JackO
Instructor
I just started reloading 500S&W MAG caliber, and obviously have a lot of questions. Thank to Eddie Coil, Bob J, Marcus5aurelius and other NESers I have a good start. All my questions were answered by PMs, but this time I think, it might be beneficial to many other people, so I decided to post it here.
I had some Berrys 335gr copper plated bullets to start with. These bullets are not designed for use in revolvers, they don't have a cannelure to do roll crimping, and because of this can not be loaded hot, as recoil will move them out of cases possibly locking the cylinder. But for a light plinking load they are OK, so I started with EC recepie - 13gr of Titegroup and light taper crimp. I loaded some with 12.5gr, 13.0gr, and 13.5gr. All these worked fine from my 8-3/8" S&W revolver, recoil was less than 44 mag from 6" Mod.629 S&W revolver. Hopefully I will have some chrono data this weekend and post it here. Meanwhile, I measured displacement of the bullet in fifth cartridge in the cylinder after firing four cartridges. The displacement was 0.007 - 0.008" with cartridge starting OAL 2.070".
ETA: Here are the results:
Powder: Titegroup
Bullet: Rainier TMJ (plated) 335gr
Crimp: Light taper crimp
Case: Starline, once fired
Primer: Winchester LRP
AOL: 2.070"
Test group: 5 shots
Load Velocity SD
12.5 1033 18.7
13.0 1020 58.7 (4 shots only)
13.5 1043 28.5
The accuracy is very good, 1.5" groups for all loads at 50 feet from a sand bag.
Below are the pictures of the original Berrys bullet, the bullet pulled from the crimped cartridge, and the cartridge with the bullet. I'm posting these pictures to ask your opinion on the taper crimp I did on these cartridges. Is the crimp too deep?
Markus5aurelius was so kind to give me some of his 350gr lead cast bullets with gas checks. These are very fine bullets (Mark, thank you so much!), and they have good cannelure, so I was loading them much hotter (nothing compare to EC ). Mark suggested loading them up to 41gr of H-110, but I decided to stay on a conservative side for the first experiment, and loaded them with 32, 33, 34, 35, 36gr of H-110. Again, hope to chrono them this weekend and post the results.
For the reference, Hodgdon suggests 39gr min and 43gr max for 350gr HDY XTP bullets. They don't have any info on 350gr lead, bud good rule of thumb is to go 10% lower on lead versus copper jacketed bullets. So I started a little lower and worked the load up. Based on the results, I probably will load them hotter next time.
ETA: Here are the results:
Powder: H-110
Bullet: Cast HP (Cramer?) gas checked 367gr
Crimp: Strong roll crimp
Case: Starline, once fired
Primer: Winchester LRP
AOL: 1.970"
Test group: 5 shots
Load Velocity SD
32 1401 18.6
33 1434 37.8
34 1528 (2 shots only, problems with chrono)
35 1533 40.2
36 1547 40.0
The accuracy is very good, 1.5" - 2" groups at 50 feet from a sand bag.
Below are the pictures of the original Mark's bullet, , and the loaded cartridge. And again the question. How is the sitting depth and the crimp in your opinion? Do I need to adjust anything?
I had some Berrys 335gr copper plated bullets to start with. These bullets are not designed for use in revolvers, they don't have a cannelure to do roll crimping, and because of this can not be loaded hot, as recoil will move them out of cases possibly locking the cylinder. But for a light plinking load they are OK, so I started with EC recepie - 13gr of Titegroup and light taper crimp. I loaded some with 12.5gr, 13.0gr, and 13.5gr. All these worked fine from my 8-3/8" S&W revolver, recoil was less than 44 mag from 6" Mod.629 S&W revolver. Hopefully I will have some chrono data this weekend and post it here. Meanwhile, I measured displacement of the bullet in fifth cartridge in the cylinder after firing four cartridges. The displacement was 0.007 - 0.008" with cartridge starting OAL 2.070".
ETA: Here are the results:
Powder: Titegroup
Bullet: Rainier TMJ (plated) 335gr
Crimp: Light taper crimp
Case: Starline, once fired
Primer: Winchester LRP
AOL: 2.070"
Test group: 5 shots
Load Velocity SD
12.5 1033 18.7
13.0 1020 58.7 (4 shots only)
13.5 1043 28.5
The accuracy is very good, 1.5" groups for all loads at 50 feet from a sand bag.
Below are the pictures of the original Berrys bullet, the bullet pulled from the crimped cartridge, and the cartridge with the bullet. I'm posting these pictures to ask your opinion on the taper crimp I did on these cartridges. Is the crimp too deep?
Markus5aurelius was so kind to give me some of his 350gr lead cast bullets with gas checks. These are very fine bullets (Mark, thank you so much!), and they have good cannelure, so I was loading them much hotter (nothing compare to EC ). Mark suggested loading them up to 41gr of H-110, but I decided to stay on a conservative side for the first experiment, and loaded them with 32, 33, 34, 35, 36gr of H-110. Again, hope to chrono them this weekend and post the results.
For the reference, Hodgdon suggests 39gr min and 43gr max for 350gr HDY XTP bullets. They don't have any info on 350gr lead, bud good rule of thumb is to go 10% lower on lead versus copper jacketed bullets. So I started a little lower and worked the load up. Based on the results, I probably will load them hotter next time.
ETA: Here are the results:
Powder: H-110
Bullet: Cast HP (Cramer?) gas checked 367gr
Crimp: Strong roll crimp
Case: Starline, once fired
Primer: Winchester LRP
AOL: 1.970"
Test group: 5 shots
Load Velocity SD
32 1401 18.6
33 1434 37.8
34 1528 (2 shots only, problems with chrono)
35 1533 40.2
36 1547 40.0
The accuracy is very good, 1.5" - 2" groups at 50 feet from a sand bag.
Below are the pictures of the original Mark's bullet, , and the loaded cartridge. And again the question. How is the sitting depth and the crimp in your opinion? Do I need to adjust anything?
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