Filler for 38-55

[doctorggg]

Yesterday I went to the range with a Winchester 94 Legendary Frontier in 38-55. I had loaded 2 loads with 19.5 grains IMR 4198 over an acww RCBS 257 grain boolit sized at .379 with carnauba red, hornady gc,Starline brass, WLR primers, col 2.455". One load was plain and the other loaded with a dacron filler. Using a chrongraph I fired 5 loads without dacron which averaged 1229.4 FPS, SD 20.8 and ES 53.2. I fired 5 more with a dacron filler which averaged 1432.1 fps, SD 23.8 and ES 63.3. I repeated the first test and avg 1235.0 FPS, SD 8.6, and ES 20.3.

I found tuffs of dacron 10 yards out from the muzzle and could see them when I fired.
I did not repeat the test with a dacron filler due to fear that I had used too much filler.
Both groups were equally accurate at 25 yards. However a difference of 200 fps worried me.

Comments please. I know some of you prefer fillers and others caution against their use. I want to know if this is normal results. Thanks:!::?::?:

[Kraschenbirn]

If you're finding loose dacron downrange, it sounds like you might've been a touch heavy on the filler. My standard load for my (Uberti) 1885 Highwall is 19.8 gr. IMR4198 under a plain-base 304 gr. NEI with just enough dacron to hold the powder against the primer. From my gun, load clocks around 1375-1390 fps with single-digit SDs. My filler wads (for the .38-55) consist of 1/4" thick quilt batting cut into roughly 1/2" squares, just enough to fill the space between the powder and boolit base with a little bit of compression.

Bill

[Larry Gibson]

Too much dacron it sounds like. However with that heavy a cast bullet and that charge of 4198 (a fairly fast powder for that weight of bullet) based on my experience I would not suggest a filler. As I mention in my post on the sticky "filler" with many combinations of bullet weight and powder burning rate a filler is not needed. Your load is within that relm.

The increase in velocity (and an increase in psi) is due to the amount of dacron you used effectively reduced the case capacity the powder had to work in. With some combintations it is good, with some it doesn't matter (yours) and with some it can cause problems.

Larry Gibson

[doctorggg]

Bill and Larry,
Thank you so much for the kind replies. I have been reading Cast Boolits since January and I learn something every day. Most of it is due to kind people like yourselves who take the time to answer a newbies question. I have been reloading rifle, pistol and shotgun shells for 42 years. I just started with cast boolits last fall and it is a whole different ball game. Thanks again Gregory

[357Mag]

Doc -

Howdy !

I have had great success, using " PUFFLON " filler in both .35AutoMag, and in
my .35 Rem Marlin M-336 XLR.

The stuff works great for " reduced" loads, w/ no residue to be seen down-range

I put a small layer of tissue paper ( or toilet paper ) over the powder, to prevent migration of the filler into the powder charge.

With my current .35 Rem reduced load ( IMR 4759 ), the cases are about 1/2 full of Pufflon.


With regards,
357Mag