Handloader October/November 2017

A few years ago, I decided to do a second book about Colt single actions and get some answers to some of the questions surrounding the development of the .45 Colt. I ran into several stumbling blocks that up until then persisted in spite of the fact that some were mostly hearsay, fact and fiction rolled into one, and passed on from one generation of writers to the next. ...Read More >

Shooting at long distances is becoming more popular in both competition and hunting. Shooters have heard about long shots made in the military and want to see how hard it is to make similar shots on paper or steel gongs with their own rifles. Hunters want to take game at even greater distances. Whatever the reason, shooters are finding out how much fun it is to shoot targets way out there. ...Read More >

The .270 Winchester Short Magnum has a standardized bore specification of .270 inch, and standardized .277-inch groove dimensions.Q: I have a Savage Model 11GL chambered in .270 WSM that I started shooting non-lead factory ammo through due to regu... ...Read More >

I have a sentimental attachment to so-called .32-caliber revolver rounds; so-called because they are now .303 calibers and have been getting even smaller since the percussion era. As a kid, someone gave me an old, break-open revolver with an Ideal tong-type reloading tool that had an integral bullet mould on the end. Hundreds of rounds were assembled and were accurate enough to hit gophers and cottontails at 40 to 50 feet most of the time. ...Read More >

Back in 1984, when Accurate Arms was still an independent company located in McEwen, Tennessee, the company introduced a line of spherical rifle powders manufactured in Israel by Israel Military Industries (IMI). Among them was MR-223 which had been developed for the 5.56 NATO cartridge. An explosion at the IMI plant ended Accurate Arms’ source for these powders and other sources had to be found. With the change, the MR prefix was dropped from the name, and MR-223 simply became Accurate 2230. In a previous review, it was noted that A-2230 had been manufactured in Israel, South Africa, the Czech Republic and, at that time, Belgium. A recent move has finally brought the powder home, and it is now manufactured by St. Marks Powders, a division of General Dynamics in St. Marks, Florida. ...Read More >

Brothers John and Ted Sitek (www.sitekarms.com) have more than 70 years combined experience building custom guns, which they learned from their father. Their focus has typically been toward crafting top-quality firearms to include a variety of custom autoloading pistols, Ruger single-action and Smith & Wesson double-action revolvers, bolt-action rifles and leverguns. Rather than offering only “custom packages,” Sitek is willing to tackle any reasonable project built to customer specifications, resulting in true custom guns. ...Read More >

For more than 30 years I have made no secret of my enthusiasm for Accurate 5744 powder. It has proven to be my all-time favorite smokeless propellant for cast bullet loads in modern bottle-necked rifle cartridges for duplicating black powder ballistics in late-1800s black-powder cartridges. That latter statement is italicized so someone doesn’t think A-5744 is a grain-for-grain substitute for black powder. ...Read More >

After five years of handloading the .300 H&H Ackley Improved (AI) cartridge, I’ve learned not to take anything for granted. Reading what others say about a wildcat cartridge adds to the general knowledge, but it’s best to start in the shallow ... ...Read More >

Hornady’s Sonic Cleaner provides an excellent preliminary bath for all brass to get rid of fouling and remove traces of oil and solvent.About 30 years ago, Handloader published an article comparing the brass-cleaning capabilities of vibratory clea... ...Read More >

It has been 112 years since the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) cartridge was developed by John Browning. Nonetheless, its popularity has never been greater, with more pistols, revolvers and even carbines now being sold than at any time in its history. It is a proven battle cartridge and is still pressed into military service by various special forces units. It offers versatility and has a proven record in slow-fire and action pistol competition. It serves admirably for personal defense and is capable of taking deer-sized game. ...Read More >

Most of us would immediately jump up and shout that no cartridge, even the best ones available today, has a flat enough trajectory to hold on the same spot all the way out to 500 yards, and we would be right. That, however, is not how the sight was intended to be used. ...Read More >

Why did 100 yards become the standard distance for shooting centerfire rifles and ammunition? Many hunters never sight in, test handloads or even practice at any other range. The yard itself is arbitrary. Like most early units of measurement, it was based on the human body. Various sources claim “yard” originated as the approximate length of a man’s pace, the length of a man’s belt or the distance from the nose to the thumb of King Henry I of England. Other sources say the King Henry story is probably apocryphal, but by the fifteenth century an official British “yardstick” existed – an iron rod about .10 inch short of a modern yard, standardized to ensure fairness when selling lengths of cloth. ...Read More >

Some powders last for a time, weaken in popularity and finally fade away, but their demise opens a niche. Such was the case of Winchester’s W-571 powder used for years to handload shotshells before declining sales prompted Winchester to discontinue the powder. Fortunately, the void created by the terminated powder was recently filled by W-572. All of the Winchester-brand reloading powders have been licensed since 2006 to the Hodgdon Powder Company. ...Read More >

In the first three installments of “Beginning Bullet Casting,” the factors involved in producing good bullets – and plenty of them – have been discussed. The last important factor is getting those bullets loaded into finished ammunition without ruining them. Damaging lead alloy projectiles is easy. ...Read More >

I was in junior high when Ruger introduced its first .22 semiautomatic pistol in 1952. In the USAF I learned about doing trigger jobs on them and shot one for awhile in bullseye. I learned, painfully, how to reassemble the pistol after cleaning. This is really straightforward, once you learn that the hammer must be in the fired position to re-insert the takedown latch. Since then, the Ruger has gone through several iterations: the Mark II in 1982, Mark III in 2005 and now the Mark IV. ...Read More >

Brass cases stretch when they are fired and resized and must, after varying degrees of use, be trimmed. All reloading manuals note a “maximum case length” and a “trim-to” length for each cartridge. First, trim the case to the proper length, then d... ...Read More >