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August 2016 No. 303

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FEATURES

Page 40 . . .

Page 24 . . .

Page 74 . . .

Page 26 . . .

6 Quality Control: Part II Reloader’s Press - Dave Scovill

10 .41 Long Colt Bullets & Brass - Brian Pearce

14 .350 Remington Magnum Cartridge Board - Gil Sengel

20 Norma 217 Propellant Profiles - R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

24 Galco Gunleather’s 1880’s Rig From the Hip - Brian Pearce

26 Handloading Don’ts Mike’s Shootin’ Shack - Mike Venturino

30 Chronograph Realities Pistol Pointers - Charles E. Petty

74 Fool’s Gold (Brass) In Range - Terry Wieland

34 Handloader’s 50th Anniversary 6.5 Creedmoor Custom Loads for the Lucky Winner John Haviland

40 Power Case Trimming Tools That Work and Save Time John Barsness

46 .28 Nosler More Than 300 Handloads! Brian Pearce

54 Unshackling the .32 Loads for the .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum Terry Wieland

60 Handloader Number 2 July-August 1966 A Look Back

64 K-Model Masterpiece Loads for a Pair of Smith & Wesson Revolvers Gil Sengel

On the cover . . .This custom 6.5 Creedmoor features a maple stock, tuned Remington 700 action with a Pacific Tool & Gauge bolt and a Swarovski scope in Talley rings. Photo by Chris Downs.

Page 60 . . .

Page 34 . . .

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Western Powders has been importing and distributing

Norma powders in the U.S. for several years. Handloaders are familiar with the long-time trials and tribulations in obtaining con-sistent supplies of Norma pow-ders here in the U.S., but Western Powders has managed to obtain Norma powders in bulk rather than in the familiar metal, red-and-black cans. New Norma pow-ders from Western now come in plastic containers with all testing done in Miles City, Montana. The result is improved availability.

All the Norma powders being imported had been reviewed be-fore the Norma/Western alliance, and I had begun reviewing those

coming directly from Western. The lineup included Norma 200, 201, 202, 203B, URP, MRP and MRP-2, all rifle powders, from fastest to slowest. Norma gets its powders from Bofors, the Swedish powder manufacturer.

With the Western/Norma alli-ance came a change in the powder lineup. MRP-2 was dropped and a new powder, Norma 217, was added. This is interesting in that MRP-2 was touted as an excellent powder for such cartridges as the 6.5-284, the 6.5-06 and Weatherby cartridges. On the other hand, N-217 is stated as having been de-veloped for the .30-378 Weatherby Magnum, is very good in the .338 Norma Magnum and .338 Lapua

Magnum with heavy bullets and is less sensitive to changes in temperature and humidity than most other powders. According to the “Burning Rate Chart” in the Norma Reloading Manuals 1 and 2, both powders occupy the same space in the list between Vihtavuori N165 and N170. The chart was developed using the same powder charge (43.2 grains) and the same bullet (a .308-cali-ber, 143-grain FMJ) loaded in the .308 Winchester case. IMR-4350 was assigned an arbitrary value of 100 with regard to velocity and pressure. MRP-2 was shown as having values of 79.3 and 68.6, respectively. Norma 217 values are 76.0 and 65.2. The only load data I could find for the two powders using the same cartridge and bul-let was with the Sierra 300-grain MatchKing in the .338 Lapua Mag-num. MRP-2 is listed as having a maximum charge of 86.8 grains producing 2,644 fps. Norma 217 is shown with a maximum charge of 87.3 grains at 2,625 fps. Suffice it to say, N-217 is a tick slower than MRP-2 and with its lack of sensi-tivity to changes in temperature and humidity may prove better suited to these large capacity car-tridges.

PROPELLANT PROFILES by R.H. VanDenburg, Jr.

norma 217

21August-September 2016 www.handloadermagazine.com

ning with what is likely the most popular, the 7mm Remington Magnum. Multiple bullet weights seemed the best approach, so I loaded 140-, 150- and 160-grain jacketed bullets. The powder is a little slow burning for the lighter weights and doesn’t come into its own until 156-grain and heavier bullets are used. There its perfor-mance is second to none.

As something of an aside, as I didn’t have samples to test, the

Now to specifics: Norma 217 is an extruded, double- base powder. Its nitroglyc-erin content is 10.5 percent, energy is rated at 3,766 J/g and bulk density is .890 g/cc – all indicators of a slightly slower powder than MRP-2. Kernel dimensions are 1.5mm’s in length and 1.2mm’s in diameter with a single perforation, or hole, of .2mm. To handloaders, this translates to a length of .059 inch, a diameter of .047 inch and a perforation of .0078 inch, leaving a web thickness of .0196 inch.

Obviously, Norma 217 is not a particularly versatile powder. Being new, it is also not well rep-resented in the latest reloading manuals. This will change over time, but for now the Norma Re-loading Manual, Vol. 2 and the Nosler Reloading Guide 8 seem to be the only sources for N-217 data. Eleven cartridges from the 7mm Remington Magnum to the .505 Gibbs for which Norma 217 is

suited have been iden-tified, although there are others of similar case capacity and expansion ra-tio. Included in these 11 are the new .26 and .28 Nosler cartridges. It should be noted that Federal 215 Large Rifle Magnum primers were used here, not because Norma 217 is difficult to ignite but rather be-cause of the large volume of pow-der consumed in cartridges where this powder is appropriate.

From my own cache and what I could borrow, four cartridges were selected for review, begin-

Select Loads – Norma 217 cartridge bullet charge velocity (grains) (grains) (fps)

7mm Remington Magnum 140 77.0 3,156 150 74.0 3,076 160 73.0 3,001.300 Remington Ultra Mag 150 100.0 3,477 165 99.0 3,348 180 95.5 3,233.30-378 Weatherby Magnum 180 110.0 3,340.338 Lapua Magnum 250 95.2 2,938 300 87.3 2,630

Notes: The 7mm Remington Magnum barrel length was 24 inches; all others were 26 inches. Federal 215 Large Rifle Magnum primers were used throughout.

Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

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Nosler Reloading Guide anointed Norma 217 as the most accurate powder tested in the .26 Nosler with 100- and 120-grain bullets and in the .28 Nosler as the most accurate powder with 160-grain bullets.

Next was the .300 Remington Ultra Mag. Lots of powder was burned, but with 150-, 165- and 180-grain bullets, the pairing was ideal. Still, the heavier the bullet, the better the results, as a rule of thumb.

In the behemoth .30-378 Weath-erby Magnum, Norma 217 has found its home. Initially devel-oped for this cartridge, the Norma manual pairs it with 165- and 180-grain bullets while the Nos-ler manual lists it only with those of 220 grains. As with other very large capacity cartridges, best re-sults might occur with the heavier weights, but the more likely used 165s and 180s show significant promise.

I’ve had a few opportunities to shoot the .338 Lapua Magnum recently. Of proper weight and with a muzzle brake in place, it is much less daunting than one might think. Nosler limits its use of Norma 217 to 300-grain bul-lets, but Norma pairs the pow-der with 225-, 250- and 300-grain weights. A cautionary note: Nor-ma’s maximum powder charge un-der a Sierra 300-grain MatchKing (87.3 grains) is considerably less than Nosler’s maximum with its 300-grain Custom Competition (92.0 grains), which is compressed to 105 percent. At least part of the reason for this is that SAAMI ap-proved the cartridge for a maxi-mum average pressure of 65,000 psi, whereas the European CIP set its maximum at 4,200 bar, or 60,915 psi. Keeping this in mind, I’d start with Norma data and exceed it only if necessary.

For a relatively narrowly fo-cused powder with a limited range of applicability, Norma 217 performed about as expected – a very good and useful powder for the right application. That should be enough. •

Handloader’s50th Anniversary6.5 Creedmoor

Custom Loads forthe LuckyWinner

John Haviland

To commemorate the 50th an- niversary of Handloader mag- azine, some lucky shooter is going to win an extensively

customized rifle. The rifle passed through many hands during its cre-ation to make sure it handles and shoots as good as it looks, and of course, it’s only fitting the rifle’s new owner will receive complete handload-ing information specific to the rifle.

The 6.5 Creedmoor is an appropriate cartridge choice for the rifle. Since Hornady introduced the Creedmoor in 2008, the cartridge has become quite popular, as this balanced cartridge performs well with a variety of powders and bullets for shooting everything from targets to varmints to big game.

The rifle started its journey at White City, Oregon, where Pacific Tool & Gauge (PTG) extensively modi-fied a Remington Model 700 receiver into its Extreme Remington 700. PTG trued the action to ensure the receiver face, barrel threads, bolt lugs and bolt face were square to the center line of the receiver. An oversized recoil lug was also added. PTG fitted its one-piece bolt to the receiver raceway with a tight clearance. Inside the bolt is threaded a BR Precision Lite-Steel Fluted Firing Pin Assembly. The bolt re-ceived further work with the Model 700’s steel ring

www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 30334

August-September 2016 www.handloadermagazine.com 35

Above right, the Handloader 50th anniversary logo is laser-engraved on the Swarovski scope’s objective

housing. Rings are by Talley Manufac-

turing. Right, the rifle is chambered for the 6.5 Creed-

moor cartridge.

Right, the after- market bolt used is by Pacific Tool

& Gauge, is fluted and features a

large, M16-style extractor.

Below, the maple stock was provided by Stocky’s Stocks.

The giveaway rifle’s recessed muzzle crown shows attention to detail.

extractor replaced with an M16-style extractor, its body milled with spiral flutes and an oversized bolt knob threaded onto the handle.

The Extreme action then made its way to Dan Pedersen’s hands at Classic Barrel & Gunworks in Prescott, Arizona. Pedersen had one of his barrels waiting. He rifles his barrels the “old-time way” by cutting the grooves. “It takes one to one and a half hours to cut the grooves to depth,” he said. “One ad-vantage of cut-rifling over button rifling or hammer forged rifling is I can use barrel steel up to 30 Rock-well hardness, while the other methods mostly use steel of 22 to 25 Rockwell.” Pedersen set his rifling machine to cut a one-in-8.5-inch twist for the 6.5 Creedmoor’s sporter-weight, 26-inch barrel. He also used a PTG reamer to cut the barrel’s chamber and blued the barrel and action.

Pedersen installed one of Timney’s new Calvin Elite triggers on the receiver. The trigger is made of A2 tool steel that is heat-treated to a Rockwell hard-ness of 58 and Teflon-nickel coated. Its sear is cut by electrical-discharge machining. The trigger’s alu-minum housing is anodized gold. The trigger’s pull weight can be set from 8 ounces to 21⁄2 pounds.

A Stocky’s Stocks tiger stripe maple stock was waiting for the barreled action. Pedersen bedded the action in the stock along the first 5 inches of the bar-rel in the barrel channel; the remainder of the bar-rel was free-floated. The pale maple contains some grain flow, and the dark, machine-cut point pattern checkering panels on each side of the grip and fore-arm contrast attractively. A cheekpiece and Pachmayr Decelerator recoil pad finish the stock.

Lastly, a Swarovski Z3 4-12x 50mm scope was attached in Talley Manufacturing’s rings and bases. The Swarovski’s 4-12x magnification range covers shooting from whitetails close in the brush to var-mints and targets as far as anyone cares to shoot. The objective bell of the Swarovski scope is adorned with the Handloader logo and “Celebrating 50 Years.” The total package weighs 8 pounds, 14 ounces ready to go.

To take advantage of the Creedmoor’s versatility, I set about assembling handloads for the rifle paired with powders from Hodgdon and Western and bul-lets from Hornady, Nosler, Sierra and Swift. A few shots at 50 and then 100 yards were fired to align the Swarovski scope with the rifle. The first load con-sisted of Nosler Match cartridges loaded with its 140-grain Custom Competition HPBT bullets. Holes from the first two Competition bullets were within a hair’s width of each other. I fired a third cartridge, but a hole failed to appear through the scope turned all the way up. I walked down to the target to check. One hole was slightly elongated, indicating where the third bullet had hit. That was encouraging. Hornady Match

50thAnniversary6.5 Creedmoor

36 www.handloadermagazine.com Handloader 303

Handloader ’s Anniversary6.5 Creedmoor Handloads

overall 3-shot loaded 100-yard bullet powder charge case length velocity group (grains) (grains) (inches) (fps) (inches)

85 Sierra Varminter HP IMR-4320 39.0 Nosler 2.640 2,911 1.07 Varget 41.0 3,109 .49 W-748 40.5 3,149 .62120 Hornady GMX IMR-4166 38.0 Hornady 2.710 2,796 1.50 IMR-4350 44.2 2,877 .49 SUPERFORMANCE 48.0 2,988 1.14120 Nosler E-Tip H-4350 42.0 Nosler 2.775 2,836 1.23 Varget 39.0 2,881 .55 W-760 41.5 2,846 1.05120 Sierra SPT Pro-Hunter Big Game 42.5 Nosler 2.700 2,841 .87 IMR-4451 44.0 2,841 1.15 H-4350 44.0 2,863 1.98 Varget 39.5 2,875 1.27129 Nosler AccuBond Big Game 42.5 Nosler 2.800 2,887 1.46 Long Range H-4350 42.5 2,766 .66 Hybrid 100 V 43.0 2,828 1.17 IMR-4064 34.5 2,484 1.17130 Nosler AccuBond Big Game 42.5 Nosler 2.775 2,770 .91 IMR-4451 41.0 2,631 .75 Hybrid 100 V 43.0 2,828 1.46 Varget 36.5 2,604 1.31130 Swift Scirocco II IMR-4166 35.0 Hornady 2.800 2,486 1.75 IMR-4895 36.5 2,533 1.00 W-760 39.0 2,542 1.12143 Hornady ELD-X Hybrid 100 V 41.0 Hornady 2.780 2,651 1.37 H-4350 41.0 2,636 1.08 IMR-4451 41.0 2,650 .92

Notes: All handloads were assembled with Winchester Large Rifle primers. Velocities were recorded 10 feet in front of the muzzle of the 26-inch barrel of the 6.5 Creedmoor rifle. The Swarovski Z3 4-12x 50mm scope was set on 12x. Temperatures varied from 35 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

Be Alert – Publisher cannot accept responsibility for errors in published load data.

Table I

Three-shot groups, though, indi-cate a load’s potential and further shooting can verify it.

The Creedmoor’s recoil is fairly gentle from 40-some grains of pow-der firing 120- to 140-grain bullets, but it does add up. Who knows, the winner of the rifle might have a family with young shooters and a spouse who likes to shoot. So

the first task was to develop an easy-recoiling practice load that doubles for small-game hunting.

Sierra 85-grain Varminter bullets filled half that bill. The Creedmoor cartridge can fire these bullets at upward of 3,300 fps, but all that speed is wasted for practice un-der 200 yards. Reduced amounts of powder incompletely fill cases and, with the powder lying any which way in a case, can result in wide swings in velocity. The light

cartridges loaded with 120-grain A-MAX bullets shot a group with a bit more spread, and Hornady Su-performance factory-loaded car-tridges with 129-grain SST bullets grouped with a tad more width.

Like all rifles, the “anniversary rifle” shot some handloads bet-ter than others, but all the hand-loaded bullets grouped three shots into an inch or less at 100 yards paired with at least one powder. Some folks disparage three-shot groups as not revealing the true accuracy of a load and rifle. They believe five- or seven-shot groups or even five, five-shot groups are the true test of a load’s accuracy.

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Big Game and Varget are two great powders for handloading the 6.5 Creedmoor.

SUPERFORMANCE is the velocity king of powders for the 6.5 Creedmoor.

These three powders worked well for handloading the 6.5 Creedmoor annversary rifle.

Game with a spread of 11 fps and Varget at 15 fps.

Varget is the powder Hornady loads in its Creedmoor Match car-tridges with 120-grain A-MAX bul-lets. On the Match cartridge box, Hornady recommends 39.0 grains of Varget with the A-MAX bullets for handloaders to duplicate the Match load. Hornady Match fac-tory loads produced a .73-inch group from the anniversary rifle.

Bullets made of one metal, or cores bonded to jackets, with a slanting boat-tail and spear nose are the trend these days. This is especially true with .26-caliber bullets. Such bullets include the Hornady 120-grain GMX, Nosler 120-grain E-Tip, 130-grain Accu- Bond and the longer Nosler 129- grain AccuBond Long Range and Swift 130-grain Scirocco II. The Hornady 143-grain ELD-X uses an InterLock, a ring inside the jacket embedded into the core, and it’s about the longest bullet that will stabilize in the 1-in-8- or 1-in-9-inch twist common in barrels used for the Creedmoor and other 6.5mm cartridges.

The anniversary rifle shot great with these six bullets, mostly paired with Big Game or Varget powders. For example, Big Game shot Nos-

erra 120-grain Pro-Hunter bullets at nearly 2,900 fps. With that com-bination sighted dead-on at 200 yards, a hunter can place a sliver of daylight between his crosshairs and the top of a buck’s back to make a telling shot at 400 yards. All four of the powders loaded with the Sierra bullets turned in

not much larger than an inch at 100 yards. Hodgdon Varget produced an extreme velocity spread of only 5 fps and a great group of .49 inch. W-748 was close behind with a spread of 42 fps and a group that measured .62 inch.

The 6.5 Creedmoor shooting various 120-grain bullets of stan-

6.5 Creedmoor Factory Loads 3-shot advertised actual 100-yard load velocity velocity group (grains) (fps) (fps) (inches)

120 Hornady Match A-MAX 2,910 2,885 .73129 Hornady Superformance SST 2,950 2,971 1.33140 Nosler Match Custom Competition HPBT 2,550 2,710 .30

Table II

amount of IMR-4320 in Creedmoor cases did produce an extreme ve-locity spread of 107 fps. Still, the lightweight Sierras shot a group

dard construction with a cop-per-alloy jacket and lead core is perfect for deer and antelope hunt-ing. The anniversary rifle shot Si-

very low extreme velocity spreads. IMR-4451 was the most uniform with a maximum spread of 6 fps. Close behind was Ramshot Big

Bullets used to create handloads for the anniversary rifle were: (1) Sierra 85-grain Varminter, (2) Hornady 120-grain GMX, (3) Nosler 120-grain E-Tip, (4) Sierra 120- grain SPT Pro-Hunter, (5) Nosler 129-grain AccuBond Long Range, (6) Nosler 130- grain AccuBond, (7) Swift 130-grain Scirocco II and (8) Hornady 143-grain ELD-X.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

50thAnniversary6.5 Creedmoor

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Above, Nosler Match 6.5 Creedmoor factory loads with 140-grain Custom Competition bullets were the first loads the anniversary rifle shot on targets. The resulting tight group was encouraging. Below, the anniversary rifle shot this tight group with Hornady 120-grain GMX bullets and IMR-4350.

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ler 130-grain AccuBonds with a velocity spread of 10 fps and a .91-inch group. Varget fired Nosler 120-grain E-Tip bullets into a .55-inch group with a velocity spread of 24 fps.

Other powders also produced even velocities and tight groups. They include Hybrid 100V, H-4350 and IMR-4451. SUPERFORMANCE provided the top velocity for 120- grain bullets.

To receive the most fun and ser-vice from the 6.5 Creedmoor an-niversary rifle, I would certainly shoot the factory loads the rifle’s winner will receive with the rifle. When those are shot up, reloading the fired cases with the following

six bullet and powder combina-tions will provide cartridges for a broad range of shooting and hunting:

• Sierra 85-grain Varminter, 41.0 grains of Varget

• Hornady 120-grain GMX, 48.0 grains of SUPERFORMANCE

• Sierra 120-grain Pro-Hunter, 42.5 grains of Big Game

• Nosler 129-grain AccuBond Long Range, 42.5 grains of Big Game

• Swift 130-grain Scirocco II, 36.5 grains of IMR-4895

• Hornady 143-grain ELD-X, 41.0 grains of IMR 4451

The Sierra Varminter load was shot while sitting with the anni-versary rifle supported on shoot-ing sticks, purely to make sure the winner had a rifle that handled and pointed fittingly. The stock’s comb was just the right height to hold my head erect and see through the scope, and the cheekpiece cra-dled my face. The rifle easily fired bullets in 3 inches at 100 yards and not much of a larger circle at 200 yards. Bullets dropped some when shooting at a steel plate at 300 yards. With the scope’s reti-cle aimed with a sliver of daylight above the plate, every pull of the trigger rang the steel like a bell.

To whomever wins the Hand-loader anniversary 6.5 Creedmoor rifle, thanks for letting me get my

hands on your rifle. It has gone through several hands to bring you years of fun. •

Handloader’s 50thAnniversary Rifle

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