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500 Magnum squib
- Thread starter milktree
- Start date
for 400 gr JSP with COL 2.050, Hodgdon data has a charge of 34.0 - 40.0 gr. Your 33.0 gr charge sounds low.
other than a primer failure as a cause, I would be concerned about loading under recommended charge range as the slower burning powder is prone to exactly this event if it doesn’t achieve a sufficient pressure.
if the goal is to have less recoil, one Is better served by a slightly faster burn powder than a lightly loaded magnum powder.
400 gr Rainier plated (the one designed for 500 mag, heavier plating I think)
33.0 gr H110
CCI 250 LR Mag. primer
2.120" OAL
I can't remember where I got the recipe, but my (probably flawed) memory says the start load was 30gr.
Looking at current data shows a starting load of 34 gr. and a max of 40.0; I can't think how I ended up at 33 gr.
That would explain a lot, it's entirely possible I've just been lucky so far.
I'm going to pull the remaining (only 20 or so) and redo them at 34gr, 34.5, and 35
Another thing to keep in mind is the OAL of the projectile itself. I use plated and jacketed bullets in 44 mag and some brand of bullets are longer than others and have the cannelure higher up (towards the point) on the bullet. This means that you could increase the pressures even at the same cartridge OAL due to the longer bullet being seated deeper. And vice versa for shorter bullets decreasing pressure etc
Over this past summer I’ve gotten really into loading 44 magnum, specifically light-ish 240 grain loads. Factory stuff pushing 1450 ft/s is cool but my perfect fun load pushes them around 1150 ft/s. So it’s much warmer than a 44 special but not at all punishing like full steam magnums.
So in the course of looking through my powder options it was clear I’d need something faster than H110 but not silly fast like titegroup. Anyway I ended up with an 8# jug of Hodgdon Longshot, which seems to be something of a bastard handgun powder. Well it’s turned out wonderfully as I can get the 44 mag loads right in that sweet spot but still have reliable ignition and complete powder burns.
if you’re looking for a lighter 500 S&W load I’m guessing it would be a similar thing.
So in the course of looking through my powder options it was clear I’d need something faster than H110 but not silly fast like titegroup. Anyway I ended up with an 8# jug of Hodgdon Longshot, which seems to be something of a bastard handgun powder. Well it’s turned out wonderfully as I can get the 44 mag loads right in that sweet spot but still have reliable ignition and complete powder burns.
if you’re looking for a lighter 500 S&W load I’m guessing it would be a similar thing.
Nice! I tried doing the same and found N110 and AA9 to produce good velocities but not nearly as much blast and recoil as H110/W296. Not quite as fast as Longshot of course. Good to know about that powder working well in lightish 44 mag loads. Seems like it’s very easy to find which is convenient
I do tend to measure projectile length for this exact reason. But I've found it really hard to do anything useful with that information because it's really hard to find published data on the *lengths* of projectiles. This is further complicated by the fact that some have concave bases which makes them effectively "shorter" than they actually are.
The plated bullets don't have a cannelure at all, so I can really only work off overall length.
It's a little tempting to just seat the bullets a smidge deeper to see what happens.
45collector
NES Member
Interesting. I use H110 for .30 carbine and .357 and haven’t had any issues.
I recently picked up a pound of True Blue and used the whole thing making 9mm. I read that it’s also a powder you definitely don’t want to use for light loads.
I recently picked up a pound of True Blue and used the whole thing making 9mm. I read that it’s also a powder you definitely don’t want to use for light loads.
I had this problem with a can of 2400 a few years back. In my 357 reloads the velocities were very eradic and about 1 in 5 was a squib.....same thing your seeing.....plenty of powder caked into the bore behind the projo. I could not get that can of 2400 to work for me so I tossed it.
JuergenG
NES Member
H110 or W296 are ideal for .30 Carbine. For .357 N110 or N340 are better choices.
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H110 == WW296
I noticed H110 is like stripper glitter, that sh*t sticks to everything, why I hate reloading with it but still use it because it works.
One day I pulled a bullet and noticed a bunch of powder stuck to the bullet. Now this was in a load that had some air between powder and bullet.
Could it be that if enough sticks to the bullet, then it won't ignite properly as you will have powder, a gap, more powder and bullet?
Whats the published max load data? NEVER reduce magnum ball powders less than 90% case capacity or you can experience erratic incomplete ignitions. This is why you see a very narrow charge range for data with ball powders.
gerrycaruso
NES Member
I've had squibs specifically in the 500. My first thought was that I forgot the powder charge but the primer went off and the case was full of powder. Apparently, that particular powder needed a magnum primer.
Magnum primers are not required for certain calibers. My 460 S&W mag calls out LRP's . While I can't put the claim to 100% fact , i've read that mag primers can be benificial with the help of complete efficient ignition of ball powders. I experimented using CCI SRMP's in .223 with Win 748 ball powder. No measurable difference in precision or consistiency, but I did observe about another 25 FPS in velocities using mag primers vs std .
I have read from several people a small increase in fps. But it is usually a very small percentage.
Let's assume you load soft 460 at 1200fps, 25fps is a 2% increase. Even less when looking at 1500fps (most 460 loads).
pastera
NES Member
Partial burn will do that
Third option - low bullet tension from a bad or no crimp.
Magnum powders need a lot of pressure to burn properly so if the bullet releases and jumps the gap before the pressure gets high enough the burn extinguishes at the cylinder gap.
Had a similar problem in 38spl with thin walled brass and slightly undersized plated bullets.
Change to thick walled brass - no issues
357 brass - no issues (firing in a 357 the 38 case created a 0.1" jump)
Cast bullet the same weight - no issues
With 500 magnum I'd assume the recoil would easily start a weakly crimped bullet moving forward reducing initial pressure even further.
