I know that magnum primers are recomended for H110 but I haven't ever read whether that was the case with Lil'Gun. That includes the annual Hodgedon reloading manual. I've loaded up 320 plain base LBT's for my .44's with 20 gr. of Lil'gun and heavy .45 Colt loads for my old style Bisley Vaquero with 325 gr. plain base LBT's and 20 gr. of Lil'gun both using regular Win. large pistol primers. They seem to work just fine, but if mag primers would insure consistant performance I would certainly switch.

As cursory review of the Hodgden "Basic Loading Manual" shows they use standard primers for their load development.

I use standard small rifle primers for Lil'gun in my .22 Hornet and get groups of around 1/2" at 100 yds, and velocity of 3,000 fps. with 35 gr. v-max. That can't be inconsistent. I believe small rifle primers to be stronger than small pistol primers, so the small pistol magnum primers would probably work fine. Shoot some and let us know what you find out.

Dump the Lil'gun. It was made for the .410 and burns so hot in a revolver it can ruin the barrel.
Shooting 6 shots has turned several revolvers into soldering irons.
Use 296 or H110.
Keep using it if you want erosion.

Interesting. I just "assumed" that I should use mag primers with LilGun, so that's all I've used. I've pretty much given up on non-mag primers in 44 mag because there's no cost savings. CCI350 primers have been very good to me. Having said that, I will warn you to avoid Wolf large pistol magnum primers - they are physically too short and they are weak.

quote:

Originally posted by bfrshooter:
Dump the Lil'gun. It was made for the .410 and burns so hot in a revolver it can ruin the barrel.
Shooting 6 shots has turned several revolvers into soldering irons.
Use 296 or H110.
Keep using it if you want erosion.

one shot in my 45LC Puma and the chamber area of the barrel was almost too hot to touch

I was using it in my 50 beowulf and after 5 shots you cold fry an egg on the barrel. I switched to wc297 and after 5 shots i can grab it buy the barrel and its just warm. I personaly wont use it anything that is going to be shot fast enough to heat up a barrel and wont use it in any revolver. Ill probaly use up the two kegs i have in guns like the 22 hornet and not buy it again.

I use Lil Gun and std rifle primers in my DW 414 SuperMag and have had no issues. I have fired more than a few cylinders full in practice sessions. I like the powder, gives great velocities and nice groups out of my revolver.

David