Good article on case fillers

[elk hunter]

In the current issue of "The Double Gun Journal", (Volume twenty-two issue 2) there is an excellent article by Sherman Bell, "Finding Out For Myself", on the use of case fillers that includes pressure tests and covers Dacron, Kapok, Cream of Wheat, foam and various wads. This is the best information I've seen on this very controversial subject. If you use or are contemplating using any type of case filler you should get a copy of the Journal and read the article.

[onondaga]

Here is a good article also, click on link to read:

http://www.surplusrifle.com/shooting/castfiller/index.asp

I have tested the PSB filler discussed in this article with .500 S&W and .458 Win Mag and .308 Win cast boolit loads. The filler is economical and helps keep bores clean. Don't spill the stuff! it is tiny spherical particles and will get all over the place.

If you have tried reduced loads and been disappointed with poor ignition and powder kernel trails of unburned powder down your bores, this stuff is excellent to stop those problems by providing 100% density or slightly compressed 105% loadings and adding pressure to burn powders more completely.

Source:
http://www.precisionreloading.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=PRE&Category_Code=BUFFER


Gary

[Char-Gar]

I seldom use a filler, but when I do it is PSB (Precision Shotshell Buffer) from Precision Reloading (like above). It has worked very well for me and Gary's counsel about not spilling the stuff is very sound.

[onondaga]

The PSB filler meters flawlessly from my Lyman #55 measure and also meters easily from a coffee mug full of PSB with Lee Scoop measures--just don't spill the cup!!!!!

Gary

[shooter93]

Have any of you ever used Puff-a-Lon? I've used it quite a bit because I had a jug but never did a comparison between it and PSB filler. I will say it does leave a clean bore but it is pricer than PSB. For all I use that doesn't matter but I was curious if people here who use a lot of fillers have ever compared.

[onondaga]

Puff-a-Lon is a non specific dietary fiber with a dry lubricant added. The product does deserve high praise for marketing genius. Ask your pharmacy what is their least expensive bulk package of unflavored dietary fiber, add a little powdered mica and you will have Puff-a-Lon. Whirring oatmeal in a Braun coffee grinder will give you close to the same thing to add the mica to.. All of the plant based fillers will absorb moisture from the air. Thorough dessication and airtight storage before use is very important when using plant based fillers as the moisture will vary and effect your load. This is why I have chosen to stay away from plant based fillers.

Gary

[geargnasher]

Ditto, Gary, I like ammo that can sit on a shelf, or under the seat of my pickup truck, for extended periods of time with no worries about lube migration or the filler swelling up like a pregnant guppy, or worse, solidifying in a bottleneck case.

Gear

[Char-Gar]

Onondaga is spot on. Natural plant materials use as fillers have been known to take on moisture and expand or form a hard cake. In a bottle neck cartridge a hard cake of filler can cause some dangerous pressures.

Because of this, I avoid the use of organic fillers (COW, corn meal, coffee, etc. etc.) and stick to the inert little plastic balls in PSB.

We fought the "filler wars" many years ago on the old Shooters.com board and numerous instances of natural organic fillers causing problems were reported and noted.

We also learned to make Puff-Lon with bran and moly-disulfide powder in a blender.

I think folks would be well advised to stick to dacron fibers or PSB for cast bullet fillers. Always remember that PSB does have some weight albeit small and adds to the weight of the ejecta and will have an effect on the pressure of the load. You don't want to just add PSB to your current load, but work up your load again with the PSB in place.

[1Shirt]

Dacron is cheap, one bag will probably last a young caster a couple of lifetimes. To spend time on any other filler is, IMNTBHO a waste of time and probably money if it is a commercial filler!
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[onondaga]

Dacron is a fine filler in most applications. The commercial fillers have a place for specific reasons in ballistics. The spherical particulate PSB filler is very firm when in a case and can be used to heavily compress a powder charge to aid in clean ignition of slower powders that need a hot pressure start to burn well. PSB also scrubs the bore very well, better than even COW. Dacron has no bore scrubbing effect and no practical means to heavily compress a charge of slow powder safely.

The fluffier particulate BPI Filler acts very well as a quasi gas check for sealing the bore behind the bullet and that is a practical help with plain based and bevel based boolits. BPI allows some velocity increase beyond Dacron filler for plain based and bevel based boolits and extends the accuracy sweet-spot due to the quasi gas check effect. I have significant accuracy gain at higher velocity with the BPI in my .500 S&W rifle with bevel base boolits that Dacron will not come close to achieving at my velocity.

Both of those commercial fillers are inert and do not absorb water and they measure well in a Lyman #55 powder measure when using the clapper at the top and bottom of each stroke as the #55 was designed to do. This gives very consistent results in filler volume and weight and pressure that I can't achieve with Dacron.

Dacron certainly is the most popular filler, it is inexpensive and easy to use, but there are specific internal ballistic reasons that some will choose PSB or BPI Ballistic Fillers.

Gary

[geargnasher]

Here again, it's not a question of "What's the BEST filler", there is no one BEST, it's a question of what filler does the best job for the application. Often fillers aren't needed, but sometimes they are, and choosing the for the application one can make a world of difference.

Gear

[1Shirt]

Gearnasher, couldn't agree more with you. I get tired of reading on this forum the "Best this/Best that", load data, technique, etc,etc.etc. What works for one may not and probably wont work for somebody else. I go with what works for me, and if it works, I don't fix it!
1Shirt!:coffee:

[Char-Gar]

Correct, there is no "best". But there is safe and unsafe.