Shame on me! I ain't no dad burned gamer -- purt slow, actually. I seen that feller's article in the Cowboy Chronicle this month about his using 15.6gr "by volume"(
) ffg and a popped kernal of corn to fill the void with under a 250 gr pill in .45 Colt or 200gr in .44/40 (wonder if'n he measured them boolits by volume? I still say there ain't NO SUCH THING as grains by volume!!!)
Well. got me ta think'n last night. My last experiments in doing something like that was with me Bond derringer and it worked real well. Previous experience in doing so in my Marlin rifle and Rooger SS BV revolvers was disappointing, but that predated the PRS boolit, RCBS .454 case expander, and PRS lube. Soooooooo; I went to it. I re-configured my Lee Loadmaster to full length re-size and de-prime at station #1. Station number 2 was left with my .454" RCBS Cowboy case mouth expansion die and its usual dedicated re-prime system. Stege #3 was left with the Lee Pro Auto Disk powder dispenser with a 1.02cc cavity, but I removed the bead chain disk return mechanism and installed the spring actuated option, plus set its powder through die to just barely start the case mouth belling. Stage #4 was fitted with another Lee Pro Auto Disk also spring actuated and a 1.18cc cavity to dispense the filler (Metamucil, regular texture) and also set the powder through die there to finish the slight bell of the case mouth. Stage #5 was fitted with the Lee seater/crimper die set to give a moderate crimp. Primer tray filled with CCI-300 (saw no need to use magnums with such a small charge). Gun powder measure was filled with ffg Elephant. Regular texture Metamucil fiber in the #4 stage dispenser. Filled the case collator with Starline 45 Colts and commenced to cranking out loads. Took me a while to get used to the different set-up, but worked easily. What I got in short order was 250 rounds of .45 Colt charged with only 16.5gr (weight) ffg Elephant under 250gr PRS boolits lubed with PRS lube. Compression was moderate. I lost any benefit the Lee Carbide Factory Crimp die was giving me, there was just no place to put it in this set-up.
Shot them rounds today, mostly in Doc Shapiro's practice rotines, but also in some mock stages gunfighter style. Very EZ to shoot and for some odd reason they still were hitting dead center (I figgured they would be way low). Wussie litlle recoil, could get right back on target EZ and no flinching today. I kinda missed the buck and roar; but kinda liked the faster and less punishing shooting. Still fair amount of good stinky smoke. I didna shoot paper, but they was a'shootin' good! chased an old baseball clear off the back 40 with it. The bullets did nt fragment, but flattened out real nice and fell at base of steel targets.
I reckon I'll have to try the popped corn kernal like the feller explained. If that works fer me, then I can go back to sizing the cases only as far down as the boolits fit, nix the filler dispenser at #4 and go back to my Lee Carbide Factory crimp. That might allow my Marlin to shoot the same Wussie round; but I would not count on it as the blow-by blues may rear their ugly heads again with a light charge. Save a lot of gun powder -- I've been going through 25# orders like they was pancakes!
