Handloader December 2019

The above title once served as the name of a column the late John Wootters wrote in Rifle magazine. Bear hunting wasn’t necessarily the focus of the column in literal terms but served to offer some measure of direction in terms of content regarding handloading in general. ...Read More >

Handloaders have been winning long-range matches and setting records for many years with short, fat Winchester Short Magnum (WSM) and Remington Short Action Ultra Magnum (SAUM) cartridges using heavy Berger and Sierra bullets seated out in rifles ... ...Read More >

I have two rifles that are used for cowboy action shooting and include a Marlin Model 1894 Cowboy and Uberti Colt Lightning reproduction, which is a pump action rifle with external hammer. Both guns are chambered for .45 Colt. ...Read More >

In the last column we looked at cartridge development that led up to the .44 Special in 1907. Some questions were left unanswered so we will deal with them now, beginning with why the cartridge was introduced using both smokeless and black powder. ...Read More >

Shooters World canister propellants are relatively new to handloaders, but the company has been supplying bulk powders to ammunition manufacturers for years. With fifteen listed products ranging in burn rates appropriate for shotguns (Sparta 100) to the .50 BMG (Shooters World BMG), the company has a propellant to match most needs. ...Read More >

Lyman’s history dates back to around 1878, when it began offering bullet moulds, tong tools, gun sights and other shooting-related products. While the company has acquired several other firearms accessory companies in the past couple of decades, its core business remains reloading presses, dies, bullet moulds, scales, reloading manuals and sights. New for 2019, Lyman is offering an impressive eight-station reloading press known as the Brass-Smith All-American 8 Turret Press that replaces the T-Mag II press. Upon examining a prototype, I was impressed and immediately placed an order. ...Read More >

What does a gun writer do when confined to the couch while recovering from major surgery? Watch television or peruse firearms auction sites on the internet? For me it was the latter, and in doing so I ended up purchasing a firearm that had intrigued me for years. Specifically, it was a German “Artillery” Luger or, more correctly, a Lange [Long] Pistole ’08. ...Read More >

The International Handgun Metallic Silhouette Association was formed in 1976 and its popularity quickly spread across the country. Full-size chicken, turkey, pig and ram targets made of thick steel were shot at respective distances of 50, 100, 150 and 200 meters. The handgun could be supported only by the body, and most of us shot from several versions of the Creedmoor position. After trying several, I found the “dead frog” variation to be the steadiest and most comfortable. ...Read More >

Handloaders are pack rats. We are also, mostly, bibliophiles. Certainly, anyone who loads for any older rifle, or any older caliber, is likely to have squirreled away volume upon volume of the printed word dealing with his favorite activity. ...Read More >

It is always nice when the first 100-yard group with a new rifle bullet is one ragged hole. Handloading, however, is usually more complicated than a single group, especially when testing 6mm, 6.5mm and .30-caliber bullets in multiple rifles. ...Read More >

About the time this is printed I’ll be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of buying my first and only .222 Remington Magnum rifle. It is a sporter weight Remington Model 700 ADL in pristine condition that was at a gun show in Great Falls, Montana, and it was a present to myself for my thirty-first birthday. ...Read More >

The 7mm Remington Magnum was introduced in 1962 along with the new Remington Model 700. Timing was perfect, as both were conducive to period trends by U.S. shooters and hunters, and sales soared. Remington’s “Seven Mag” remains a standard chambering whenever a new rifle is introduced. Its popularity has been continuous for the past 57 years. In spite of competition in the past couple of decades, even from Remington, it remains by far the most popular 7mm magnum in the U.S. ...Read More >

It is admittedly a compulsion but, methinks, a reasonably admirable one: When an old gun comes my way, I don’t sleep peacefully until I have it shooting again. Over the years, this has led me down some very strange paths, but nothing stranger than the one that began with a whimsical bid on an ancient German Schützen rifle at Rock Island in February. ...Read More >

Load development is a general phrase applied to the process of matching cartridge components to perform an intended task in a particular gun. Safety is the foremost objective of all load development, but individual goals vary. Target shooters pursue accuracy at the sacrifice of all other performance. The frugal shooter willingly trades a touch of accuracy and velocity for economy. Hunters require cartridges to dependably function and fire a proper bullet with the necessary accuracy and velocity to cleanly kill game. ...Read More >