LOADING NOTES

by Jim Taylor

These are simply a collection of notes about various aspects of reloading from my notebooks.  They span 30 years or more so some of the data may be outdated.  They reflect some ideas I tried out and some of the tests I ran.  They are presented here "as is"... if you decide to duplicate any of these you are on your own, for components can and do change. 

LEAD HARDNESS (BHN)

VELOCITIES AND GROUPS OF A COLT DOUBLE EAGLE OFFICER'S ACP

VELOCITY & GROUP COMPARISONS
S&W 645 vs. Ruger Blackhawk 7 1/2"(with an ACP cylinder)
all groups recorded at 25 yards

LIGHTWEIGHT FACTORY .45 COLT LOADS
velocities recorded from 7 1/2" Ruger Blackhawk

.348 WINCHESTER

From my rifle - temperature 55° F.  10 feet from muzzle to the first chronograph screen
New W-W cases  Alcan Rifle Primers

I have used the 200 gr. Hornady bullet and 67 gr. of 4831 as my standard load for years.  I have killed deer and coyotes with it out to 150 yards.  It has been plenty accurate in my gun.  It may not be safe in your gun.  Work up your loads with caution.

POWDER DIPPERS

Years ago... back during the last century, before Lee produced their line of Powder Dippers, reloaders like myself needed such things.  In those days we constructed our own instead of running down to Wal-Mart or where ever and buying some commercially produced ones.  There is nothing wrong with commercially produced powder dippers.  But in those days we made our own because we had to.

Dad and I constructed them by soldering a wire handle to a cartridge case.  We used everything from .22 BB Cap cases on up.  Then we weighed each dipper carefully with various powders and logged the charges in our loading note books.  Often we filed cases shorter to reduce the amount of powder they held just so we could reach a particular powder charge we liked.

select the image for a larger view
  Left - .22 Long Rifle/ Middle - .25 ACP/ Right - .30 Carbine

Now days with electronic scales and powder measures and automatic loaders such stuff seems antiquated and outdated... which sort of describes me!  Probably that's one reason I still use the home-made dippers from time to time, even though I have a full set of Lee Powder Measures, and a couple of "normal" powder measures, as well as an electronic one.

Sometimes I just want to load up 2 or 3 cases and don't want to set up the whole rigging.  So I grab the appropriate powder measure and I am in business!

Anyway... to make a long story shorter, here are some dippers made from common cartridge cases, and the weights of powder that they threw back in the '70's... be warned.. if you make dippers, weigh them with the powders available today.. THINGS CHANGE!!

All charges were dipped by pushing the dipper straight down into the powder and pulling it up and out, leaving the powder charge rounded (or "heaped up") on top of the case.

I have shot a lot of ammo using 'dipped' powder charges.  I do not find any difference in accuracy using weighed charges vs. dipped charges ...AS LONG AS YOU PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING!  If you get in a hurry you can mess up. (which is true with any phase of reloading).

9mm VELOCITY COMPARISONS

KITCHEN-SINK RELOADING

Back in the old days before Lee Loaders many of us reloaded by what was known as "Kitchen Sink" reloading. This consisted of reloading with home-made reloading tools and innovative and creative ways to get it all done. 

For instance, when I was a young shaver Dad started me reloading for an old Model 92 .44-40 carbine.  I used an ice-pick that had been blunted on the end to pound out the primers.  The shells were reprimed using an old barn hinge.  Dad drilled a hole in the hinge that I could drop the shell into. Opposite the hole he had drilled another one, fitted a small bolt in it, and faced it off so that when you closed the hinge it seated the primer.

I was reloading round balls over a charge of black powder and the shells did not need resizing.  They got mighty dirty and cruddy looking but shot pretty well just the same.  I bagged many a bunny, loading the round ball loads one at a time into the chamber. When I saved up enough money to buy a few factory shells that would work through the magazine I thought I was in paradise!

As I got older I graduated to the Lyman 310 Tool.  I loaded thousands of 357 magnums as a teenager, using the old "nutcracker" tool.  I still have these and every once in awhile I stick some ammo together with them.  They work just fine. The last time I checked Lyman still offers them.

Casting

As a kid I cast many bullets on the kitchen stove, melting the lead in an old cast iron skillet and pouring it into the molds using an old Lyman lead dipper.  One summer I shot up several hundred pounds of lead, melting it down and casting it on the kitchen stove.

After the bullets cooled I stood them in an old cake pan and then poured melted lube around them.  When the lube cooled I cut the bullets out using a Kake Cutter. I either loaded and shot them as is, or then ran them through a Lyman drive-through sizing die before loading them in the cartridges.  It was a slow time-consuming process and I learned never to get into a hurry.

Shooting

The two .357 bullets I used were Ray Thompson's bullet with the 2 crimp grooves (#358156) or Elmer Keith's heavy bullet (#358429).  Either of these bullets were extremely accurate.  I have a group posted on the wall of my shop that I fired in the early 1960's... 2 3/4" center to center for 5 shots at 50 yards... iron sights..( ah...young eyes!)  using the Thompson bullet over 13.5 gr. of 2400 and a rifle primer.

My normal long-range load was the Keith 173 gr. bullet over 14.5 gr. 2400 and a rifle primer.  This load was a very fine 200 yard load and as a kid I often beat some of the rifle shooters breaking bottles at that distance. In those days we did not think about hearing protection which is why my most-used word these days is "Huh?".......  It was an ear-splitter for sure.

All my shooting as a kid was done with "kitchen sink" reloads.  I now am grateful for the experience.  I learned that quality is much better than quantity and when I did graduate to more sophisticated reloading tools I had that firmly entrenched in my mind, along with good safety practices.

Starting Out

For those of you who are on a limited budget but still have a yearning to learn to reload, think about starting with a Lee Loader or a Lyman 310 Tool.  They have their drawbacks.... BUT.. you can assemble good, safe ammo with them.  And you can learn the basics of reloading.  Then some day you will be able to tell the story about the big buck you shot with your kitchen sink reloads!

A SHORT & IMPROPER HISTORY OF THE LYMAN 310 TOOL

This does not have much to do with handloading data but since I had no place else to include it I thought I would stick it in here....

The 310 Tool has it's origins in the Winchester Repeating Arms Co.  In the early days Winchester made reloading tools for their rifles.  These often were given with the rifle at the time of purchase. The tools were of the "nutcracker" design and many of them incorporated a bullet mold on the end of the tool so a frontiersman or rancher had it all in one compact package.  Bullet casting and reloading tool.  

When Winchester quit making these, the man who was in charge of their Reloading Tool Dept. ... a Mr. John Barlow... went to work for the Ideal Tool Co.  He refined the Winchester Reloading Tool and Ideal brought it out in several different configurations: the #3 Tool (for use with rimmed cartridges) the #4 Tool ( rimmed cartridges but with an attached bullet mold), the #6 Tool (rimless cartridges with an attached bullet mold) and the #10 Tool (rimless cartridges).

By the late 1930's the #4 and #6 were discontinued due to lagging sales and the fact that the Lyman Gun Sight Corporation had taken over Ideal.  Under new management the Lyman line of bullet molds with removable handles had been introduced and these advancements made the old mold/reloading tool obsolete.

The #3 Reloading Tool and the #10 Reloading Tool continued to be good selling items however and by 1940 were redesigned slightly to make them easier to use.  They were made of steel and were very robust items. The big drawback was that you had to purchase a separate Reloading Tool for each caliber that you wanted to load for.

By the 1950's Lyman had once again redesigned the Reloading tools, incorporating a removable shell guide in the handles so one set of handles could work with many calibers.  This new Tool was called the 310 Tool since you could reload both rimmed and rimless cartridges with it. Once a set of handles were purchased all you had to buy was the reloading dies for whatever caliber you wanted to reload.

Some early handles for the 310 Tools were made of steel.  By the late 1950's they were made of cast aluminum. This reduced the weight considerably.  While not as strong as the steel handles, the 310 Tool did not full-length size the cases so it normally was not a factor.

The Lyman Ideal 310 Tool is still in production today, it's roots going well back over 100 years. The cost today is a far cry from 1940. ( http://www.lymanproducts.com/dieset5.html )   I have several sets in .45 ACP and .45 Colt that I still use on occasion.  While not as popular as it once was the Lyman 310 Tool will still produce fine ammunition. It is a great way for those starting out to learn reloading or for someone who needs a small compact setup to use while traveling or camping.

select the image for a larger view
 
Ideal #3 Reloading Tool in .45 Colt caliber
This tool and the home-made box was presented 
to me by Shootist Keith Owlett before his death.

This Tool listed for $5.50 in 1940 .. compare today's prices!

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