New to cast bullet reloading

[Xshot]

Hey Don - I built a heavily modified Avid Magnum back in 1994. Met my goals for a lightweight airframe and decided to bolt an O-360, pushing 210 HP, and big Sensenich prop on the front. I purchased bulk lead, because I thought I would need it. Wound up moving the battery just behind the cargo hold instead.

It was a great backcountry performer. Sold it in 2007 after moving back to Wisconsin from Idaho. After desert and mountain flying the upper midwest flying was just plain boring. The stories and adventures I could tell!

I would love to find a RANS S-18 Stinger incomplete or needing TLC. The S7 is a great aircraft, but they command to much money these days.

[donhuff]

Well, that sounds better. Funny how moving the battery fixes most out of balance situations. That ought to have been a hot rod with that much motor.

I'm thinking about selling mine as I never fly it anymore. I think it was November of last year when I flew it last time.

[Xshot]

I did the conversion math and it looks like 26 grains of Lil'Gun should come in around 27,500 PSI.

Lil'Gun is a tough powder to guess at. If you can provide a bullet length and overall cartridge length that you are going to use, I can get you spot on with QuickLoad.

RD - bullets came in today. The average length is .6745 with a +/- of .002. For these bullets I'm thinking an OAL of 1.765, but I'll defer to your expertise with the .454 Casull M92. Just not sure what COAL the new rifle will feed reliably at this time.

[Ranch Dog]

The average length is .6745 with a +/- of .002. For these bullets I'm thinking an OAL of 1.765, but I'll defer to your expertise with the .454 Casull M92. Just not sure what COAL the new rifle will feed reliably at this time.

Looking at the bullet, I doubt you will be able to achieve that overall length. Measure the distance from the meplat to the crimp groove. I looked on their website for a bit of information but there is none.

[Xshot]

The average length is .6745 with a +/- of .002. For these bullets I'm thinking an OAL of 1.765, but I'll defer to your expertise with the .454 Casull M92. Just not sure what COAL the new rifle will feed reliably at this time.

Looking at the bullet, I doubt you will be able to achieve that overall length. Measure the distance from the meplat to the crimp groove. I looked on their website for a bit of information but there is none.

I measured today and I came up with .285" from metplat to crimp groove. Doesn't look like I'll be shooting anytime soon. Rifle has issues - I updated my thread in the 92 section.

Thanks for the help!

[Ranch Dog]

I measured today and I came up with .285" from metplat to crimp groove. Doesn't look like I'll be shooting anytime soon. Rifle has issues - I updated my thread in the 92 section.

Thanks for the help!

No problem. Okay, using:

• Cartridge OAL of 1.665" based on adding the .285" bullet nose to the 1.380" case length
• The target for the calculation of 27,500 PSI
• 28.3-grains of Lil'Gun
• 1885 FPS

[Xshot]

I measured today and I came up with .285" from metplat to crimp groove. Doesn't look like I'll be shooting anytime soon. Rifle has issues - I updated my thread in the 92 section.

Thanks for the help!

No problem. Okay, using:

• Cartridge OAL of 1.665" based on adding the .285" bullet nose to the 1.380" case length
• The target for the calculation of 27,500 PSI
• 28.3-grains of Lil'Gun
• 1885 FPS

RD - I really appreciate the time you took to provide the load data. I'm going to send my rifle in for repairs Monday. Once it returns, I'll work up some loads and report back.

[bigtrumpetman]

Aahh, dipping into to silver bullets!

In that the OT bullet is not gas checked, I suspect you will need to hold the pressures to 28.0K ~ 30.0K PSI to prevent alloy failure. That would event would be expressed as leading in the barrel.

I would tend to agree. Richard Lee's "Modern Reloading" (2nd edition) explains how pressure effects leading of the bore and accuracy regarding cast bullets. I have used his formulas and charts as guidelines for the past several years, and they have dramatically improved my results. I now have loads that are great in bullets of anywhere from BNH 10 to BNH 20, AND Lee's formulas run from BNH 8 all the way up to BNH 36.6. Since I have been following these guidelines, I have had no problems with leading, and accuracy for all of my loads has improved.

For your situation, for example, Mr. Lee's chart (p. 134) show a maximum pressure of 30,405 psi for a brinell hardness (BNH) of 23.8. My experience shows that staying within the limits on Lee's chart, maybe even 5% - 10% under, is hard to beat. It should, at the very least, be a good starting point. Good luck.