WB
A little change of recipe...
Tuesday, June 12, 2018, 13:53

I could not source Federal #215 Mag. primers so I fell back to Winchester Magnum LR caps. The Federals I feel are the hottest you can get. They have a powdery purple on the inside making them easy to identify. The late Winchester Magnum rifle primers are green, a welcome assist. My powder for the largest magnums and cast bullets is a very slow burn and is not commercially available to the general public. A hot primer with the low drag of my cast bullets really help with the burn in my relatively short barrel. It's an easy load and I get over 2,000 fps in the Rigby for cheap practice. I know what old Elmer figured some 50 yrs. ago, but this is a little different. The slick cast bullets have little drag or resistance compared to a full jacketed slug and a hot cap helps burn more powder more efficiently *sometimes. Depends on the situation and the particular circumstances.

One problem I have to overcome you may have with some commercial powders in smaller calibers is "bridging". I have weighed each load but with this special powder small variations are of no huge concern. The larger the volume the less a small tenth of a grain or two variation usually effects. I make some special arrangements and visually check the cases for uniformity of the powder level. In this special instance the volumetric drops work acceptably. The RCBS powder measure is not too bad with the chunky stuff and good to just over 100 grs., maybe 105 if you ever went that high. Sometimes we do with Rigby and Nitro Express. I remove the little threaded "funnel" attachment and drop directly in to a funnel on each case.

Some folks flare the case mouths for cast bullets, and it is good for plain base versions. For gas check designs I find a generous "chamfering" of the case mouth is plenty. The 375 gr. NEI RNGC makes for some handsome practice loads. I'm sure they would work on game but I'd want to flatten the tips a little like Gary's .22 RF tool. It just seems to have more hit like SWC revolver bullets compared to RN.

The economy is fantastic and lets me fulfill my dream of really getting out and really shooting a .416 Rigby. I loaded 50 rnds. for this weekend, having made the cast bullets some time ago. I try to recover as much lead as possible, the gas checks and primers are about 5 cents each, the bulk powder was at a great discount too. Good cheap fun.