So, when I recently bought some powder online I had seen that Lil' Gun was real interesting in it didn't have as high a pressure as other powders do, but the velocity was pretty fast. What I didn't know was that after a few hundred rounds in a revolver the heat generated by the powder erodes forcing cones. That sucked because I was planning to use it in .32 and .327 Mag. Then I learned that it's okay in non revolvers, which meant I could use it in my lever actions in the future.
So, I wanted to test this stuff out and used data from Hodgdon's website. Using a starting charge and a small pistol magnum primer I loaded up some .32 Mag with an 85gr XTP bullet. Hodgdon wanted the bullet seated to where the top of the cannalure was below the case mouth, which I didn't do because it doesn't make sense. I've always crimped on the cannalure. Apart from that, I did nothing else different.
Went shooting yesterday and took the chronograph to get a reading of what I could expect from this in terms of velocity from a longer barrel as the data on the website shows 1160fps from a 5 inch barrel. I was shooting with a 10" barrel single shot pistol and the velocity was over 1600 fps. That seemed very high and I did have some difficulty breaking the barrel open.
I had brought a revolver just to try this load in and after that I decided not to shoot it in the revolver.
So, what I'm looking for is feedback from other who have used Lil' Gun in something like .357 or .44 Mag in both a rifle and revolver and what your velocities were with both. I know I wasn't anywhere near max with the charges I used, but I'm hesitant to use it in the lever action rifle I have.
So, I wanted to test this stuff out and used data from Hodgdon's website. Using a starting charge and a small pistol magnum primer I loaded up some .32 Mag with an 85gr XTP bullet. Hodgdon wanted the bullet seated to where the top of the cannalure was below the case mouth, which I didn't do because it doesn't make sense. I've always crimped on the cannalure. Apart from that, I did nothing else different.
Went shooting yesterday and took the chronograph to get a reading of what I could expect from this in terms of velocity from a longer barrel as the data on the website shows 1160fps from a 5 inch barrel. I was shooting with a 10" barrel single shot pistol and the velocity was over 1600 fps. That seemed very high and I did have some difficulty breaking the barrel open.
I had brought a revolver just to try this load in and after that I decided not to shoot it in the revolver.
So, what I'm looking for is feedback from other who have used Lil' Gun in something like .357 or .44 Mag in both a rifle and revolver and what your velocities were with both. I know I wasn't anywhere near max with the charges I used, but I'm hesitant to use it in the lever action rifle I have.