Ransom Rest Inserts

[ejcrist]

I've been saving my pennies to get a Ransom Rest and I'm finally ready to get one. I was getting ready to order one today because I'm developing loads for a FA 97 in 32 H&R, and as I was looking up the grip inserts I found out they don't make them for a model 97. Their website says they can make custom inserts so I'm planning to call tomorrow to see if I can get them made. Anyone know how much the custom inserts cost? The regular inserts are somewhere around $60 so I'm guessing they might be upwards of $75-$100 or so. I don't understand why they don't make them though since they have most everything else.

[clum553946]

They also sell blanks if you want to try to make a custom set.

[ejcrist]

They also sell blanks if you want to try to make a custom set.

Roger that. I got ahold of the lady there and she said they'll make inserts for a 97 but they'll cost $100 since they're special order. I know they're pricey but you only need to get them once in your lifetime. I plan to do a lot of load development with this particular revolver since I have all three cylinders for it. I want to develop a medium load for the 32 H&R for both silhouettes and hunting and probably warm loads for the 32-20 and 327 which'll be mostly for silhouettes. I have another 32 H&R (Ruger SS) that I load with 10 grains of H110 and it's accurate as all get out but it tears up rabbits pretty good. If I can help it I'd like to keep the velocity at around 1,000 fps max and still get good accuracy. The Ruger didn't start grouping well until I pushed it to 1,200 and the groups kept tightening until I got to the max I wanted to load of H110. In the end I was at 1,340 w/the 10 grain charge. Didn't have any signs of pressure so I'm ok with it but it does more damage than I'd like. I don't know if it matters too much but the Ruger is 1:16 I believe whereas the FA is 1:14, so hopefully the same 100 grain SWC can go a little slower and still have good accuracy. I accumulated quite a few medium powders since 2008 - bought what I use when it was available since I figured lean supply times were ahead, and boy was that an understatement after we hit 2012. So anyway I think I have a couple of pounds of just about every medium powder made so I'd like to try quite a few of them, hence the desire to use the Ransom Rest with the 97 in particular. And even after that I'd like to go back and re-evaluate some of my older loads and probably try some different powders. I think the Ransom is a good tool to have if you want to test a good many handloads, and by good many I mean in the neighborhood of 100+ when I think about all the revolvers I accumulated over the years. I have another 97 in 44 Special that I plan to test using both medium and slow powders in for a medium and a warm load so I'll use the inserts for more than one revolver. I also have quite a few Rugers so those inserts will get used more than any other set.

[wv109323]

The mounting system is also an important part of Ransom Rest testing. Think steel and concrete never wood except the baseplate as RR recommends.

[ejcrist]

Roger that. I ordered the Master Series Combo this morning with the base plate. That base plate they make is pretty nifty. It's 30 lbs and has four leveling knobs at each corner plus a level in the center. I'll be using the setup off of concrete benches at my club but with that heavy base plate I'd bet you could set it up on a wooden bench with low recoiling handguns and be fine.

[Gus Youmans]

ejcrist,

You may want to try Bullseye and 231/HP38, if you have any. I have had good luck in my SP-101 using those powders in both .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum cases with 100 grain bullets. Some of my loads exceed loading manual maximums, so I will not list them here even though there are no extraction issues and primers appear normal. Some of the loads are less then 1.5 inch average (five, five shot groups) at 25 yards from my Ruger SP-101 shot from my Ransom rest.

Gus Youmans

[ejcrist]

ejcrist,

You may want to try Bullseye and 231/HP38, if you have any. I have had good luck in my SP-101 using those powders in both .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R Magnum cases with 100 grain bullets. Some of my loads exceed loading manual maximums, so I will not list them here even though there are no extraction issues and primers appear normal. Some of the loads are less then 1.5 inch average (five, five shot groups) at 25 yards from my Ruger SP-101 shot from my Ransom rest.

Gus Youmans

Thanks for the info Gus. 231 is one of the powders I was planning to test but I didn't think to try Bullseye - I'll give her a go. All in all I'm planning to test about 10 medium powders in hopes of finding a good, accurate medium load for the FA with the Accurate 105 grain SWC boolit. I'd like to do the same for my Ruger SS but that one seemed to get more accurate the faster I pushed it. I'll revisit the medium load for it now that I have the Ransom since I believe I'll have better, consistent data.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

How's that Ransom working out?

[Green Frog]

Since this thread has come back to life, I'll mention another powder you might like when you get around to load development for the 327 FM cylinder. I use a non-canister equivalent of Accurate #9 for that caliber in my Blackhawk 327 Eight-shooter. Look on the Accurate website for starting loads with your heaviest bullet. You should be pleased.

Froggie

[mart]

I have had a Ransom Rest for close to 20 years. A couple of years ago I picked up a Herters 401 Powermag and wanted to give it a go in the Ransom. They don't make an insert for that one and I didn't ask about a custom. I ordered one of the blank sets and made my own. It's really quite simple.

I made a cardboard template of the grip and transferred that outline to the blanks. I used index marks on both blanks so I'd line the outlines up correctly. I have a pretty well equipped woodworking shop and used a panel trimming router with a 1/4" straight cutting bit set to a depth that would give me about 3/16" gap between the blanks when the the grip frame was between them. I removed the material inside the outline with the router being careful not to stray outside the lines. Kind of like coloring when we were kids. Wear a mask. That blue rubber dust gets everywhere. I used an exacto knife to trim tight to the outline.