Handloader October/November 2020

For those who are just beginning to experience psychotic withdrawal from being “alone together” for the last few months, not that it hasn’t become obvious that there will be no immediate relief from watching reruns of old reruns of even older movies, the following is an offering to folks who are suffering from what is akin to watching paint dry. For veterans who served in the armed services, we have experience to draw from. Such duties were often posted on the midwatch, which in many instances really was watching paint dry. ...Read More >

Handloaders have seen the recommendations in load manuals and elsewhere for determining a maximum load with a micrometer. The usual method is to mark each case at the web, then using a blade micrometer, measure each case after firing to see how much the diameter enlarges. Through the years there have been variations on this process. The locations to measure, whether web, expansion ring, extractor groove, rim or belt have varied, as has the amount of acceptable expansion. ...Read More >

Q: I am handloading for the 6.5 Weatherby Rebated Precision Magnum and using select data based on your handloads presented in your article in RIFLE magazine (March/April 2020). I am having trouble ejecting spent brass. I am hoping you can offer some insight into what I might be doing wrong. I am using factory once-fired cases, Nosler 140-grain AccuBond bullets and Alliant Reloder 25 powder with loads containing 62.0 to 66.0 grains. Any help that you can offer will be appreciated. ...Read More >

Students of the rifle know of the Boer War (1899-1902) between Britain and Dutch settlers in South Africa. This little dustup rudely illustrated, to even the dullest British officer, the capability of an accurate rifle when managed by a man skilled in practical marksmanship. Suddenly, marksmanship training, or “musketry instruction,” as it was then called, became a hot topic. ...Read More >

Readers of this column may soon discover I have a passion for classics as well as modern technologies. It will come as little surprise then, that this, the first “Propellant Profiles” column I pen, takes a look at one of the all-time classic centerfire rifle propellants. ...Read More >

In 1980, the Austrian Armed Forces announced it was searching for a new sidearm for military use and outlined a rather lengthy criteria list. Gaston Glock had no experience at designing firearms; however, he did have extensive experience with synthetic polymers and engineering. He assembled a team of European handgun experts to help in working out design features and details of the new pistol. His first gun was the Glock 17, which was the first commercially successful handgun to feature a polymer frame. ...Read More >

The .375 JDJ was introduced in 1978 and was the first of six cartridges eventually developed on the .444 Marlin case by J.D. Jones of SSK Industries for the Thompson/Center Contender single-shot pistol. With the exception of their bullet diameters, the .309, 8mm, .338, .358, .375 and .416 JDJ cartridges are the same. All are formed by necking down the .444 Marlin case and fireforming to slightly less body taper and a 40-degree shoulder angle. Gross water capacity is about 12 grains more than for the .308 Winchester case. ...Read More >

One hopes – sincerely, devoutly and reverently – that by the time you read this sometime in the fall, the COVID-19 crisis will have passed into history, departing not with a bang but a whimper, as so many crises do. (If you doubt that, think back to Y2K, bird flu and mad cow disease). The future, it has been observed, is rarely as bad, but never as good, as we predict it will be. ...Read More >

A short while back, I bought a Colt SAA .45 from an internet dealer. Its factory lettered as having been sent to a Maine hardware store in 1926. When it arrived, the package also contained a pleasant surprise. In it was an Ideal 310 Tool complete with .45 Colt dies. (The Ideal Company was bought by the Lyman Gun Sight Company in 1926.) I’d guess the 310 Tool set dates from about the same time as that Colt .45 because the handles were steel instead of a lighter alloy, as have been all 310 handles of my personal experience. ...Read More >

While many handloaders claim to be weary of amazing new 6.5mm rounds, about as many new 6mm cartridges have appeared since 2000. These newer 6mms have faster rifling twists to stabilize heavier, high-ballistic coefficient bullets, but 6mms with faster twists and heavier bullets did not suddenly appear during the past 20 years. In fact, America’s earliest 6mm featured a 1:8 rifling twist, because the original bullet tested during the 6mm Lee Navy’s development in the mid-1890s was a 135-grain roundnose. Why? For the same reason most other early smokeless military cartridges used heavy, roundnosed bullets: The black-powder cartridges they replaced used heavy, blunt bullets. ...Read More >

The .327 Federal Magnum was introduced in 2008 as a joint development between Federal and Ruger. To many shooters a high-velocity, high-pressure .32-caliber magnum cartridge was something of a surprise, and its success was certainly in question. Twelve years later, it has been offered in a variety of guns, including rifles, and it appears to be here to stay. ...Read More >

The .280 Ross was one of the three most influential cartridges of the twentieth-century, the other two being the .30-06 and the .375 Holland & Holland (H&H). Unlike the latter two, the Ross’ influence lay not in the family of descendants based on its case – there are none – but on its concept: The .280 Ross was the first “Big Seven.” Every subsequent development in that line, including the phenomenally successful 7mm Remington Magnum, sought to equal or better the Ross’ performance. ...Read More >

At one time, the .25-06 Remington was synonymous with long-range shooting. The cartridge’s case contained plenty of powder to fire 100- to 120- grain bullets well above 3,000 fps to produce a trajectory sufficient to aim right on game well past 300 yards. Times change, though, and today that distance is considered by many just the starting point of far shots at game. Nevertheless, I’d be embarrassed to say I had shot at a game animal at 600 yards or farther, because that would imply I was lazy, or such a poor hunter I could not narrow the distance. For people who still consider a stalk and a sure shot the perfect end to a hunt, the .25-06 is a versatile cartridge for handloading, with plenty of bullet and powder combinations that deliver light recoil and good accuracy. ...Read More >

Sturm, Ruger & Company introduced the M77 bolt-action rifle in 1968, a design refined by Jim Sullivan during his three-year stint with the company. The M77 is often described as a modernized Mauser ’98, including a two-lug bolt with a claw extractor, though several revisions were introduced. Legendary stockmaker Lenard Brownell was tapped to create the classically-lined stock of straight-grained walnut. Bill Ruger made the decision to create receivers through investment casting instead of more costly traditional forging methods. Sullivan’s bolt design eliminated the Mauser blade-style ejector and replaced it with a simpler plunger-style version. The inherently-intuitive, two-position tang safety (which locks the bolt when engaged), crisp, user-adjustable trigger system and angled action screw were also new. ...Read More >