.41 Mag Data?

[336A]

I have some 215gr SWC from Leadhead. Previous experience has shown me that 8.0gr of Unique is not enough powder to run these bullets as they leaded my S&W M58 badly. I consulted my Lyman Pistol & Revolver Manual 3rd edition to find that they lowered the Max charge of Unique to 8.7gr.

This seems rather low to me since various jacketed bullets have a Max load of 10.0gr. So can anyone tell me what is the general accepted max with Unique and a cast 215gr bullet. I'm not looking for max velocity with this powder but I'd like to bump the pressure up enough in hopes of stopping the leading. BTW these will be shot out of a Ruger BH.

[Blammer]

hmm, stop the leading by bumping pressure.

I'd suspect that "fit" is more of a factor. What size are the boolits and what is your bore dia?

[colt_saa]

The SWCs that drop from my mold weigh 212 grains. They are cast from straight wheel weights. I load them with 9 grains of unique. There has never been any leading in any of my 41 Magnums.
http://calzaretta.com/scans/41-stable.jpg

Velocities range from 990 fps in the 2 1/2" snubby up to 1356 fps in the lever gun.

I have only had experience with one of Lead Heads products but never had a leading issue.

Have you determined how hard or soft these are?

[336A]

The bullets are allegedly 18 BHN. I'm not sure what the bore diameter of the Ruger is but the bullets are .411". I was leaning towards 8.5gr -9.0gr though with 9.0gr being as far as I want to go. My reasoning for stopping at 9.0gr is I want to have a some what mild load but still be able to effectively take a pig too.

[Az Rick]

Brian Pearce did an article on the .41mag some years ago. It might be worthwhile to see if you can find it. Of course I have it, I just don't know where it is. I moved not long ago, sorry. Maybe you can search their archives? Handloader magazine

Best, Rick.

[colt_saa]

I have fired the 9 grain load in about 30 different 41 Magnum firearms though none of mine are Rugers. I have chronographed that load out of 11 different 41s. Pressure was fine in all of them.

BTW, I originally shot this projectile loaded at 7 grains of Unique. There was no leading there either.

[336A]

What kind of velocity does 9.0gr produce from a 4" barrel on avg?

[skeet1]

One thing I was wondering about is how hard are those Leadhead boolits? Sometimes with very hard boolits at lite loads you have trouble with leading because they are so hard they don't bump up when they are fired. Also many times helps with lite loads to go to a softer alloy like 50/50 (wheel weights/pure), Just a thought.

Ken

[colt_saa]

What kind of velocity does 9.0gr produce from a 4" barrel on avg?The only 4" I chronographed was the S&W 657 pictured in my old group photo up above. From that revolver, 9 grains of unique averaged 1071 fps.

[336A]

Colt_saa I was shooting for about 1100fps.

[336A]

Hi, skeet I believe I posted above that they are 18 BHN. Which is why I want to try to run them a bit faster, which I hope will alleviate the problem I had before. I have had good luck with a certain caster that makes bullets 12 BHN, I'll be placing a order with him soon.

[colt_saa]

Colt_saa I was shooting for about 1100fps.With my projectile you will need to load at least 9.1 grains of unique to be assured of achieving 1100 fps. However your projectile is harder. Wheel weights yield about a 11-12 BHN.

My load runs 1096, 1102 and 1108 out of my three 6" S&W revolvers. Out of my two 6 1/2" S&W revolvers it runs 1122 and 1123.

[GARCIA]

Been shooting a commercial cast 215gr SWC over 10gr's of HS6.
No problems with leading. Shot out of a Ruger and a S&W.

Tom

[ebner glocken]

Not trying to hyjack the thread but... Colt, what works well in you desert eagle? 24 grains of 296 and a sierra 170 JHC shoot pretty well through mine but I'm always up for a good 210 grain load. BTW I have a buttload of nosler 210s that I haven't worked up yet.

Ebner

[missionary5155]

Good morning
I would have to agree with the boolit fit... I shoot 40-1 up to linetype in my numerous 41´s and if the boolit is proper fitted to the throats I see no leading problem with a proper powder. But try shooting a too small diameter and the lead will flow.
Mike in Peru

[cajun shooter]

It's the BHN of your bullets for one. I purchased one of the first 41 Mag Rugers that came into the gun store in Baton Rouge, La. I shot the 8 grs of Unique for years as a every day plinking load with bullets that were 10-12 BHN and no more. Never had a problem. You answered your question when you spoke about the softer bullets. I had three 41 mags, a S&W 57 and 58 along with the Ruger. I loved the caliber but it never received the support needed to keep it on the shelves. Later David

[336A]

It's the BHN of your bullets for one.

I know, when I bought these bullets back in 2006 I didn't know any better. Now l try to find a vendor that makes their bullets 12 BHN and no more than 16 BHN. I have been using a vendor for a while now that makes his bullets to 12 BHN. Up to this point I didn't shoot a lot of .41 mag so I never purchased .41 bullets from him. However I'm going to soon until that time I'll see what will happen running these Leadhead bullets with 9.0gr of Unique.

[deymorin]

I had a similar problem with commercial "hard cast " boolits and a lite win 231 load. Did realize what was going on until I tried a fairly stiff win 296 load with no leading and substantially better accuracy. I had read a handloader article about hard and soft bullets.

[cbrick]

Freedom arms 5 shot group w/41 Mag 10 inch, scoped from the bench. Lead Heads 245 gr GC.

Will need to look up the load data, this was several years ago but it was Viht N-110.

336A, re-read post #2, I would bet that's your problem with leading.

Rick

[squirrelnuttz]

I had no joy with 9.0 Unique, as cast 411.5 215gr Lee SWC plain base, alloy A/C WW. Groove dia. 410.5 Tumble Lube.Also no good accuracy with water dropped WW, all else the same with the load.Not good accuracy, rounds all over the target at 50 yd.Out of a Marlin 1894FG.But the thing loves jacketed HP with H-110.Itseems to like this same 9.0 Unique load better with linotype, don't have groups, but was banging away at gongs out to 100 yd and getting consistency at least with a factory cast .410 truncated cone linotype boolit.

[big dale]

I had a blackhawk I bought in 1966 and used till it was stolen in 1981. I found a Lee 240 grain semi-wadcutter mold at a gun show and ran a load of 9 grains of Herco in it more often than anything else. I cast straight wheelweights for the boolits and they worked fine. I also use a warm load of 2400 with the same boolit. You might want to try a can of Herco and see how your gun likes it.

Have fun with this stuff.

Big Dale

[7br]

Went to the range monday. Had several really good groups with the RCBS 41-215 with 17gr of 2400

[Mavrick]

I've run a ton of Unique through my M57 6", but mostly at a rate of 7.5gr. The boolit is usually an RCBS 210SWC from acWW+2%. I'm on the side of fit.
Those hard boolits cast to the same size as j-word, shot slowly, quite often lead.
I'm not sure of the "bump up", but I've run a bunch of linotype through with 2400 and WW296, but they were sized .413".
When I first started with a .41, I used a 4 5/8" OMBH, and used 5.0gr-BE or 5.0gr-WW231 and acWW. It's the best reason I know to cast-yur-own.
Have fun,
Gene