Peregrine
04-30-2019, 02:54 PM
Good Afternoon Gentlemen,
I acquired this absolutely ridiculous monstrosity recently. For those not in the know it's a SSP-91, marketed by Magnum Research as the Lone Eagle, this example being chambered in 444 Marlin. It's a rotating breech (https://imgur.com/o0zeptc) design, besides being quite strong the neat part is it manages to get 14" of barrel into an OAL of 15" and change. Weighs 4lbs, balances better than you'd think.
https://imgur.com/FcPTG3u.jpg
I've been loading cast boolits for various rifle calibers for a bit now, but between lurking here and reading Elmer Kieth I decided I really wanted to cast some 44's. I was looking for a three screw blackhawk but then this thing popped up on Gunbroker with it's original box (https://imgur.com/JsyREuS) and in the configuration I wanted so I couldn't resist. I have a real soft spot for novel designs, but I don't think Elmer would have approved. Then again maybe he would.
I've got the SAECO 431 (250gr. GCFP) on the way and I nabbed 200 starline brass, i'm looking for experiences with loads ranging from moderate all the way down to cat sneeze levels. I've got a ton of published data for the upper end for when I get into really stretching this thing's legs, but nothing listed on the non earth shattering end of the spectrum where I think i'll want to spend the most time. :)
I have many pounds of 2400, however i'm hesitant to use it. This is my first venture into large straightwall cases, however i've already noticed significant position sensitivity in cases as small as 308 at moderate charge levels. At the same time, i'm really uneasy using dracon to position the powder in this case. There's so much volume in the 444 case it seems either i'd have to use an almost comically large amount of dracon or leave an airgap. I've heard really bad thing about leaving gaps, and while i've seen some say you can get away with it with dracon it's not the way I want to assemble rounds.
As a humorous aside here's something I ran into on my search. H4895 is the most used powder in my stash, and Hodgdon's states that for any H4895 load published you can multiply the max load in grains by .6 and use that as your starting point for reduced loads. I've been doing this with great success with ~200gr cast in rifles, so I looked up what Hodgdon's had for data.
https://imgur.com/t2CHIlJ.jpg
At first glance I thought it would be worth a try since using a linear approximation would give me 1215 fps from 30.6 grains. Then I wised up and looked at the pressure, there's no way that would work.
Of course linear approximations are junk for this purpose, especially when i've got a range of two grains (and compression) to work with. Extrapolating the pressure to that 30.6 grain charge level the linear gives a pressure of -6100 CUP. :D
Like I said, i'm new to straightwalls and bigbore but at least i'm learning.
Although i'm curious how well *slightly* reducing their start level would work for me, maybe blowing all that slow powder out of my short barrel would provide all the reduction I need.
But no, I want to expand my powder library. I've been meaning to try unique/bullseye/red dot for cast application for a while now, seems trail boss would be well suited for these big cases but I know many here don't like it.
Thanks for reading, i'll keep this thread updated with my result and the state of my wrists. :)
I acquired this absolutely ridiculous monstrosity recently. For those not in the know it's a SSP-91, marketed by Magnum Research as the Lone Eagle, this example being chambered in 444 Marlin. It's a rotating breech (https://imgur.com/o0zeptc) design, besides being quite strong the neat part is it manages to get 14" of barrel into an OAL of 15" and change. Weighs 4lbs, balances better than you'd think.
https://imgur.com/FcPTG3u.jpg
I've been loading cast boolits for various rifle calibers for a bit now, but between lurking here and reading Elmer Kieth I decided I really wanted to cast some 44's. I was looking for a three screw blackhawk but then this thing popped up on Gunbroker with it's original box (https://imgur.com/JsyREuS) and in the configuration I wanted so I couldn't resist. I have a real soft spot for novel designs, but I don't think Elmer would have approved. Then again maybe he would.
I've got the SAECO 431 (250gr. GCFP) on the way and I nabbed 200 starline brass, i'm looking for experiences with loads ranging from moderate all the way down to cat sneeze levels. I've got a ton of published data for the upper end for when I get into really stretching this thing's legs, but nothing listed on the non earth shattering end of the spectrum where I think i'll want to spend the most time. :)
I have many pounds of 2400, however i'm hesitant to use it. This is my first venture into large straightwall cases, however i've already noticed significant position sensitivity in cases as small as 308 at moderate charge levels. At the same time, i'm really uneasy using dracon to position the powder in this case. There's so much volume in the 444 case it seems either i'd have to use an almost comically large amount of dracon or leave an airgap. I've heard really bad thing about leaving gaps, and while i've seen some say you can get away with it with dracon it's not the way I want to assemble rounds.
As a humorous aside here's something I ran into on my search. H4895 is the most used powder in my stash, and Hodgdon's states that for any H4895 load published you can multiply the max load in grains by .6 and use that as your starting point for reduced loads. I've been doing this with great success with ~200gr cast in rifles, so I looked up what Hodgdon's had for data.
https://imgur.com/t2CHIlJ.jpg
At first glance I thought it would be worth a try since using a linear approximation would give me 1215 fps from 30.6 grains. Then I wised up and looked at the pressure, there's no way that would work.
Of course linear approximations are junk for this purpose, especially when i've got a range of two grains (and compression) to work with. Extrapolating the pressure to that 30.6 grain charge level the linear gives a pressure of -6100 CUP. :D
Like I said, i'm new to straightwalls and bigbore but at least i'm learning.
Although i'm curious how well *slightly* reducing their start level would work for me, maybe blowing all that slow powder out of my short barrel would provide all the reduction I need.
But no, I want to expand my powder library. I've been meaning to try unique/bullseye/red dot for cast application for a while now, seems trail boss would be well suited for these big cases but I know many here don't like it.
Thanks for reading, i'll keep this thread updated with my result and the state of my wrists. :)