Recent content by gmbailey21

"Just as a side note, it may be possible that the charge your Lee scale measured at the begining was, in fact, 40.0 gr Perhaps it is the Powder measure that began to vary a bit. Just a thought." Yes that was the whole problem, the spring slowly put it off and by the end it was off by .2...

Yes it was a FA digital scale. Digital seems like it would be more convenient (for sure!) but I feel warm fuzzies about using the mechanical scales, somehow they just seem safer, especially after getting two duds. I'll look at that RCBS, it sounds like I"ll be getting some RCBS equip one...

rcmodel 2.570" SAAMI standard is as long as will work in a lever-action. The 300 grain Hornady bullet has two crimp cannulures. The short one is for .444 lever-actions, and the longer one is for .444 single-shots, and .44 Mag revolvers & rifles that will handle the longer length. rc...

The Real Mags Lee currently make ths "Perfect Powder Measure" and the "Safety Scale" I have the scale and thought that was what the OP was talking about. -Yes, sorry about that, it is the safety scale. In terms of the comments about loading lighter, I usually load about a half grain to a...

I recently loaded 50 .444 shells to 40 gr of powder, a max load, and at the end, just for warm fuzzies, I checked my scale. Boy am I glad that I did, it was off. That 40 gr load was now 40.2, which could be dangerous. So an evening of bullet pulling (boy has that paid for itself) and...

Update As per Hornady's suggestion, as the OAL used for their data was 2.535 I ended up going with that and 39.5 Gr of the IMR 4198. I think the first cannulure would give me less pressure and more accuracy, but I need to figure out how to safely work some data up for that, likely with a...

Update Just to update, I ended up reloading all shells to 39.5 gr IMR 4198 as my scale ended up being off, so that 40 gr load actually ended up being 40.2, which was too far out of my comfort zone. As per Hornady's suggestion, I loaded to the second cannulure since that is where they got their...

Thanks for the confirmation! I do need to build a rig for figuring out the max OAL for guns, just need to think about it a bit more, get some measurements, and head to the hardware store. Loaded out to 2.67, the bullet is not contacting the rifling, so I'm going to leave this batch at that...

Thanks, I've read that in other areas, but as I'm still pretty green, I'm not sure exactly how OAL can affect pressures, either in the cartridge, or in the barrel. A call to Hornady resulted in their tech stating that the bullet should be 2.535, which would be at the very lower part of the...

Chatted with a tech at Hornady, and he said the 39.7 max load had a pressure of 42,000, and the cartridge can safely go to 44,000, so he said 40 was fine, but was def about max for my Handi-Rifle. H335 goes from 35.6-51.3 gr, though I can't imagine cramming anywhere near 51.3 gr in the case

Thanks for sharing! It sounds like I'm at about the right spot. I did want to use H322 or H4198, but powder is scarce in my neck of the woods, and they were not available. If I took a 3 hour drive to the middle of nowhere, I know a place that likely would have them, but I've already done that...

For the Lyman and Sierra, is that for a 300 gr bullet? I see the Hodgdon's site shows OAL (assumed max) at 2.620: 300 GR Hodgdon H4198 .430" 2.620" 38.5 1917 36,200 CUP 42.5 2082 42,500 CUP This if for H4198, I'm using IMR, so the actual powder load max is less...

Thanks for the replies, I'll check with Hornady and see what they recommend. As of now I have them loaded long, with the second cannulure exposed. I'll be using them in a handi-rifle, so I don't think that them being slightly long should hurt anything (single-shot), but when or if I end up...

I have a (hopefully) quick question in regards to OAL Something that has me scratching my head is the Max OAL is listed at 2.570 for the .444 Marlin cartridge, but the load data has a Min OAL of 2.62. (300 gr Hornady XTP) So I can't do one without violating the other. Loaded to the first...

First, let me start out by stating that I do have a couple of loading manuals (including Lee), but I'm not finding a lot of data out there for IMR 4198, though in the product description it outright states that it is perfect for the .444 Marlin. Even IMR/Hodgon's site is focused on H4198 and...