Handloader June/July 2018

When .44 Magnum handguns came up in a conversation recently, it occurred to me that I had no idea where I was or what I was doing when it came out in 1956. Apparently I was oblivious to it, although I must have read something about it in a gun or hunting-related publication by the late 1960s, because it wasn’t a surprise to hear about it from Clarence Beeley, a gunsmith in Eugene, Oregon, shortly before I went on active duty with the U.S. Navy in late 1967. At that, I don’t remember ever seeing a Smith & Wesson or Ruger Blackhawk .44 Magnum until I mustered out of the navy, although I would’ve had to be blind not to notice all the glamorous stories about those sixguns in various gun publications. ...Read More >

A bullet puller comes in handy if you find a better load and want to reload previously assembled rounds, or to check whether you put powder in a case simply to make sure; a bullet puller reveals the answer. You might want to pull bullets and replace them with another type. Whatever the reason, a bullet puller is almost a necessity on every loading bench. Depending on the situation, a specific type of bullet puller might be more convenient, or even necessary, over another type. There are basically three types of pullers commonly in use: the inertia puller, the collet puller and the plier-type puller. ...Read More >

You often use (and speakhighly of) Alliant Power Pistol powder in many of your revolver loads such as .38 Special, .44 Special and .45 Colt. I purchased a quantity of powder and have been very pleased with your data for those cartridges. However, I have not seen you list many loads in .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum using this powder. Can you give me maximum powder charges with the Speer 158-grain Gold Dot HP and Nosler 240-grain JHP bullets in those two cartridges? ...Read More >

Wilhelm Brenneke was born in 1865 in Prussia, then part of the German Empire. It is recorded that by age 10 he was fascinated by anything that launched a projectile. Soon he acquired a small rimfire, and began making crude rifles on his own. He was formally educated as a machinist, toolmaker and mechanical designer. By 1895 he owned his own company selling his designs in firearms, ammunition and bullets used by other ammunition makers. Brenneke seems to have been a bit of John Browning, Charles Newton and Roy Weatherby all rolled into one. ...Read More >

A while back, when becoming aware that Western Powders, Inc., of Miles City, Montana, was moving the manufacture of its Accurate line of spherical rifle powders from Belgium back home to the General Dynamics facility at St. Marks, Florida, I requested samples of the new products. To date, St. Marks-made Accurate 2230 and 2520 have been reviewed with 2460 to go. In the same shipment I also received Ramshot X-Terminator, also now made at St. Marks, and three new but unreleased powders. These will also be reviewed in time. ...Read More >

The Cimarron Bad Boy .44 Magnum features adjustable sights, a nonfluted six-shot cylinder, 8-inch octagonal barrel and an 1860 army-style grip frame.Cimarron Firearms is known for its vast selection of imported, nineteenth-century replica firearms... ...Read More >

When do the fixed sights on a handgun need fixing? My opinion is this: When the shooter cannot aim directly at his chosen target, his fixed-sight handgun needs zeroing. Personally speaking, when shooting for relaxation instead of for an article, I often shoot at moving steel targets. My dueling tree has 4x6-inch paddles, and another more complex target has 6-inch diameter reciprocating paddles (hit one and the other pops up). ...Read More >

Beginning with the introduction of the .45-70 Government in 1873, most rifle cartridges adopted by the U.S. military went on to enjoy popularity among civilian hunters and shooters. The 6mm Lee Navy for the Model 1895 Lee Straight-Pull rifle was an exception. The last of about 22,000 military and sporting rifles departed the factory in 1916, but since the ammunition remained available until the 1930s, one might think wildcatters of that era would have been lured to its bullet diameter like starving yellowjackets at a watermelon festival. They were not. ...Read More >

Over the past couple of weeks on various trips to my rifle range, I’ve run into two shooters who, in the course of conversation, let slip that they “used to handload, but gave it up.” ...Read More >

The 10mm Auto is generally considered the brainchild of Jeff Cooper, which may be true. In his 1974 book Cooper on Handguns he gives credit to Whit Collins for actually designing the cartridge. Regardless, Cooper was in a position to promote it in the press during the 1970s. Its origin started during the 1960s by cutting off .30 Remington cases to around .990 inch and loading them with .38-40 Winchester and .401 Herter’s Power Magnum .40-caliber bullets. Cooper tried multiple powders but ultimately liked the performance of Hercules (now Alliant) Unique when used in conjunction with various 180-grain bullets. ...Read More >

One of the sweetest things to a handloader’s ear, as he ponders an alluring rifle for a rare cartridge, is to hear the guy behind the counter say, “Norma makes brass for that.” When you hear those words, you know that most (if not all) of your troubles are over. ...Read More >

When opening two very heavy boxes of cast bullets recently sent to me, little did I know I was about to delve into something I had never before experienced. Although I have been casting my own bullets for more than 50 years and have shot tens of thousands of commercially cast types along with my own, I wasn’t prepared for what was in those two boxes from Missouri Bullet Company (MBC). ...Read More >

They say necessity is the mother of invention. In Miha Prevec’s case, a lack of bullets drove him to make a mould for himself, and that eventually turned into a job making bullet moulds for shooters around the world. ...Read More >

Some handloaders believe smokeless rifle powders were perfected by 1950. By then, they had definitely been improved enormously since 1884, the year France introduced the 8mm Lebel cartridge loaded with Poudre B. In the early 1930s Dr. Fred Olsen developed Ball powders for Western Cartridge Company, and in the mid-30s DuPont started introducing its final generation of IMR extruded powders. ...Read More >