .450 Ack-ley loads, pulled the bullets, then had to use a dental pick to re-move the powder that had caked like cement. Since then, I have used mainly extruded powders, and preferably docile ones such as H-4198.

This gives some idea of the problems that can be encountered (or created) by mindlessly pursu-ing a questionable goal, such as a

A custom .450 Ackley built on an FN Supreme action with Douglas barrel,

Swarovski scope and German claw mounts.

.450 Ackley Magnum Select Handloads bullet case powder charge primer velocity (grains) (grains) (fps)

300 Sierra HP A-Square H-4198 80 F-215 2,820300 Barnes X A-Square H-4198 80 F-215 2,816350 Speer FN A-Square H-4198 75 F-215 2,526350 Barnes X A-Square H-4198 83 F-215 2,713400 Trophy Bonded Bear Claw A-Square H-335 90 F-215 2,538450 Swift A-Frame Quality H-4895 85 F-215 2,410500 Swift A-Frame Quality R-15 82 F-215 2,215500 Trophy Bonded Bear Claw A-Square W-748 95 F-215 2,296405 Carroll Bullet Inc. cast Quality Unique 23 F-215 1,355 Trail Boss 27 1,346500 Hayley’s Custom Ammunition cast Quality A-5744 34 F-215 1,220 Trail Boss 27 1,126 Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data. Listed loads are only valid in the test firearms used. Reduce initial powder charge by 10 percent and work up while watching for pressure signs.

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47August-September 2017 www.handloadermagazine.com

falo slammers, this point is just below 2,300 fps.

A final word about the overall configuration of a .450 Ackley rifle, like my FN. Because of its physical size, it does not require a magnum

action, and a rifle can be made that handles with the ease of a fine bird gun. This is no small matter with dangerous game. It’s import-ant that it handle easily, quickly and instinctively with reasonable accuracy. The .450 Ackley accom-plishes these things, combined with the power to down anything on earth, under almost any condi-tions. It is really too bad no one ever made it a factory round.

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it was time to go through all my brass, use up old handloads and start fresh. I found that I had such a hodgepodge of brass, it was long overdue to relegate it to “practice only” and acquire a lifetime supply of good stuff. Quality Cartridge, in Maryland, offers excellent .450 Ackley brass. It has the right headstamp (important for border crossings), is the exact length and removes all the concerns about crimping in the wrong place, case bulging and the assorted ammuni-tion headaches that have accom-panied the Ackley since I got it.

The accompanying load table includes some loads from years ago, and they are included here as a guide to show what can be done with various bullet weights. None of the loads are maximum, and all are, I believe, a reasonable starting point for load develop-ment. With 300-grain bullets, it is possible to get well over 2,900 fps, and with 400-grain bullets to ex-ceed factory ballistics of the .416 Rigby at 2,410 fps. Conversely, the cartridge can be loaded down to duplicate ballistics of the .45-70 or to create excellent practice loads using powders like Trail Boss and Accurate 5744. Most light bullets, like the Sierra 300-grain HP, are not intended to handle really high velocities, and this should be kept in mind.

Although the .450 Ackley is ca-pable of some very impressive bal-listics, in my experience, the best all-around load is found some-where just below the point where velocity jumps and recoil jumps geometrically. If recoil could be charted on a graph, it would look like a reversed L, climbing gradu-ally as velocities increase until, at a certain point, it suddenly jumps, with or without any commensu-rate increase in velocity. With my .450 Ackley, using 500-grain buf-