I tried to insert a picture in here, and I don't have that part of this forum figured out. Help?
The picture was of a 32WinSPCL case beside a standard 41mag case beside a 32 case trimmed to 1.695, necked up to 35cal, necked up to 40cal, a 180gr 38-40 cast bullet seated upside down over 7.5gr of Herco (I'm out of Unique) then finally run full length into the 38-40 sizing die. Recrimp is optional as these are for fireforming.
Next was a similar trimmed 32 case with 9gr of Herco, a 35cal gascheck, filled with #4shot fitted with a 44cal gascheck which was rerun through the 38-40 sizing die and actually is a nice fit, though it crimps the top of the case in enough that the gascheck is the same outside dia as the case. This was to prove or disprove if I really needed to fireform before creating the shot loads.
Next was a similar trimmed 32 case similarly charged topped with a cork wad sealed with fingernail polish. The same proof test.
An alternate scenario had a trimmed 32 case necked up to 35cal and a 180gr 35cal cast seated normally, though very deeply, over the same 7.5gr of Herco. This was to prove if I needed to neck up to 40cal or fireform from 35cal. The work I did to get the 35cal bullets to stay put wasn't worth it - necking to 40cal proved necessary.
These loads really fill the cylinder on my Blackhawk. !.74 was my max cylinder length availability. I set the trimmer to 1.7, connected my power drill and when the case mouths were cleaned up, they settled in at 1.695. A good fit for a shotshell. I've read about cylinder lockup doing this kind of stuff, due to bottle-necking the case, I believe. I also believe pressure plays a part , so I'm thinking these shotshells need to get their velocity and performance without 'magnum' pressures. If what I've done works well, performance will be phase two of this experiment. Should not require any resizing and be fairly straight-forward. I'm using Herco and #4's because that's what I had available. Unique or W231 or Trailboss might do better, and may be where I go with this.
So far, the straight to the shot and wad seems to be the scenariio of choice, but....I get to shoot tomorrow! Stay tuned!
Meanwhile, how do I insert the pics?
Regards,
Sweetwater