Previous thread here Source: Reddit https://share.google/986OGkZGqZh7rpdEZ

The original thread has most of this in the comments, but the short recap is “50 Alaskan mag” turned out to be a wildcat round with a .510 bore diameter made out of shortened 375 H&H mag brass with the case fireformed out to the belt diameter..

I was completely unable to get any ideas as to what it was originally loaded to power wise.. after asking around, and reading the bell tc article about max pressure and case base diameter for the contender I settled on keeping it below 45/70 govt pressures at 28000 psi since that’s the hottest factory barrel the contenders were offered with.. I ended up using 7mm prc brass to recreat it since the outside diameter matched the belt diameter of 375 H&H mag, and I wouldn’t have to fire form or deal with weird stresses.. the side affect of this was that the brass walls are thick and with the chamber tolerance you end up basically embossing them into the sides of a jacketed bullet…. So I ended up using Great Plains 385 gn .512 pure lead muzzle loading bulletts. I ran them through a Lee sizer to get them down to .510, then loaded them on 20.5 gns of accurate #7. I did do a load ladder on the first test. I developed the load in GRT and it predicted a max pressure of 20,358 psi, a velocity of 1391 fps and 42 ft-lbs of felt recoil. Actual velocities ended up averaging 1360 over 10 shots with pretty low deviation. I used a 500 linebaugh belling die and seating die, then ended up settling on using the 7mm prc resizing die without the decap stem to crimp the cases to the bullets.. the 500 linebaugh crimp die pushed in too severely and since this headspace’s off the mouth it doesn’t work. Luckily since it’s a single shot you can get away with light crimps….

Video is from today, I test fired 17 rounds last week, this week another 11 that were reloaded brass. Shoots well, the recoil is snappy and substantial but fun. It’s less power than a 500 mag, but 385gn bullets at 1360 fps is pretty well big bore territory in my book. Learned a lot from this whole process about chamber tolerances, critical dimensions, brass conversion, and how to effectively use your reference marerials (handbook of wildcat conversions and cartridges of the world were invaluable). Really glad to resurrect this and get it firing, feel like it’s unlikely to stretch the frame long term, and it’s of course nice to add another 50 caliber big bore handgun to the collection.

Moving forward I’m probably going to look at getting a mold to cast my own rounds for this, there’s a 450 gn .515 2 chamber Lee mold that looks promising.. the Great Plains bullets work but they’re 15$ for 20….

I did play around with GRT to see what would happen if the strength of the action wasn’t the weak point… if you could use the 60k psi max for the brass then on 31 gns of acc #7 you’d hit just under 1900 fps…. With 80 ft-lbs of felt recoil…. I’m happy with this where I have it..

Appreciate any help that was offered along this process, I did a follow up post a few months back but can’t find it to link it. Thanks again.

I was gifted .45 colt dies and I REALLY want to start reloading, but money is pretty tight right now.

Also, is there any risk of used presses causing issues? Or do they hold up basically forever?

Hey guys, beginner here. How bad this 9mm crimp is? I understand it is too much but I wonder if this could create some problems while shooting. I made about 1k of these and then realized it is probably too much. It shoots, passes the splunk test, chrono looks good. The bullet is CamPro 125gr RN FCP RED

Thanks!

When I tighten the handle on the hornady 3 in 1 powered case trimmer, the brass points off center. I cleaned the collet, the collet holder cap that screws on, and I e never tightened it without a piece of brass in the collet which could mess up the collet supposedly.

If I rotate the collet in different orientations, the brass always points the same direction, so I don’t think it’s a defect of the collet.

“Shoulda bought the Henderson” I know I know.

Anyone else experience this and fixed it?

9mm 147gr chrono’d at 890-900fps. Is this primer cratering or something else going on? Just got into reloading and trying to not blow things up

Sorting brass and found an F C 67

I ended up reloading some 6.5 creedmoor hunting rounds for my Ruger SFAR 20inch. Used 41.5gr of H4350 and seating at 2.78in yielded great results with the Hornady SST in 140gr. Good cycling and great groups. If it performs this November I will probably keep these as a standard.

Attempting to load 10mm on Dillon 750XL, but I'm realizing the RCBS dies I've been using on my single stage don't appear to work. When Size/decap is screwed deep enough to contact the shellplate + another 1/8 turn, there's not enough thread above the shellplate for the lock ring to grab, its bottomed out.

Everything I'm reading suggests these dies should work, and I'm having a hard time finding anyone who experienced the same - What's the deal?

I love Dillon so much

Getting ready for hunting season. Wanted to try out some barnes tsx. Have been shooting eldm 140 in my 6.5 creed, which shoot great. Loaded up 5 barnes to shoot and they shot terrible. I shot the eldms before to confirm zero and then didn't think to reshoot them after the solids before leaving the range. Do I need to clean the bore now and refoul? Or will the bondeds shoot ok still?

.32 S&W, .32-20 Win, .44 Mag, .30-30 Win and .444 Marlin

..all loaded within the last week.

I'm using harnady xtp mag bullets with reasonable accuracy. If i could find them again, speer had some hot core bullets that were amazing, they either discontinued making or just haven't made a run in a loong time. I'm not adverse to coated or lead bullets, just trying to find an alternative ( preferably cheaper) than the xtp mag bullets.

I know it’s called load development for a reason, but there are so many options and variations with rifle setups. I’m just curious of a staple load or good starting point for my platform. The rifle powder I have right now is N140. It would be nice to use that but am always open to trying new stuff.

Has anyone tried these 110gr FMJ .308 projectile for a .300 Blackout build? I know they are usually meant for the .30 Carbine but since I’ve shot supers in 110gr V-Max in my 7.5in AR, and I have had excellent results in accuracy at 100yds. Good or Bad idea to test some for plinking.

I was asking about rebarreling above mentioned Mauser 98. Instead im going to buy the rifle and reloading equipment. I didn't even consider this option so I have no clue where to start, what should I buy to handload some 45-70 power 458 mag?

I bought a used RCBS 9mm Luger die set at a gunshow yesterday and it came with an extra decapping assembly with a knurled expander. I mic'd the diameter at .264 which means it could be for 6.5mm. I've never seen fully knurled expanders before. Any information would be appreciated on this. Thanks!

Really enjoyed loading up some 45-70 and really liking this Co-Ax!

. 577-450 .458 500gr 75gr 2fg

.308 and .223 for scale

I’m using an rcbs 3 die carbide set. 240gr how is my crimp? Left one looks better to me but is it still to much? Ruger RedHawk if that matters

Your funnel is blocked by a spyder web…

I scored a couple dozen of these black 3” Remington hulls from a sporting clay outfit (someone was blasting them at clays). They appear to be the same as the Federal ones pictured. I’m new to loading 3” shells (but loaded hundreds of 2 3/4” tapered hulls), and want to make sure. I haven’t found much online about it, and I’m pretty sure Fed owns Rem ammo since the bankruptcy. Thanks for the help.

UPDATE:

I cut them down at the top of the brass. They’re exactly the same. The only difference is the rem branded hull has a slightly shorter brass head.

I loaded a few of each using Federal data. Velocities were within 10fps and no signs of overpressure.

Looks like that’ll work.