Friday 27 January 2017

Range Report: 45 Long Colt / 200 Grain SWC with Tail Boss

12 rounds of 45 Colt charged with: 8.3 grains of Accurate Arms No.5 (standard loading) fired as benchmark.

1 Round of Trail Boss charged fired - check… all good

11 Rounds charged with 6.1 grains of Trail Boss .. first rate.

Cartridge Cases: Clean, No pressure signs at primer, No excessive smoke.

1 Round, with Case Wad and Filler fired .. No appreciable improvement over standard Trail Boss loading . (Fiber/Paper Wad .. Dryer Lint Filler)

Conclusions: Change to 6.1 grains of Trail Boss, No Case Filler as standard loading. Use for both; 185 and 200 grain projectiles.  image

Thursday 5 January 2017

XLV Long Colt .. First XV done .. Off to the Range

As in rugby, the first XV are ready for trials .. Trail Boss is a “new” powder for me, so best we Fire Test these re-loads before proceeding with more.

Seating and Crimping was very consistent, testament to the: Lee seating & Lee Crimp dies as set in the T7 (very sturdy press) Setting and Adjusting these Lee Deluxe dies is a tad easier than the Dillon pistol dies. That said, both perform well when set.45coltf151

Wednesday 4 January 2017

45 Long Colt .. Powder Charge CHECK #1

45 Caliber- 200gr. SWC verified. OK45 xt200g1 First five (5) charged cases checked and verified (measured). OK45coltcharged1

45 Long Colt .. Loading Trail Boss .. 6.0gr.

Trail Boss is a High Volume relative to Mass (weight) powder. 6.0 grains metered out.45 tb6gr1Trail Boss, 6.0 grains in the Dillon scale scoop.45 tb6gr2

To better indicate when Lee Auto Drum Measure is set to: “OPEN FLOW” I added a RED mark on the casting inline with the hopper screw.

45tbhopper1

Note position of Powder Metering Screw; quite extended for just 6.0 grains of powder.

45tbsetscrew1

45 Long Colt .. Overall Length Set

Overall Length is set .. Redding T7 press and Lee Deluxe 45 Colt Die set.45colt1Here we have a Max OAL of 1.600” .. on these Copper Plated 200gr. SWC.  I set a couple of thou under .. 1.598”45coltoal2

9 mm Luger .. 3,000 + Case Prep Complete

All ready for next XL650 Set-Up and Run .. after I finish the 45 Colt small batch.9mmcaseprepf1