Handloader October/November 2019

A reader sent a letter regarding a column I wrote sometime ago about shooting a Colt New Frontier .44 S&W with a 7.5-inch barrel at a 12-inch metal plate somewhat beyond 100 yards. The point of the letter was to question the value or purpose of shooting at such ranges where a bullet would presumably lack sufficient power and accuracy to kill a big-game animal. ...Read More >

Bullet company handloading manuals list a couple of numbers with each bullet. One is ballistic coefficient (BC), a numerical indication of a bullet’s ability to overcome the resistance of air in flight. The other is sectional density (SD). Sectional density is defined as a bullet’s weight in pounds divided by the square of its diameter in inches. High sectional density is said to be essential to producing a good BC and deep penetration. ...Read More >

I subscribe to both Rifle and Handloader and very much enjoy both. I am handloading for the .327 Federal Magnum and firing my loads from Ruger Single-Seven, SP-101 and LCR handguns. The components that I am using are as follows; Starline .327 Federal brass, Hornady 100-grain HP-XTP bullets, Remington small rifle primers and 5.5 grains of Winchester 231 powder. Prior to assembling loads in the new Starline cases, they were full-length sized in RCBS dies. ...Read More >

The .44 S&W Special was the result of at least 60 years of firearm evolution. It does not seem to be known exactly when the .44 caliber became associated with handguns, but its future and enduring fame were assured by 1,000 of Sam Colt’s percussion revolvers known variously as the Walker Pistol, Whitneyville Walker or Model of 1847 Army Pistol. ...Read More >

The Sig Sauer Pro pistol series was developed in 1998 and was the company’s first to feature a polymer frame. It was developed jointly by Switzerland based Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) and J.P. Sauer & Sohn, thus the “SIG Sauer” name. Currently they operate under the title of SIG Arms AG. SIG Sauer has been producing high-quality double-action/single-action semi- automatic pistols for many decades, with a notable example being the P220 that first appeared in 1976. ...Read More >

By the time this column is published I will have been handloading for 53 years, and what changes there have been! In the fall of 1966 a representative of a reloading tool company called Pacific came to a little store in Williamson, West Virginia, Hatfield’s Sporting Goods. I felt bad for the guy demonstrating the reloading tools that Saturday because hardly anyone showed up. On the upside, he had me – at age 17 – full of questions so he didn’t get too bored. I was there from the time he arrived until he packed up. ...Read More >

Those of us who enjoy wildcats do not need much of an excuse to come up with another one. The subject of this column is an example. In response to an article I wrote on the grand old 6.5x55mm Swedish, a reader opined that the world would likely stop spinning on its axis if someone did not soon come up with a cartridge capable of duplicating its performance in short-action rifles in general, and in his Savage 99 in particular. ...Read More >

There are a lot of gadget-mad people around. Fly fishermen spring to mind. Golfers, of course. The average trapshooter is even worse than the average golfer, but at least his passion is relatively sane. Finally, we come to handloaders.Flip through... ...Read More >

When the .270 Winchester appeared in 1925 as one of the rounds in the company’s new Model 54 bolt-action rifle, the chambering apparently did not sell spectacularly. This was partly due to established cartridges such as the .30 WCF (.30-30), then three decades old, and the .30 Gov’t ’06 (as the Model 54 was stamped). ...Read More >

The 9mm Luger (9x19 Parabellum, 9mm/P-08, 9mm NATO, etc.) is currently the most handloaded pistol cartridge in the U.S., but to achieve that title it has taken more than a century, along with the development of new powders, bullets and guns. It also holds the distinct title of being the world’s most used military handgun and submachine gun cartridge. ...Read More >

At the venerable age of 146 and counting, the .32-20 Winchester (.32 WCF) is the most perplexing, infuriating and frustrating round that has ever been my good fortune to encounter – which is not to say that it’s not a great little cartridge – potentially – because it is. ...Read More >

Before getting into the true meat of this article, I’d like to tell a couple of stories about my personal firearm upon which it is based. That’s the Sturmgewehr (aka MP44 or Stg44), which in German means literally “storm rifle,” or it can be translated into “assault rifle.” It was the beginning of an entire genre of military firearms. ...Read More >

Everything rides on the bullet – the success of a hunt, a tight cluster in the bull’s-eye of a target or the clang of a steel plate at long distance. Before a bullet is sent on its flight to meet those expectations, a handloader must ensure it’s correct for the job and handloaded properly so it can perform its intended job. ...Read More >