I recently acquired a Ruger #1 chambered for this cartridge from a friend and fellow AR member. Being a dedicated cast bullet shooter I am in search of a lighter cast bullet load for the rifle. Today I am going to work up a couple Trail Boss loads and see how they perform but I cannot find any other reduced, cast loads. Who might have a favorite load they would share?

Dear 9.3 x 74R,

Not sure that I'm helping here, but I use 27grains of Trail Boss behind a 350gr cast paper patch in my 1906 Cogswell & Harrison 450 Nitro Express 3 1/4" double rifle. It makes for a pleasant 'plinking' load which i use for practice at 40 yards. Accurate enough with a spread of about 2 - 3" and just a couple of inches higher than my full house load of a 500gr paper patch with 85gr of reloader 17 and dacron filler.
For what it's worth I think Trail Boss appears an excellent light load powder.
Have you tried working up a load using 'Quickload' and your favourite powder but with dacron as filler?
best regards
Clive (in England)

Dear Clive,

Thank you very much for the information, I am grateful and yes sir, any information is a help. My first load with TB worked out to 21 grs beneath a 410 gr. Lyman bullet cast of 50/50 lead/lino. There's quite a bit of room left in the case, perhaps 1/2 in. I've been ready to shoot it since I posted the first time but it has been raining...and I cannot complain as we desperately need the rain for out crops.

Anyway.....no sir, I have not looked at Quickload as I do not have that program. I would be more than pleased with a load that is "accurte enough" and achieved 1600 fps with either the Lyman 410 gr. bullet or a 270 gr. mold I have.

From what I have heard about TB and doubles it appears your load regulates quite well!! I expect it is great fun and practice.

Oh, and it really is "9.3 X 75R", not X74R. I can certainly understand why one would think X74R. The X75R is an old Thieme & Schlegelmilch cartridge for which I have a drilling so chambered. Quite an interesting and effective old cartridge.

Vic

Goodness!!!!! First Trail Boss load I tried put three into less than an inch at 50 yards, kneeling, open sights!!!! Felt pretty mild so next load will go to 25 grs. and still put me 5 grs. below max. If it shoots that good I'll break out the chrono.

Woo-Hoo! Always good to hear of an accurate CB load found.

A couple weeks ago I sent NOE one each of the two Barnes bullet designs they make for the .450-400 cartridges. Swede has them on the list for mold development. They will be in the 400gr range though.

Rich

I bought a mold from Accurate Molds, #42-380-B, for my Ruger #1 450/400. With my alloy it weighs 370 grains and fits the Ruger throat perfectly.
30 grains of SR4759 and a Fed 215 gives 1440 fps.
For a little more authority I use 60 grains of Accurate 4350 and a Fed 215 for 1700 fps.
Both of these loads shoot 2" groups at 100 yds.
I found the 450/400 to be an excellent cast bullet caliber, almost every load shoots good.

Idahoshooter...I have a fair supply of SR-4759 I'dlike to try...are you using a filler of any kind in your load?

I don't any AA-4350 but do have IMR-4350. How close are they in burning rate and could one extrapolate an IMR load from the AA load?

For whatever reason the rifle didn't like the 25 gr. load of TB. I know my 410 gr. bullet is on the cusp of not being of large enough diameter, it mics .410, so that might be why. I need to cast some of the 270 gr. bullets of a harder alloy than those I have cast and give them a whirl as they mic .415 and I can size them to .413.

I have tried the 4759 loads with and without filler. I prefer to use a piece of foam backer rod long enough to lightly compress the powder. Using a filler raised the velocity to a little over 1500 fps.

60 grs of IMR 4350 would be safe, I checked both powders in Quickload and they both produced under 20,000 PSI.

My Ruger #1 and Sabatti double both have a .412 groove diameter and I wouldn't expect a .410 diameter cast bullet to shoot very well.

What molds are you using?

Thank you sir! I use fillers in several loads and will try yours with the SR-4759. TB hasn't worked bad and I will play with it a bit more and I'll give the 4350 a whirl.

My Ruger miced .410 but I didn't like the way the bore slugged but have yet to slug it again.

The 410 gr. bullet is the Lyman 410655 and the 270 gr. bullet is an Accurate mold 416265B. The Lyman throws dead on .410 from 50/50 and the Accurate is .415 from the same alloy. I may have to acquire a different mold for the heavy bullet....but it shot so well with 21 grs. of TB....still am not certain what's going on with the heavier load. Probably too small.

Don't discount some of the pistol or shotgun powders for light loads with cast bullets. Have got very easy and accurate shooting loads using Red Dot, Unique and best of all, Vectan AS, in my 404J with a 370gr cast bullet and no fillers require.
The Vectan AS powder load is superbly clean burning just as it is in shotgun loads and the plus side is the little amount of powder needed to produce viable and accurate loads.

Low noise and recoil, cases would last forever, great for practice.

eagle, might we know Vectan AS by a different name? I've not heard of it.

quote:

Originally posted by 9.3 X 75R:
eagle, might we know Vectan AS by a different name? I've not heard of it.

The extensive range of Vectan gunpowders are produced by Nobel Sport, a French company.
Vectan powders including AS were readily available here in NZ for many years with AS one of the powders used by our major manufacturer of shotgun cartridges. I also used some of the Vectan rifle powders.

A lot of information about the Vectan range of powders is available if Google'd. Below is what one website has to say about AS powder;

Vectan AS
AS has a slower burn rate than Ba10 and is especially suited for smaller cartridges like the 7.65mm Browning. Also recommended for small charges with lead bullets.

I have been using 320 and 400gr LBT WFNGC and LFNGC bullets in mine, with AA5744, no filler, and an F215. I can run the 320's @ 2050fps same as the 400gr factory load with that combo. Western Powders will give you what ever info they have on it , just e-mail them.