DAVE WOLFE Publisher

NEAL KNOX Editor

HELEN A. MARTIN Asst. to Editor

ROGER T. WOLFE, Ph. D. Associate Editor

NORM LAMMERS Technical Adviser

HOMER POWLEY Ballistics A dviser

MAJ. GEORGE C. NONTE JR General Assignment

WALLACE LABISKY Shotshells

JOHN WOOTTERS Gun Tests

HARVEY A. DONALDSON Historical Adviser

KEN WATERS ""Pet L oads "

EDWARD M. YARD General Assignment

DON ZUTZ General Assignment

BOB HAGEL Hunting Adviser

JOHN BUHMILLER African Cartridges

DAVE LeGATE Art Director

BARBARA LAFFEY Circulation Manager

JOYCE BUETER Circulation

JANE CLARK Promotion Manager

BAR BAR A PI CKE R I NG A d vertising Production

GEORGIA DIEBERT Production Assistant

HELEN HAHN Executive Secretary

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The

Handloader Magazine

July - August 1972 Vol. 7 - No. 4 Box 3030, Prescott, Arizona 86301

FEATURES: Reducing Pressure Variations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Bill Caldwell

Pet Loads: .308 Norma Magnum.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ken Waters 16

20 .221 Fireball.. ............................. .Robert Milek 22 R i f l e Load Testing. ........................ .John Wootters 26 .280 Remington .............................. .Bob Hagel 30 Loading for Skeet - Part I I ....................... .Don Zutz 34 Loading Die Versatility. .................... .Robert Murray 40

DEPARTMENTS: Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Answers Please . . . . . . . . . 14

Lock, Stock, Barrel. . . . . . 8 Cartridge of the Month. . . 19

Reader By-lines.. . . . . . . . 10 Propellant Profiles. . . . . . . 39

T i p t o T i p . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 ProducTests . . . . . . . . . . . 62

Harvey Donaldson . . . . . . 66

The HANDLOADER, Copyright 1971, is published bi-monthly by the Wolfe Publishing Company, Inc., P. 0. Box 3030. Prescott, Arizona 86301. (Also publisher of Rifle Magazine.) Telephone (602) 445-7810. Second Class Postage paid a t Prescott. Arizona, and additional mailing offices. Single copy price of current issue $1.00; Subscription price: six issues $5.00; 12 issues $9.00; 18 issues $12.50. Outside US. possessions and Canada $6.00, $11.00 and $15.50. Recommended foreign single copy price, $1.25. Advertising rates furnished on request.

SHOOTING Publisher of The HANDLOADER i s not responsible for mishaps o f

any nature which might occur f rom use of published loading data, or f rom recommendations by any member of The Staff. N o part of this publication may be reproduced without writ ten permission f rom the editor. Manuscripts f rom free-lance writers must be accompanied by stamped self-addressed envelope and the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mutilated manuscripts.

Change of address: Please give one month's notice. Send both old and new address, plus mailing label if possible, t o Circulation Dept.. The HANDLOADER Magazine, P.O. Box 3030, Prescott, Arizona 86301.

0 fficial Publication of San ta Barbara Reloading Associa tion

Your July - August Cover Ten years ago the Model 12 Winchester was discontinued after a 50year run that saw almost t w o mil l ion produced. The reason wasn't any lack of popularity, bu t the cost of manufacture, estimated at around $20 per gun over the selling price. Because. o f the continuing demand, Winchester resumed manufacture of the Model 12 th is year, bu t only in trap, skeet and deluxe field versions, at a price similar t o what comparable used guns were bringing. Though made wi th modern manufacturing methods, the new guns like the one on the cover are identical t o the last ones produced - Winchester didn't even change some of the things that should have been changed. Welcome Model 12; it's good t o have you back. Transparency b y Sid Latham.

The HANDLOADER Magazine

HE .221 FIREBALL cartridge was T introduced by Remington in 1963 along with the XP-IO0 bolt action pistol. While the XP-100 has been the center of much controversy since its inception, there has never been any question raised about the ,221 Fireball. It’s generally accepted as the super pistol cartridge - the best thing available for long range varmint hunting with a handgun. This is quite a reputation when advances in pistol design in recent years have made possible chambering for such handgun cartridges as the .22 Jet and .256 Winchester Magnum as well as old time rifle favorites like the .22 Hornet, K-Hornet and .222 Remington.

Because the ,221 develops pressure in the rifle cartridge category, the rifle-like XP-IO0 was the only pistol chambered for it up until the recent introduction of 22

a .221 Fireball barrel for the break-open single-shot Contender. I’d done a little work with the 2 2 1 in past years, but when the Contender barrel was announced, offering the opportunity to evaluate the cartridge in two quite different guns, I really got interested. Like many shooters, I’d often wondered if the .221 was really a super pistol cartridge, or if its superiority was directly tied to the XP-100.

The .221 Fireball is the product of shortening the .222 Remington to make a case with a maximum length of 1.400-inch and a 24 degree shoulder - reducing the capacity to match the short barrel. In the forming operation, the body of the ,221 is given a slight taper. Unfired factory cases measure .373-inch at the base and .354 just back of the shoulder. Once-fired Remington

brass has a case capacity of 1.477 cubic centimeters. In practical terms, the case will hold approximately 20.9 grains of IMR-4227 powder when filled level with the mouth. Forming dies to facilitate making ,221 cases from .222 Remington brass are available, but a tedious neck reaming operation is required for homemade brass, and the operation slightly reduces the case capacity as compared to factory cases. Those formed from once-fired 2 2 2 brass have a capacity of 1.432 cubic centimeters, or 20.4 grains of IMR-1227. The reduced capacity means that the handloader must cut back the powder charges from those shown in the loading manuals in order to stay within safe pressure limits.

Only one factory load is available for the .221 Fireball. Remington offers this ammo with a %%grain pointed soft

The HANDLOADER Magazine

point bullet, designed to expand rapidly on small game and varmints, pushed by 15.1 grains of a powder that closely resembles IMR-4227. The overall length of the factory round is 1.815 and the case is tightly crimped on the bullet cannelure.

Published factory information credits this ammunition with a muzzle velocity of 2,650 fps from a IOYz-inch barrel, and a remaining velocity at 100 yards of 2,130 fps. I chronographed the muzzle velocity of the factory ammunition, using an Oehler Model 10 chronograph, at 2,599 fps from my XP-100 and 2,536 fps from the 10-inch barrel Contender. This slight variation from the factory data is understandable considering the difference in chronographs, temperature and atmospheric conditions.

Remington cases were used throughout my load development and test work. These were trimmed to a length of 1.396 before each loading. This i s .004 under the maximum case length and .001 over the recommended trim-to length shown in Lyman’s manual. Depending upon the intensity of the load used, my cases stretched from .001 to .003 with each firing. Two, and sometimes four, loadings could have been made before the maximum case length was exceeded, thus regular trimming wasn’t a necessity. However, when evaluating the

accuracy of a load, I have more faith in the results if all of the cases are the same length, so I feel that the work of trimming after each firing is justified.

CCI 450 magnum Small Rifle primers were used in all of my loads. The manuals don’t recommend such primers, but I had some on hand, so 1 decided to give them a try. Because of the relatively small powder capacity of the .221, and the use of fast burning powders, I doubt if any advantages or disadvantages resulted from the use of magnum primers. Small Pistol primers should not be used in any .221 Fireball load. The cup metal is thinner than in rifle primers, thus increasing the possibility of a pierced or blown primer with the high-pressure .221 cartridge.

Since my sole use for the .221 would be hunting, I decided to work toward

The strong Remington XP-700 bolt action, below, will handle

considerably heavier loads than the Contender, at right. The Con-

tender‘s break open action can be almost impossible to close if

the case is a tight fit, so full- length resizing is recommended.

loads that were accurate and safe in both my Contender and the XP-100. This eliminates some confusion in the field and expels any possibility of creating a dangerous pressure situation by accidentally firing ammo intended for the XP-100 in the Contender, or vice versa. This meant full-length sizing my cases each time, but I recommend this anyway for ammo which will be used in the Contender. A tight-fitting case can make it almost impossible to close the Contender’s action.

I encountered less trouble developing dual-gun loads than I had anticipated. Maybe I was just lucky, but the most accurate loads I worked up for the Contender shot very well in the XP-100 - as well as any I had previously developed strictly for the XP-100. One very important fact became evident as I worked: regardless of the powder and bullets being used, the Contender will not handle loads as heavy as will the XP-100. Loads that resulted in badly cratered or blown primers in the Contender showed n o pressure signs at all in the Remington. Some of this could be due t o differences in the individual chamber dimensions, but because Remington’s bolt action is stiffer and stronger than the break-open Contender, I would expect similar 0

July-August 1972 23

The .22 1 Fireball, left, compared to the .256 Winchester Magnum, another hot pistol cartridge designed for long range hunting. The .221 is superior in both accuracy and velocity.

results in the comparison of any two of these pistols.

Only three powders work well in the .221 Fireball - IMR-4227, 4198 and Hercules 2400. I eliminated even 2400 from the list after tests with it produced severe muzzle flash and blast. These are two traits the varmint hunter strives to hold to a minimum, and since 2400 produced otherwise no more spectacular results than 4227, I stopped working with it.

Despite the cartridge's .221 designation, bullets of .224 diameter are the proper size to use. For the most part, 45, 50 and 52-grain bullets gave me the best results. Decent accuracy was recorded with a couple of 40-grain bullets with which I experimented briefly, but it was no better than with

' the heavier ones. More important, 40-grain .224-inch bullets lose their velocity rapidly. A 40-grain bullet with a ballistic coefficient of .143 and a muzzle velocity of 2,600 fps has a remaining velocity at 100 yards of about 2,010 fps and a mid-range trajectory of some .8-inch. A 50-grain spitzer bullet with a ballistic coefficient of .261 and a muzzle velocity of 2,350 fps has about the same remaining 100-yard velocity as the faster 40-grain bullet, and a similar mid-range

The .221 case is a shortened, somewhat more tapered version of i t s parent .222 Remington, right. Although early Remington prototypes of the XP-100 used the .222, the cartridge was found to have too much powder capacity for efficient burning from 10%-inch barrels.

trajectory. At 200 yards, the 50-grain bullet has over 200 fps more retained velocity than does the faster-starting 40-grain slug, Since I am primarily interested in long range hunting where retained velocity is necessary to initiate bullet expansion, I could see no advantage in working with 40-grain bullets.

Of the seven different bullets I used

in my tests, ranging from 4 5 to 52 grains in weight, the %grain Sierra Blitz produced the most dramatic expansion on small varmints. Out around the 100-yard mark it will blow a prairie dog to pieces. It's a good performer on large varmints too, but the 52-grain Speer hollow point would be my choice for bigger animals. Its expansion isn't as rapid as the Blitz, so it holds together to break bone and give deep penetration as it expands, opening a deadly wound channel on coyote-sized game.

The Load table lists those that produced the best results in both my XP-100 and the Contender. They are well within the safe limits recommended by the various handloading manuals. Some of the loads shown in the manuals were too hot for my Contender, especially those for 4227 powder.

The Performance table gives the pertinent velocity and trajectory data for the four loads that I finally chose as best, accuracy-wise, in both of my pistols. The muzzle velocity was measured using an Oehler Model 10 chronograph, while the remaining velocities at 100 and 200 yards were calculated using Ingalls' tables. While velocity was considered an important factor, accuracy had a greater bearing on my load selection, Velocity without accuracy is worthless to the hunter, but so is accuracy at velocities too low to produce good bullet expansion. The loads listed represent a mean of the two

The two cases on the left, fired in Milek's Contender, showed pierced and badly cratered primers. The same load fired in the XP-100 gave no indication of excessive pressure (right two cases). Milek's experiments showed that the XP-100 would handle hotter loads than the Contender with any powder-bullet combination.

These seven bullets were tested for accuracy and expansion on game during tests of the .221 Fireball. They are, from left, the Speer 45-grain Spitzer, Sierra 45grain Spitzer, Speer 50- grain Spitzer, Sierra 50-grain Spitzer, Sierra 5Ograin Blitz, Hornady 50-grain SX and Speer 52-grain Hollow Point.

The HANDLOADER Magazine 24

-- acceptable velocity with good accuracy.

In order that I might have some criteria with which to compare the accuracy of my handloads, I fired 5-shot groups at 100 yards with factory ammunition in both the Contender and the XP-100. The accuracy with this factory fodder was not as good as I had expected, running around 3 inches with the XP-IO0 and 4 inches with the Contender. I had no trouble at all creating handloads that produced better accuracy. In fact, every load in the table shows an improvement. However, this accuracy was achieved at some sacrifice of velocity.

Upper bracket loads with the Contender regularly resulted in marked vertical shot dispersion on the target. It soon became apparent that whenever vertical dispersion began showing up, I was nearing the maximum charge for t h a t p a r t i c u l a r powder-bullet combination. An increase of another 0.2 grain of powder would often produce flattened, cratered primers and sticky extraction.

At 25 yards, a range at which an excellent sight picture is possible with the 2 x and 2.5X scopes I used on the Contender and XP-100, it was often extremely difficult to pick out the most accurate loads. Several five-shot groups

were nothing more than one ragged hole. At 100 yards, though, those loads that weren’t up to snuff accuracy-wise would invariably produce 5-shot groups in the 3 to 4-inch class while the more accurate ones held in the 1% to 2-inch class.

Even my best groups at 100 yards with either pistol are not true representations of what the handguns and loads could do. It just isn’t possible, at least for me, to hold any better than 1% or 2 minutes-of-angle with a 2X or 2.5X scope, even when a good bench rest is used. Beyond the 100-yard mark, sighting error becomes a big factor. Were I to employ more powerful rifle scopes on these pistols as do many bench rest competitors, I feel confident that groups with both pistols would shrink to around the 1-inch mark. However, the use of rifle scopes on pistols means sacrificing eye relief and I don’t think this is practical for hunting.

The trajectory of any cartridge used for long range hunting is extremely important, and the hunter should know what to expect of his pistol. All too often, shooters credit their varmint hunting handguns with long range performance that puts them right up in the rifle class. This just isn’t possible. A check of the velocity, mid-range trajectory and bullet drop columns in the Performance table illustrates what I mean. Notice that while the 100-yard mid-range trajectory of load No. 9, one of my most accurate, is .89-inch, which makes it sound pretty flat shooting, the bullet from this same load strikes eight inches below the line of sight out at 200 yards. The 52-grain hollow point bullet used in load No. 19 strikes over a foot low at 200 yards when the pistol is sighted in at 100 yards.

One of the biggest limiting factors to the effective range of a handgun for hunting is velocity loss. Again referring to the Load table and using load No. 9 as an example, we find that while the muzzle velocity of this load is 2,352 from the Contender and 2,494 from the =-loo, the remaining velocity at 200 yards is 1,753 fps and 1,872 fps respectively. Experience has taught me that most .22 caliber bullets don’t expand well on small varmints at velocities much below 1,800. For this reason I consider 200 yards to be the maximum effective hunting range of the .221.

Nevertheless, my work with the 2 2 1 in the two pistols now chambered for it

(Continued on Page 55)

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