401 Powermag and Lyman 244gn rifle bullet

[lar45]

I got a little trigger time in on the 401 Powermag today.


I've been shooting the Lyman 403169 244gn rifle bullet. It drops at .404" and I lube it in a .406" Lyman die with 2500+.
My cases are Starline 41 mag sized in Lee 40S&W dies. I've started turning the base and rims down a little bit with a drill and fine file so the cases drop in and out easily.
My chambers are 1.298" long and the cases come out at 1.293" so I have not been trimming them. The sized cases hold 33gns of H2O. I put this into Quickload along with a seating depth of 1.704" to get an idea of where to go with the heavier than normal bullet.
I shot some 296 today at 20.0-1420fps, 20.5-1422fps, and 21gns-1500fps? I started loosing light and only got 2 readings of the 21gn load, so I'm not 100% for sure that the velocity was actually 1500.
Quickload predicted 1406fps with the 20.5gn load and 37ksi for pressure. The primers are still rounded, but I think that's enough velocity for now and the group looked pretty good. The one hole on the right was a called flier, the rest were about as good as my old eyes can do anymore.


The only other 40 cal mold I have right now is the Lee 40-175 SWC tumble lube design. I may switch to it next and try some lighter loads with Unique?

[LeonardC]

Nice revolver!

[Larry Gibson]

Very nice indeed!

[smkummer]

I have one. Right now I have just been loading a Ohaus 40-170 SWC that drops at 180 grains and right at about .403 diameter. I have only loaded light cowboy action loads at this point. I am looking for Lyman’s 401452 197 grain bullet for load testing. I have about 225 original .401 cases bought from members here. I too use 40 S&W dies with a 41 mag shell holder. I get a slight bulge in the case from .403 diameter bullets but they chamber easily. FWIW, I know someone who has a box of 50 factory Herters .401 wadcutters. He wants $100 for them.

[Abert Rim]

I was just thinking about the old Herter's catalog the other day. I remember marveling at that revolver. Cool that you can make cases for it reasonably easily.