Rifle Powders In The .500 Handi?

[Big Blue]

I'm curious if anyone has tried rifle powders in their .500 S&W Handi? I was reading this: "In the .500, try a case full of much slower rifle powders like 4198, 3031, 4895, H322, H335, or BLC-2 These much slower powders fill the case entirely and the pressure builds more slowly. Leading will disappear, unless something is really wrong." in an article written by John Ross in 2007. He was referring to the rifle powders being used in loads for a 5" barreled S&W to reduce leading problems. I got to thinking about it and with the extra inches we have in the Handi, I'm wondering what our results would be with these rifle powders. Any thoughts on it?
Don

http://www.john-ross.net/pdfs/maghist.pdf

[tacklebury]

I use 25 gr. Reloader7 (very slow also) in my .45 Colt.  It's nice, because it reduces the felt recoil level as it doesn't develop pressure/speed as quickly.  In my .45LC BC Carbine, I get great accuracy and more rifle like performance than my H-110 magnum loads and a lot less punishment.  You only issue may be that there's little load data, so you'd have to start with the LC starting point and build up slowly.  Reloader7 is very forgiving in capacity though as I can load it from 34.3 gr. to 52 gr. in my .45-70 and have had zero FTF or pressure issues.  I don't think I'd just automatically FILL the case though.  That statement is a bit misleading in my opinion. 

[Slufoot]

I have shot my Lee 440 grain GC bullets with 4198 and they shot good. Last year I got my first wheel weight deer with those components.

GOOD SHOOTING!
Slufoot

[guns-o-fun]

Been wondering about this myself for a while.  If you could use H4895 - that would be great.  It is very flexible in terms of load range - Hodgdon says you can reduce it to 60% of maximum for any loads that they list - so it's not one of those finicky powders.  Thanks for the lead.

[Dill45]

I've always wanted to try it, but I haven't seen any load data using riffle powders and I don't think I'm quite experiences enough to go monkeying around trying things like that.

I would be curious to see if you can pick up any velocity using riffle powders out of a Handi.  I know you couldn't out of a pistol (would be pretty cool at night with all that muzzle flash) but what about a 24 inch barrel?

[tacklebury]

Although specifically for .45 Colt in this article, you might read and get some good ideas.    Towards the end is where he talks about Reloader7 specifically. 

http://www.leverguns.com/articles/paco/45coltlevergun.htm

[Dinny]

I would think that Hodgdon Lil Gun would be a good powder. I use it for several pistol calibers. It's hard to get enough in the case to cause pressure problems.

Thanks, Dinny

[MINI boy]

I would think that Hodgdon Lil Gun would be a good powder. I use it for several pistol calibers. It's hard to get enough in the case to cause pressure problems.
Thanks, Dinny

Lil'gun is a good powder, but onley for the pistol. i had a friend run some Quick load numbers for me using Lil'Gun with a 440gr lee WFNGC and the data showed that the powder was completley burned with in a 7" barrel. so uaing it in a rifle does not gain you anything as the barrel length just ends up slowing down the boolit as then is no more powder to burn. i had him run some tests on rifle powders and Quick loads showed W-296 to be the best at 99.8% powder burn in a 22" barrel. the max load data we came up with was an OAL of 2.130" using a 440gr lee WFNGC cast boolit backed by 41.8gr of W-296 giving me 2005fps at sealevel. quick loads says this load will onley produce 59,000psi but of course this needs to be worked up carfuly so one does not die in a blaze of glory. its funny as i just came here to post about rifle powder and found this thread. peopl say h100 is the same as W-296 but acording to quick loads you will get 50fps less using H110. any one use W-296 behind the 440gr?

[quickdtoo]

Lil'gun is a good powder, but onley for the pistol. i had a friend run some Quick load numbers for me using Lil'Gun with a 440gr lee WFNGC and the data showed that the powder was completley burned with in a 7" barrel. so uaing it in a rifle does not gain you anything as the barrel length just ends up slowing down the boolit as then is no more powder to burn. i had him run some tests on rifle powders and Quick loads showed W-296 to be the best at 99.8% powder burn in a 22" barrel. the max load data we came up with was an OAL of 2.130" using a 440gr lee WFNGC cast boolit backed by 41.8gr of W-296 giving me 2005fps at sealevel. quick loads says this load will onley produce 59,000psi but of course this needs to be worked up carfuly so one does not die in a blaze of glory. its funny as i just came here to post about rifle powder and found this thread. peopl say h100 is the same as W-296 but acording to quick loads you will get 50fps less using H110. any one use W-296 behind the 440gr?

I've used QuickLoad v3.4 and now v3.6 for several years, it works great with bottlenecked cartridge data, but it doesn't work very well with straight walled cartridges, just try duplicating the data of any published straight wall data!! 

Lil'gun works great in my 500S&W H&R using the 350gr Hornady(2150fps), 385gr Rem(2100fps), 440gr CP(1950fps) and the 700gr RR(1435fps).  I use it exclusively in all my pistol chambered H&R rifles except the 357 Maxi, it provides excellent velocity, not to say there aren't some rifle powders that won't work tho, there just isn't any data available for slower burning powders, so you're on your own.

Tim

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0BQY/is_1_53/ai_n16866654/

[Dinny]