327 Federal Magnum Factory vs Reloads in a Ruger LCR 2" Revolver

[Liberty1776]

327 Federal Magnum 85-grain JHP (Federal factory) out of my 6-shot Ruger Model 5452 1.875" LCR averages 1159.5 feet per second.

Per Hodgdon, I loaded up those spent cases with a 100-grain Hornady XTP JHP over 6.9 grains (individually weighed) of Hodgdon CFE Pistol (7.0 grains max) and a CCI 500 small pistol primer.

Velocity: 1249.5 fps. This is faster than a lighter factory 85-gr JHP. I'm nervous.

They also exhibit flattened primers (which I hear is somewhat normal) and stout recoil, but, worse, did not eject from the cylinder easily. I had to push the ejector rod onto the bench to extract the brass. Does not sound ideal.

I'm planning on backing off on the load a few tenths.

Any suggestions?

[Alasgun]

Food for thought.
I shoot 32 s&W long’s in mine. 100 gr bullet traveling slow enough to see them fly over water! Kind of like a 22 short only 32.
I use them to shoot Halibut off the side of the boat and just for general plinking.

Not much noise, dont save the brass, bought on line they’re plenty affordable and at 70 my fingers aren’t nimble enough to reload them anyway; or maybe im just too lazy.

[rintinglen]

Assuming the cylinder chambers are not scored, that load is too hot for your gun. If you have to pound out the spent cases, that is too much of a good thing. Check the accuracy of your scale, just to be sure you are getting what you think you are, and if so, then back off a good ways. IIRC the start load is down around 6.0 grains and that's where I'd go.

Now, if the chamber walls are scored, you have a gun problem that will mean a trip back to Ruger.

[Liberty1776]

The LCR is brand new, and shot all six without complaint, but the shells did not want to slide out of the cylinder. Not good. The factory ammo slid out just fine.

Hodgdon starting load for 327 Fed Mag is 5.9 grains of CFE Pistol.

Max is 7.0 grains CFE Pistol.

I'll dial it back.

[Wayne Smith]

Just goes to prove that every gun is different, and we need to keep aware of this when loading near max.

[375RUGER]

Good loading practice is to start under the maximum listed charge and "work up", increasing the powder charge as you go, keeping an eye for the tell-tell signs of pressure increases.
Taking your example of 100g XTP and CFE powder, and assuming that I wanted an accurate load somewhere near max velocity, I would have loaded a cylinder full of 6.4g, 6.6g, 6.8g, 7.0g. I would shoot all 4 to see which is the most accurate. Obvisously eliminating a load if it shows signs of too much pressure. Then I would load 2 or 3 cylinders full of that most accurate load for verification.

[head for the hills]

Also of note, according to Speer reloading manual, small rifle primers (not magnum) are to be used in .327 magnum.

[1hole]

They also exhibit flattened primers (which I hear is somewhat normal)

Normal? Well, decades ago primers were made with domed cups that did flatten a bit under great pressure but they have long been made with flat cups. Thus, contrary to conventional web wisdom, "flat" primers tell us virtually nothing reliable about chamber pressure.

(I'll mention that truly flat primers can be excellent indicators of headspace tho; radically flat primers tell us if there's a lot of slop in the chamber fit. But even that's unlikely to matter with rimmed straight wall cases.)


...and stout recoil, but, worse, did not eject from the cylinder easily. I had to push the ejector rod onto the bench to extract the brass. Does not sound ideal.

Ouch; that really ain't ideal.

Flat primers don't mean much but sticky extraction always tells us a LOT about very high chamber pressures! Cases stick ONLY when the steel chamber expands (balloons) out from the pressure and then contracts back more than the stretchy brass case can expand and contract so the fired cases are then tightly gripped by the chamber walls. If you expand those sticky chambers just a tad more things might start coming from together in your hand. In fact, you may have already jugged your cylinder's chambers.


I'm planning on backing off on the load a few tenths.

Any suggestions?

Yeah; back off. NOW. I'd drop at least five of those tenths and maybe ten of those tenths and - maybe - slowly work my charge back up and settle just below where the sticking returns.

* Notes to avoid flat primers and over stretched cases:

> First, forget about FL sizing cases by pushing them into a sizer as far as they can be pushed, that's rarely helpful and leads to early case failures.

> Next, properly FL size all of your bottle neck cases at their shoulders (I mean size your cases so they actually fit your chamber) and unhappy flattened primers and head separations won't happen.

> You now know exactly why we are told to "start lower than book max and work up slowly unless/until you reach book max OR until you see early evidences of excessive pressure (like, especially, sticking cases)." Thing is, this reloading stuff is an art, it's not a totally predictable science. The best our reloading book makers can do is tell us the results they got in their guns while using their components on the day they did their tests; theirs' is not ours.

* IMHO, NO ONE can tell anyone else the maximum safe loads for THEIR GUN with their different components so anyone blithely going directly to a book max load is open to injury.

* IMHO, anyone needing to weight handgun charges to avoid a KABOOM! is probably working far too close to disaster and is still quite likely to get one.

* IMHO, if normal loads for a little .32 Magnum doesn't have the desired punch trade it for a .357 or .44 mag. If that's normally too much recoil to comfortably handle, use light (for caliber) bullets
and load it down. ???

[Liberty1776]

I'm attempting to duplicate the velocity (1190 fps out of my LCR) of the Federal factory 327 Federal Magnum load with its 85 gr JHP, which appears to be the Hornady XTP. And also experiment with the 100 gr XTP JHP.

I downloaded from the Hodgdon max.

I then downloaded a full half grain from the max.

It's still difficult to extract.

I'm going to minimum for CFE Pistol.

May move to a different, less active powder. I thought CFE Pistol would work. May be too much of a good thing.

May try Universal powder or my Old Reliable, Winchester 231.

297771

[1hole]

.... I downloaded a full half grain from the max.

It's still difficult to extract.

Try a few rounds of factory ammo again, see if they still extract properly.

Thing is, if you've already jugged your revolver's chambers (permanently swelled the middle with over-loads) then even normal pressures will make cases expand to fit the fat part and that will still make extraction difficult. I once did that with a .44 magnum S&W using 250 Gr. SWC and Unique. The recoil was sharp, both the velocity and accuracy was great but I don't do that anymore!