Recent content by VAdoublegunner

Lil Gun should make an excellent powder for the 357Max. I loaded the cartridge for a T/C Contender barrel and had outstanding accuracy with AA1680. It was easy to get 1.25" groups or better from that 14" barrel at 100 yards. I don't recall if Lil Gun even existed at the time, that was around...

For your stated use and purpose, you should be able to load a heavy for caliber cast bullet with a large meplat to sufficient velocity to give good penetration on even tough critters like a boar at close range. If your rifle is out of service for finishing or taking a wounded or angry boar at...

They both will handle any SAAMI spec commercial 44 Magnum loads and handloaded equivalents. A few folks may hotrod the 44 Mag, but most of the time "Ruger Only" loads refers to hot loaded 45 Colt. If you like full fury 44 Mag loads, you'll have all the fun you can handle. And yep, they will...

I guess the ~disadvantage~ I see in doing that to a SA used as a field gun is that you can shoot a round or 2 then easily reload a full cylinder rather quickly. In a Ruger that is especially easy by just opening the loading gate and by holding the cylinder to keep it from rotating eject/reload...

The Gold Label. The 12 is a great gun, I truly enjoy mine with 1oz loads, but it is too light for a 3" 12 ga. However, the frame is perfect for a 16 ga upland gun. Ahh....to dream.

I smooth up sharp edges with a little 600 grit wet/dry paper, since sometimes triggers and the trigger guards can be a little sharp. Also polished up the internals using toothpaste on one that seemed a little gritty. I have installed a Wolff spring for about 2# reduction in the 3 SP101s I...

Rule #1: They are fun to shoot! So do it often. I have 2 7.5" SS adj sight ones, and a 5.5" SS fixed sight model. They get used a lot, more than I ever anticipated, in fact. They can be remarkably accurate. Rule #2: Read the manual. Then read it again. Rule #3: Do not, even for a moment...

Two carry revolver classics are the S&W Model 637 (or 642) and the Ruger SP101. I like the 2.25" over the 3" barrel Ruger for better packability; DAO or spur hammer doesn't matter to me. My current fave SP101 for carry is a first year 38 Special that I carry with full 38-44 S&W equivalent...

A 3" SP101 makes a very good HD revolver if one is well prepared to use it. I have kept one in a small case under the bed, with a good small flashlight and an extra speed loader, for many years. Of course, my dresser drawer also has a S&W 4516.....you know, just in case. My current most...

As the user name may indicate, I like shotguns, specifically double guns. I can call myself a shotgunner from the time I was 10 years old and got a Stevens 311 in 20 ga as a present when my father and grandfather took me to eastern NC to Mattamusket on a duck/goose hunt. I got a duck and a...

Funny that yours was a Bicentennial model. I bought a blued one in 1976, my first handgun, and shot many, many thousands of rounds through it. I had it out hunting, probaby 1990-91?, and the plunger broke while I was in the field. For some reason at that time, I think it was in the manual, Ruger...

For your stated and implicit purpose ("emergency" hunting, home defense, bug out, civil unrest, etc) I would recommend a 357 magnum. Ammo is readily available, it is an easy cartridge to handload, you can use 38 SP in most of them, and the 357 out of a carbine is a rather impressive pistol...

A "Ruger Only" load with WW296 is one of the better combination carbine/pistol top end loads with that bullet I have found, although AA#9 isn't bad either. That is if you want RO level loads (32Kpsi). You can drive the Hornady XTP well over 1000fps with WW296 in the revolver with that powder...

If it does that with a lot of them, I might suspect the sizer die, a particular lot/type of brass, or a bullet sizing issue with cast bullets. Another possibility is overexpansion of the case mouth but that should be pretty obvious even to an inexperienced handloader. This most commonly occurs...

It is easy to come up with a good handload that duplicates or is a very close approximation of most factory loads, and an excellent idea for practice. In some cases, I use factory ammo when I cannot obtain the specific bullet type as a separate component or obtain better ballistics and...