Data discrepancy

[William Yanda]

Another member asked which manuals were preferred and rather than hijack his thread I am asking here.
The Lee manual gives Useful case capacity for each cartridge. The UCC for 44 Special is .05 cc larger than the 44 Magnum which is a longer case. I don't have a 44 Special to cross section. Is the web of the 44 Magnum almost as much deeper as the additional case length? Otherwise this data does not compute.

[2wheelDuke]

I have spent cases of each at home. I'd guess I could use a syringe and water to make that comparison.

[cbrick]

The web is thicker in the mag but also the case walls are thicker making it a stronger case.

Rick

[Doc Highwall]

Also the useful case capacity is to the base of the bullet, so maybe the 44 mag is loaded with a heavier bullet that is seated deeper into the case.

[Wayne Smith]

How do they define "useful"? The only standard I know is grains of water to the top of the case. This is volume - you subtract from that the bullet space.

[Doc Highwall]

Wayne, you nailed it. It is the actual case volume after the bullet has been seated to the over all length it is to be shot at.

A lever action 30-30 vs. a single shot 30-30 can have different over all lengths with the same bullet and different usable case capacities.

[Harter66]

Well I was about to offer up weigh lotting as an example of capacity differences. But useful is a whole different kettle of fish. Is the data listed per bullet weight/style/type?
Usable space is most likely used as a comparison tool to discourage hot loading.

I have weighed cases from 6 boxes of brand new 1x 1 lot of Rem and had 06' cases run from 197.6 to 208.1 and I did water weight on some LC43 that showed up to 4.5 gr of difference. The LC wasn't of 1 known lot but on target displayed groups that were identical to case weight counts. In the case of working up to maximum loads ,having a lot of 200 gr cases and having a 208 gr case slip in could be exciting for a second or send you home cranky.