44Mag WWB Powder / Primer ?

[TenDriver]

I have around 30 rounds of a 6+ year old box of Winchester white box 44 mag that has experienced bullet setback in half or more of the remaining ammo. I was shooting the stuff and noticed an abnormally hard recoil from one shot and noticed the setback when I reloaded.

I'm planning on pulling the bullets and reusing them along with the cases, but am curious if anyone knows what primer and powder combo is in that ammo. I'm guessing 296, but since its only a guess I will not be reusing it. Primers might get reused, but that would be with a light IMR-4227 load.

 

[rcmodel]

white box 44 mag that has experienced bullet setback

Say what??

How the heck does a revolver cartridge experience bullet set-back??
That's an auto-pistol feeding thing.

Revolvers pull bullets under recoil.
Not set them back..

If in fact they are set back through reverse physics, or a warp in the shield or something???


Tap them out a little ways with a impact bullet puller.
Then re-seat them to the correct length and re-crimp them.

Nobody except the Shadow knows what powder Winchester used in that ammo 6 years ago.

And you couldn't get it if you did know.

Fuggedaboutit!!

rc

 

[TenDriver]

I hear ya, RC. Maybe bullet setback isn't the right word. It's more like case creep. The cases creeped down on the bullets while they were in the box I guess. The ammo had never been loaded in anything (I shoot a Model 92 rifle and a revolver. I could see the bullets getting compressed under recoil in the rifle magazine.) It's awful wierd.

To be honest I hadn't thought about tapping out a little, reseating and crimping again. I'll give it a whirl.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Yep, either reseat and crimp, or use a collet type bullet puller. You can weigh the powder charge of each round and take an average of all the rounds pulled. You can use that average to put the powder back in the case, as long as they're all from the same lot.

There is always the possibility that the rounds were loaded that way in the first place. Many years ago, when Winchester had a labor strike and management was running the plant, some of the ammunition we received during that time made us shake our heads. Just sayin'.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[TenDriver]

Yep, either reseat and crimp, or use a collet type bullet puller. You can weigh the powder charge of each round and take an average of all the rounds pulled. You can use that average to put the powder back in the case, as long as they're all from the same lot.

There is always the possibility that the rounds were loaded that way in the first place. Many years ago, when Winchester had a labor strike and management was running the plant, some of the ammunition we received during that time made us shake our heads. Just sayin'.

Hope this helps.

Fred

It does help. If I had a collet bullet puller that's exactly what I'd do. I might even save this stuff in case I ever get one. Averaging out the powder and reloading sounds like the most fun idea! Hard to beat "free" handloading (since I already paid for the loaded ammo).