my brother came up a couple weeks ago for easter weekend (he is a high school spanish teacher and gets good Friday off). among the various firearms brought along was a, new to him, 38-44 heavy duty that needed shot. well, I had no ammo for my combat masterpiece as an accuracy comparison is necessary. for accuracy, the only load is a 148 grain hollow-base wadcutter with 2.7 grains of bullseye powder.
but I can't tell the difference between 2.7 grains and 5.4 grains of powder in the 38 special case. so I marked off 2.7 grains on a .346" diameter pin gauge by dropping the 2.7 grains of bullseye into the case, lowering the gauge on top of the powder and scribing the pin with a red sharpie. after filling all 50 cases in the loading block, I, first, looked in each case with a flashlight to make sure all cases were filled. then, I took my pin gauge and stuck it down the hole to make sure I didn't double charge the case.
one case has no powder, one has 2.7 grains, and one has 5.4 grains. I can't tell which has no grains or 2.7 grains, but I can sure tell which has 5.4 grains.
I have also used this method to determine the powder level in a 45acp case to make sure I wasn't compressing the powder in a load I developed for a 265 grain swc bullet.
the cartridge/bullet on the right is the 265 grain load that fires and functions well in all my 45acp pistols. the slightly different 270 grain swc cartridge/bullet does not function in my pistols. anyway, the gauge was used to make sure the powder charge had plenty of room in the case.
and the reason for this post is to try and alleviate anyone's concern with loading small amounts of powder in cavernous cases.
murf
but I can't tell the difference between 2.7 grains and 5.4 grains of powder in the 38 special case. so I marked off 2.7 grains on a .346" diameter pin gauge by dropping the 2.7 grains of bullseye into the case, lowering the gauge on top of the powder and scribing the pin with a red sharpie. after filling all 50 cases in the loading block, I, first, looked in each case with a flashlight to make sure all cases were filled. then, I took my pin gauge and stuck it down the hole to make sure I didn't double charge the case.
one case has no powder, one has 2.7 grains, and one has 5.4 grains. I can't tell which has no grains or 2.7 grains, but I can sure tell which has 5.4 grains.
I have also used this method to determine the powder level in a 45acp case to make sure I wasn't compressing the powder in a load I developed for a 265 grain swc bullet.
the cartridge/bullet on the right is the 265 grain load that fires and functions well in all my 45acp pistols. the slightly different 270 grain swc cartridge/bullet does not function in my pistols. anyway, the gauge was used to make sure the powder charge had plenty of room in the case.
and the reason for this post is to try and alleviate anyone's concern with loading small amounts of powder in cavernous cases.
murf