Remington Magnum - Reilly The Old Is New 20-Bore Gibbs

$5.99 U.S./Canada

April 2012 No. 277Rifle Magazine Presents - HANDLOADER

Display until 05/12/2012 Printed in USA7 25274 01240 4

0 4

$5.99

Loads for the.44 Smith & Wesson

Russian!

TESTED: Redding’s Dual Ring Carbide Die

Reilly20-Bore

Hammer Gun.505

Gibbs:SeriousStopper!

.41RemingtonMagnum -The Old Is New

Rifle CaseDesign

AMMUNAMMUNITITIIONON REL RELOOAADDIING NG JOJOURURNNAL AL

April 2012Volume 47, Number 2

ISSN 0017-7393 Issue No. 277

Background Photo: © 2012 Vic Schendel4 Handloader 277

32 Investigating Reilly A Bit of History, a Lot of Mystery Terry Wieland

38 .44 Smith & Wesson Russian Black-Powder and Smokeless Loads Mike Venturino

44 Smokeless Rifle Case Design From Long and Thick to Short and Fat John Barsness

50 Remington Enhanced Model 1911 R1 Handloads for a Modern .45 ACP Brian Pearce

58 The Old Is New Handloads for a .41 Remington Magnum John Haviland

64 Redding Dual Ring Carbide Dies The Price We Pay for Carbide Charles E. Petty

8 .45 Colt Issues Reloader’s Press - Dave Scovill

12 Alliant Power Pro 300-MP Loads Bullets & Brass - Brian Pearce

16 The S&W M&P22 Pistol Pointers - Charles E. Petty

20 Alliant’s Black MZ Propellant Profiles - R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

24 Improving Sixguns with Brownells Pro-Springs From the Hip - Brian Pearce

28 Colt’s Pocket Pistols Mike’s Shootin’ Shack - Mike Venturino

30 .505 Gibbs Cartridge Board - Gil Sengel

Page 50 . . .

Page 44 . . .

Page 38 . . .

Publisher of Handloader™ is not responsible for mishaps of any nature that might occur from use of published load-ing data or from recommendations by any member of The Staff. No part of this publication may be reproduced withoutwritten permission from the publisher. Publisher assumes all North American Rights upon acceptance and paymentfor all manuscripts. Although all possible care is exercised, the publisher cannot accept responsibility for lost or mu-tilated manuscripts.

Page 64Page 30Page 38

Background Photo: © 2012 Vic Schendel6 Handloader 277

On the cover . . .This E.M. Reilly 20 bore started life as a .577Snider double rifle but now shoots 350-grainball. Photo by Terry Wieland. Inset pistolphoto by Yvonne Venturino.

Issue No. 277 April 2012

AMMUNAMMUNITITIIONON REL RELOOAADDIING NG JOJOURURNNAL AL Publisher/President – Don PolacekPublishing Consultant – Mark Harris

Editor in Chief – Dave ScovillAssociate Editor – Lee J. Hoots

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

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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., Handloader®Magazine, 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,

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

68 Handloaders’ Weights and Measures Why the Metric System Complicates Things Gil Sengel

76 Meister’s X-Ring Rubber Bullets Product Tests - R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

82 Shots and Shells In Range - Terry Wieland

Page 64 . . .

Page 68 . . .

Handloader 27720 www.handloadermagazine.com

The black-powder enthusiastsamong our readers may have

heard that Alliant Powder was en-tering the black-powder substitutemarket. The plan was to offer thepowder already on the market andknown as Black Mag Xp as Alliant’sown. The powder was to be namedBlack Dot, a takeoff on Alliant’s famous smokeless powder “Dot”series: Red Dot, Green Dot andBlue Dot. Rumor has it that asmaller-grained version currentlyknown under the Black Mag labelas Flash would also be availablefrom Alliant as a priming powderfor flintlocks. The plan, unfor tu -nately, went up in smoke, liter -ally, with an explosion at the BlackMag manufacturing facility in 2010.Alliant, forced to start all over,turned to the American Pioneerpowder company located in west-ern Colorado.

American Pioneer has been man-ufacturing black-powder substi-tute powders for quite a few years.Beset by financial problems attimes, it always bounced back.Over the years the company hasmanufactured Black Canyon pow-der, American Pioneer powder andClear Shot, both under the Ameri-can Pioneer label, and Shockey

Gold powder for GOEX,among others. (I havea nagging feeling I’momitting something.)

The new Alliant black-powder substitute isnow known as BlackMZ. It is a differentformulation, I’m told,than any of the cur-rent powders manu-factured by AmericanPioneer.

Black MZ is a volume-for-volume replacementfor FFg black powder.Its granules appear to be slightlylarger than typical for black pow-der. (Throughout, all comparisonswere made with GOEX FFg blackpowder.) According to Alliant, BlackMZ’s notable characteristics areeasy ignition and a lack of sensi-tivity to moisture. Also noted werea particularly modest amount ofresidue left after each shot and adefinite need to compress thepowder. On each container label isan admonition to “use no bullet/bore lubes.” When querying Al-liant for clarification, I was in-formed it meant to be certain thebarrel was dry before dispensing

the powder charge. This applies tomuzzleloading arms.

When my sample of Black MZ ar-rived, I began my review by get-ting a sense of its weight relativeto black powder. I got out a volu-metric black-powder measure andset it for 90 grains. Next I weighed10 charges of GOEX FFg powderusing as consistent a technique asI could. After filling the measureto overflowing, I tapped the meas-ure five times with my finger thenswung the funnel top over thebody of the measure to level it offand weighed the charge. I repeatedthe entire process with Black MZ.Averaging the 10 charges of each,I found that Black MZ weighs 90.4 percent of an equal volume of GOEX FFg. If I eliminated thecharge of each that was farthestfrom the average – something wecould not do in the field – the per-centage rose to 91.1. Either is closeenough, especially if we choose toweigh our powder charges andround to the nearest whole grain.In each of the tests, I weighedeach charge of black and BlackMZ and gave the actual weight inthe accompanying table, but thesimple volume-for-volume tech-nique with a black-powder meas-

PROPELLANT PROFILES by R.H. VanDenburg, Jr. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

ALLIANT’S BLACK MZ

Author’s Selected LoadsAlliant Black MZ

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

.50 caliber pistol 490 RB 35.0 1,090

.50 caliber rifle 490 RB 81.0 1,951 370 Maxi 81.0 1,465.45 Colt 250 32.0 929.45-70 300 59.0 1,612 400 59.0 1,453Notes: Powder charges represent 90 to 91 percent by weight ofstandard FFg black powder charges used by the author on a reg-ular basis. Charges were rounded to whole grains. Velocities weremeasured at 10 feet from the muzzle. MZ pistol barrel length, 10inches; MZ rifle, 26 inches; .45 Colt, 4¾ inches; .45-70, 26 inches.Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.


quate, if not spectacular, velocityand small groups. The maximumpowder charge appearing in theRamshot Load Guide, Edition 4.4of 56.0 grains with a 150-grain bullet was cut back to 55.5 grainsto reduce what would have beensignificant powder compression.Some loss of velocity incurred asa result.

All in all, revisiting Ramshot BigGame was instructive. Meteringwas flawless through powder meas-ures, residue was minimal and accuracy generally all I could askfor. If you have any of the newershort, fat cartridges, or most ofthose listed, you might want togive it a try.

Back in 2001 on these pages,we reviewed Ramshot Big

Game powder. The entire Ram -shot line of powders is the property of Western Powders of Miles City, Montana. In additionto Ramshot, Western also offersthe Accurate line of powders, animpressive line of guncare products and theblack-powder substi-tute, Blackhorn 209.

In the prior look atBig Game, there wasdata for only four car-tridges: the .25-06 Rem-ington, .270 Winchester,.30-06 and .300 Win-chester Magnum. Allbut the .25-06 were in-cluded in the tests and reportedon. A more recent review of var-ious reloading manuals revealedmore than 25 cartridges for whichBig Game is suitable.

An interesting sidenote is thatin the previous review, I praisedthe use of Big Game in the .270Winchester and .300 WinchesterMagnum, while expressing milddisappointment in the velocitiesattainable in the .30-06, especiallywith bullets weighing more than150 grains. In the latest RamshotLoad guide, Edition 4.4, there isno data for Big Game in the .270or .300, but there is for the .30-06.The reasoning is actually simple:the subsequent introduction ofHunter to the Ramshot lineupand the discovery that the slower-burning Ramshot Magnum iseven better in the two formercartridges. Actually, where BigGame has settled in as a superiorpropellant is in the newer, andsome old, short, fat cartridges.Regardless, there is clearly rea-son for an updated review.

Big Game is a very dense, dou-ble-base, spherical powder man-ufactured in Belgium. It is im-ported here by Western, and alltesting and packaging are doneat the Miles City facility. Bulk

density is considered to be .950g/cc. Although many new pow-ders have been introduced in thesame burning range since our2001 review, Big Game is still amedium-burning rifle powder, abit faster than IMR-4350 and per-haps slower than H-414/W-760.

This can vary from cartridgeto cartridge, but it seems tobe a fairly accurate place-ment. Primer selectionseems to follow a re-curring pattern. Stan-dard strength primersare recommended insmaller cases up tothe .30-06 and mag-num strength primersin most magnum car-

tridges. In the relatively small capacity .223 WSSM,for example, standardprimers are called for.Still, experience tellsme that when usingspher ical powders incold weather, a mag-num spark plug willproduce better results.Just work up usingeach primer. Do notswitch primers in mid-stream. In addition toload data in the Ram -shot publication, you’llfind quite a bit in theHornady Handbook of CartridgeReloading, 8th Edition. Here,especially, the powder is used ina host of short, fat cartridges.

Tests began this time with the.22-250 Remington and stair-stepped up through the .243 Win-chester and .257 Roberts. In each,performance was excellent, ve-locity was satisfactory and groupswere small. Next came the .30-30Winchester, .308 Winchester, .30-06 and .300 WSM. Only the .30-30produced results I felt could bematerially improved upon withanother powder choice. Evenhere, however, accuracy was upto par, and any reasonable targetwould have succumbed quickly

with a proper hit. In the .300WSM, I used magnum primers, as noted, and accuracy was ex-cellent.

I’ve been shooting the 8mmMauser a bit in recent years andhave taken several pronghornand mule deer with 150-grainbullets. Big Game did not disap-point here either, producing ade-

Author’s Selected LoadsRamshot Big Game

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

.22-250 Remington 50 40.0 3,792

.243 Winchester 95 48.0 2,934

.257 Roberts 100 42.0 2,947

.30-30 Winchester 150 37.0 2,089

.308 Winchester 180 47.0 2,619

.30-06 150 59.0 2,956

.300 WSM 165 63.0 2,9958mm Mauser 150 55.5 2,774Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

Ramshot Big Game

•

April-May 2012 23www.handloadermagazine.com

ure would be the more logical ap-proach when using a muzzleloaderin the field or at the range andwould produce the same results.

I tested Black MZ in several guns:a black-powder muzzleloading pis-tol and rifle, both in .50 caliber, andtwo cartridge guns, a Colt SAA .45Colt and a Marlin 1895 Cowboy.45-70. In the latter I used two bul-let weights: a 300 and a 400 grain,both cast. All loads were chrono-graphed, first covering the screenswith a clear plastic wrap, as rec-ommended by Dr. Ken Oehler. Eachwas a comparative test, shootingthe same powder volume load withGOEX FFg and with Black MZ.

The most obvious difference wasthat Black MZ produces signifi-cantly higher velocity than GOEXFFg. Most other black powdersand substitutes do not do this, butBlack MZ certainly did. This canbe a blessing or a challenge. Forguns with fixed sights regulatedwith a specific black-powder charge,a reduction in the Black MZ chargemay be necessary to maintain theintegrity of the sights. If the gun isa muzzleloader, this presents noproblem as the charge can simplybe reduced and the bullet or ballstill firmly seated on the powder.In cartridge guns with fixed sights,however, a reduction in powdercharge will reduce the amount of powder compression that mayneed to be taken up through theuse of overpowder wads. If thehigher velocity of Black MZ is otherwise acceptable, guns withadjustable sights simply need tobe sighted in. If it is not, we revertto the fixed sight scenario andreact accordingly.

The next most obvious differ-ence was the lack of residue leftby Black MZ. In any instance where“wiping after each shot” is not de-sirable or practical, this is a god-send. In my muzzleloaders, loadingsubsequent shots was greatly easedby the reduced residue, whichhelped speed up reloading. Thiswas equally true in the Marlin car-tridge rifle. In fact, in one test,three successive shot were fired

with fine steel wool or an S.O.S®pad, and cases are shiny brightonce again.

The question of accuracy is cer-tainly a valid concern, and in mytests it seemed to be a wash. Idon’t want to make too much of it, however, as no attempt wasmade to load to a given velocity,and without that such comparisonsare compromised.

There is certainly more to dohere in terms of testing. I can seemuch to favor Black MZ in shot-shells, although I didn’t get to thatthis time. My gut feeling is thathunters are going to like thisBlack MZ.

with black-powder loads. The firstshell in a clean barrel loaded ef-fortlessly, of course. The second,a bit harder and the third, harderstill. Without cleaning, a fourthround with Black MZ chamberedwith some difficulty. After firing,rounds five and six – also with BlackMZ – simply fell into the chamber.Round four not only left littleresidue but cleaned out that leftby the three black-powder rounds.No wads or grease cookies or anyother attempt to soften residuewere included, as I wanted a worst-case scenario. I got it, I think, andAlliant’s claim of less residue cer-tainly proved valid.

Alliant’s claim of ease of igni -tion also seems valid, as standardstrength primers gave the best results in the cartridge guns, andstandard percussion caps per-formed admirably in the muzzle-loading pistol and rifle. A friend atAlliant also confirmed that with astandard FFFFg black powderpriming charge, Black MZ is rightat home in flintlocks as well.

All is not peaches and cream,however, as no matter what I did,Black MZ always produced largerextreme spreads than GOEX FFg.This can be minimized by heavilycompressing the powder charge –but not eliminated. It may not mat-ter though. In shooting situationswhere cleaning after each shot isthe norm, the more consistentblack powder may get the nod. Onthe other hand, where it is not,Black MZ’s ease of reloading maycarry more weight.

Odor and smoke are either thecharm or bane of black-powdershooting, depending on one’s pointof view. There was more smokethan smell, but neither was pres-ent to any degree with Black MZ.Cleanup, though, is much the sameas with black powder. Hot wateror any of the chemical cleanersmarketed for black-powder clean-ing will do the trick. Cartridgesalso need the cleanup treatment.I typically soak them in hot, soapywater followed by a chem ical brasscleaner treatment. A light buffing

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•

.44 Smith & WessonRussianBlack-Powder and

Smokeless Loads


VMike VenturinoPhotos by Yvonne Venturino

Virtually every gun magazinereader knows the .45 Coltand Single Action Armystory from inception late in

1873 until today. Few realize thatSmith & Wesson’s .44 Russian pre-dated it by a year, and it’s a safe bet tosay that more Smith & Wesson .44Russian revolvers were made be-tween 1872 and 1912 than the nearly160,000 Colt SAA .45s made between1873 and 1941.As the name implies, a very large portion of themwere shipped to Russia. S&W No. 3 .44 Russians weremade in 1st, 2nd and 3rd Model variations during the1870s. Because the Russian government was payingSmith & Wesson in gold, whatever changes it desiredwere incorporated. For that reason, by the 3rd Modelthey got to looking downright odd with a mysteriousspur on the trigger guard and saw handle-shaped grip.

By 1878, Smith & Wesson remodeled the No. 3 intothe “New Model” by doing away with the triggerguard spur and smoothing out the strongly de-fined knuckle at the top of the grip frame. Thesame grip shape was retained in the early1880s when the company developed a dou-ble action on the No. 3 frame. A majorityof New Model No. 3s and Model 1881DAswere chambered as .44 Russian.

In 1871 the U.S. Army bought 1,000 of S&W’s brand-new No. 3 revolverschambered for a round that was firstcalled the .44/100. It used a heel-basetype bullet that had a reduced diame-ter shank to fit inside the cartridgecase. The full diameter of the bullet wasthe same as the outside diameter of the car-tridge case. (Envision a .22 Long Rifle round.) Thiswas less unusual than one might think. At this dawn of metallic revolver cartridges most, if not all,American designs were based on the heel-base bulletconcept.

Russia’s military attaché to its U.S. embassy, GeneralGorloff, encountered the new S&W revolvers and wasimpressed. He was much less impressed with theAmerican system of loading revolver cartridges. TheRussian government offered Smith & Wesson an orderfor 20,000 revolvers, but only if they were chambered

for a .44-caliber cartridge of its own design.The Russians wanted the full diameter of the bul-

let to fit inside the cartridge case. Naturally, Smith &Wesson agreed. This is not to say that American am-munition designers dropped the heel-base bullet con-cept like a hot horseshoe. Many more Americanrevolver cartridges were introduced using heel-basebullets long after the advent of the .44 S&W Russian.Examples that come to mind are .41 and .38 Colts.

After the new Russian .44 gained notice, the earlier.44/100 Smith & Wesson became known by the like-wise odd moniker of .44 S&W American. Ammunitionmakers initially retained the habit of putting the lead

The Navy Arms/Uberti 3rd Model .44Russian is a modern reproduction.

.44 Smith & WessonRussian

April-May 2012 39www.handloadermagazine.com

its .44 Russian variations domesti-cally. About the only change madeto them was that the inscriptionsatop the barrels were in English.Those sent to Russia naturally hadinscriptions in that language.

In the 1990s I became smittenwith Smith & Wesson Model No. 3revolvers in all versions and even-tually amassed an assortment con-taining 1st, 2nd and 3rd ModelRussians, a New Model .44 Russianand a Model 1881DA .44 Russian.All were shot to one degree or another, but while doing so therewas always a dark cloud of appre-hension hanging over me. All those.44 Russian handguns were veryvaluable and very old. Accordingto Smith & Wesson historian RoyJinks, all No. 3 Smith & Wessonframes were built prior to 1898even though the company still cat-aloged New Model No. 3s until1912.

Smith & Wesson Model No. 3swere not the most robust of hand-guns when new and were never designed with smokeless powdersin mind. Former Wolfe Publishingstaff artist, the late Dave LeGate,collected Smith & Wesson ModelNo. 3s and told me once aboutsplitting a New Model .44 Russian’scylinder with a black-powder hand-load. Therefore, I only shot my orig-inal and very valuable .44 Russian

powder charge. However, WolfePublishing’s reprint of an 1899Winchester catalog shows its .44Russian loads with smokeless pro-pellant under 255-grain, inside-lubedbullets. One detail in that catalogthat handloaders should find inter-esting is that Winchester used analloy of 1-40 (tin to lead) for .44Russian bullets, but for .45 Colt itused 1-20 alloy, and for .44 WCF(.44-40) pure lead was used.

Smith & Wesson sold all three of

bullet’s grease grooves out-side the cartridge case as wasnecessary with heel-base bul-

lets. According to U.S. Cartridgesand Their Handguns 1795-1975by Charles R. Suydam, early .44Russian factory loads used 275-grain outside-lubed bullets over 23grains of black powder. That bookgoes on to state that by about 1888most factory ammunition had be-come loaded with inside-lubricatedbullets of 246 grains over the same


yard groups mostly run from a bitunder 2 inches to a bit under 3inches. I don’t consider that toobad considering a rear sight that isalmost a joke.

Theories exist as to the reasonfor the odd spur on the triggerguard of 2nd and 3rd Model .44Russian revolvers. I really don’tcare why it was developed, but itsure makes a good spot to anchorone’s off-hand index finger whenshooting two-handed. Shootingtwo-handed is nearly a must withthis revolver, because it is nigh onimpossible to reach the hammerwith the thumb of one’s shootinghand. That odd hump atop the gripis right in the way.

Like all early Smith & Wessonchamberings, its case length israther short. Nominal case lengthis .97 inch, compared to .91 inchfor .44 S&W American and 1.10inches for the later .45 S&W Scho -

in my collection, including all theoriginal S&W .44 Russians. TheUberti 3rd Model .44 Russian rep -lica stuck. Why? It’s simply a joyto shoot. Recoil and muzzle reportare very mild, and while I’ve notgotten the phenomenal accuracyfrom my specimen as reportedwith Smith & Wesson’s No. 3s inthe late 1800s, I can smack duelingtree paddles and falling plates withit to satisfaction. Five-shot, 25-

Navy Arms/Uberti didn’t get aperfect copy of the 3rd Model .44Russian, but it’s darn close. For in-stance, Smith & Wesson 3rd ModelRussians had 6½-inch barrels witha forged, integral front sight. MyNavy Arms/Uberti version has a 7-inch barrel with a front sightpinned on. Uberti’s 3rd Model .44Russian replica is actually veryclose to some S&W transition mod-els assembled as S&W graduatedfrom 2nd to 3rd Model variations.

In 2008 I sold off many firearms

.44 S&WRussian

By 1878 Smith & Wesson returnedto more graceful lines for the NewModel No. 3 revolvers. The mostcommon caliber, by far, was the.44 Russian.

A majority ofNew Model No. 3s andModel 1881DAs were

chambered as .44 Russian.

revolvers enough to gain a little bit of familiarity with them whilegathering chronograph and accu-racy information.

Then a breeze came to blow awaymy cloud of apprehension. In thelate 1990s Navy Arms Companyprevailed on Uberti of Italy to re-create the 3rd Model .44 Russian.Being made of modern steels, thesehandguns are perfectly suitablefor shooting with smokeless pow-der loads.

Two original Smith & Wesson revolvers from the 1870s: S&W ModelNo. 3 .45 Schofield (top) and an S&W Model No. 3, 3rd Model .44Russian (center). At bottom is the Navy Arms/Uberti 3rd Model .44Russian.

41www.handloadermagazine.com

field. Rim diameter is a prominent.515 inch, as was necessary forfunctioning in Smith & Wesson’sstar-type extractors. Modern .45Colt cases have rim diameters of only about .512 inch. The ac-cepted .44 Russian bullet diameteris .429 inch.

Of course, the .44 Special’s caseis merely the .44 Russian length-ened to 1.16 inches. During most

appeared. The .44 Remington Mag-num has the same exterior casehead dimensions but a length of1.29 inches.

Handloading the .44 Russian is ajoy. Starline produces ready-to-loadbrass, and of course, any .429/.430-inch lead bullet between about180 to 250 grains is usable. Re-loading dies are available frommost manufacturers. Mine cur-rently are the RCBS cowboy stylewith carbide sizing die and a casemouth belling die with a plug di-ameter of .426 inch.

My assortment of old Lyman re-loading manuals skips from No. 42

The inscription on the Navy Arms/Uberti replica translates as, “TheThird Russian Gun-Making Factory.”

Left, Mike considers the rear sightof the Navy Arms/Uberti copy ofSmith & Wesson’s Model No. 3,3rd Model .44 Russian more a formality than an actual sight.

of the two S&W .44’s concurrentperiods of factory load produc-tion, they carried the exact same246-grain, lead roundnose bullet.Furthermore, for at least some ofthat time, nominal muzzle veloci-ties were the same, variously re-ported at about 755 to 775 fps.According to Suydam, .44 Russianfactory load production was dis-continued about 1955.Coincidentally, thatis about the timeanother cartridgebased on the.44 Russian

dated 1960 to No. 45, which is un-dated, but I must have picked it uparound 1967. The former book has.44 Russian information, but thelatter one doesn’t mention it. Theonly powders listed in No. 42 andstill available today are Bullseyeand Unique. We’ll use the formeras an example. That No. 42 man-ual goes up to 5.0 grains of Bulls-eye with both 205- and 250-grainbullets. Lyman’s new No. 49 man-ual has .44 Russian data but stopsat 3.6 grains of Bullseye with 245-grain bullets and 3.8 grains with200-grain bullets.

One reason Smith & WessonModel No. 3 revolvers gained

popularity in the 1870s was thatthe top-break design offered simultaneous

ejection of all cases.

Handloader 277

Using modern data, it is difficultto achieve the old stated velocitiesof about 750 fps with 246-grainbullets, and for what reason some-one might be stuck on doing that I cannot envision. Obviously thiscartridge today is merely shot forfun. Hunting or self-defense withsuch an old-timer just does not

seem logical. That said, I’m happyif loads with 250-grain bullets ap-proach 700 fps and 200-grain bul-lets a bit over that mark.

Mention of 200-grain bullets hasbeen made several times. Althoughsuch a bullet weight was not loadedin old .44 Russian factory ammu-

nition, I’ve come to rely on it al-most exclusively in my Navy Arms/Uberti revolver. The reason is thatwith 240- to 250-grain bullets itssights are regulated so that pointof impact is about 5 to 6 inchesabove point of aim at 25 yards.Conversely, 200-grain bullets landat point of aim or just slightly

above, depending on exact pow-der charge.

A few years back, I had DaveFarmer of Colorado Shooters Sup-ply (www.hochmoulds.com) makea four-cavity, iron mould for acopy of Lyman’s old 429478 – a200-grain roundnose. Cast of 1-20(tin-lead) alloy, it is my dedicated.44 Russian bullet. To approximatefactory 246-grain bullets, one canuse Lyman 429383 (used here) or

.44 S&WRussian

These five fast-burning pistol powders were used inthe .44 Russian handloads.

Handloads for .44 Russian have centered aroundthese two roundnose bullets: a 200-grain designfrom a custom Hoch mould (left) and a 250 grainerfrom Lyman mould 429383.

.44 Russian Handloadsbullet powder charge velocity variation comments

(grains) (grains) (fps) (fps)

200 roundnose Hoch custom mould Bullseye 3.7 712 26 good load Trail Boss 3.3 624 25 too mild

Titegroup 3.7 740 24 best load so far Red Dot 3.7 669 19 very mild W-231 4.0 725 23 good load Swiss FFFg 18.0 766 26 fun!250 roundnose Lyman 429383 Bullseye 3.4 706 39 accurate

Trail Boss 3.3 627 26 too mild Titegroup 3.4 722 19 closest to factory Red Dot 3.5 647 48 too mild W-231 4.0 699 15 accurate Swiss FFFg 17.0 712 26 lots of smoke!210 flatnose Black Hills Cowboy 766 19 hits to sights246 roundnose Remington factory load 693 7 very late production246 roundnose Winchester factory load 723 65 from very old boxNotes: All loads fired from a Navy Arms/Uberti 3rd Model .44 Russian with a 7-inch barrel. All chrono graph figures are for five shots with start screen at ap-proximately 6 feet. All handloads used Starline brass with Winchester Large Pistol primers. Bullets cast by Mike of 1-20 (tin-to-lead) alloy, sized .430 inch andlubed with SPG.

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

42 www.handloadermagazine.com

Groups like this at 25 yards with a 6-o‘clock hold are typical

with the Navy Arms/Uberti 3rd Model .44 Russian.

The other three propellants wereall in my self-appointed suitablevelocity range. Black-powder loadswere also chronographed with thesame 200- and 250-grain bullets. Iwas surprised that this revolverhandled up to 50 rounds withoutbinding from fouling and gavequite good accuracy with somecombinations.

In my stash of “old stuff” wereboxes of Remington and Winches-ter .44 Russian factory loads with246-grain lead bullets. For curios-ity’s sake, I robbed each box offive rounds for chronographing.The table shows they gave no sur-prises. The only current .44 Russ-ian factory load on hand is BlackHills’ Cowboy. It carries the same210-grain flatnose used in thecompany’s .44 Special Cowboyload.

My standard .44 Russian smoke-less powder handload prior to theshooting done for this article was

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Redding/SAECO 442. From 1-20alloy, bullets from both mouldsweigh 250 grains. My sizing diam-eter for all .44 Russian bullets is.430 inch. Incidentally, the NavyArms/Uberti revolver’s barrel slugs.429 inch, and its cylinder’s cham-ber mouths are .430 inch. Barrel/cylinder gap is a rather large .008inch, which may be why somehandloads clocked a bit slowerthan expected.

The fastest-burning handgun pro-pellants are most suited for reload-ing .44 Russian. For the purpose ofthis article, I loaded 200- and 250-grain bullets over Bullseye, Tite-group, Trail Boss, Red Dot andW-231. Charge weights were all inthe 3.3- to 4.0-grain range. BothTrail Boss and Red Dot gave veloc-ities lower than I could accept.

the 200-grain roundnose over 3.7grains of Titegroup. I have discov-ered no reason to change. How-ever, if need be I could substitute3.7 grains of Bullseye without giv-ing up anything in the way of per-formance.

BALD EAGLEPrecision Machine Company

101-E Allison St.Lock Haven, PA 17745

TEL (570) 748-6772FAX (570) 748-4443Bill Gebhardt, Owner

(NRA Benefactor Member - IBS Life Member)

The NEW

BALD EAGLERimfire

CartridgeGage

“The GageThat Works!”This is a gage to measure con-sistency of rim thickness on .22rimfire ammunition (a .22 rim-fire rifle’s headspace is deter-mined by case rim thickness).The more consistent the rimthickness, the more consistentthe ignition of the primer and thepowder charge in the case. Inother words, the firing pin will fall thesame distance every time if the same rimthickness is used on every case beingfired for a particular group. By sorting theshells into various groups by rim thick-ness, a reduction in group size of up to25% can be realized in some IF NOTMOST rimfire rifles. This informationabout group reduction comes from the.22 rimfire benchrest participants whocompete in the extremely difficult BR-50matches. All of the top shooters sort theirshells into groups by checking rims andweighing the unfired cartridges.

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These three .44-caliber cartridgesdiffer only in case length. Fromleft, .44 S&W Russian at .97 inch,.44 S&W Special at 1.16 inchesand .44 Remington Magnum at1.29 inches.

This small assortment of .44 Russian cartridge boxes all containedloads with 246-grain roundnose lead bullets.

Mike, shooting theNavy Arms/Uberti3rd Model .44Russian, showshow he uses the supportinghand’s index finger to hold therevolver’s oddtrigger guard spur.

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