I posted this on the reloading forum and thought I might play it out here also.



Posted 15 October 2006 19:51
I have a 500 Jeffery in a 1935 Chilean Mauser action. Loading for that round I was advised to use filler to take up air space. I bought some from the fabric shop and it came as a mangled flat mess of batting. Is all dacron the same? How do you prepare it? Are you cutting it in small pieces and weighing the amount to put in the case? What is the procedure? I will be getting into double rifle load development soon. Will the principals be the same?


square shooter

I use stuffing from an old sleeping bag. I DO weigh the stuff. I use it in a 470 and I think it's around 6 grains. My object is to fill the case without any real compression of the charge.

lb404,
You gotta be kidding! This stuff is old hat to you. What are you trolling for?

Not trollong. I got some unusual readings from the chrono and the loads we worked up. I thought it might be due to the nature of the dacron. Ithink the chronograph is wrong not the load. Have you used the puff-lon stuff?

Leonard,
Yes, any polyester fiber fill is fine, it does not have to be Dacron name-brand. Pinch off a tuft and put it on the scale and keep adding wisps until you get the grain weight (4 or 5 grains of fiber for a 470 NE with RL-15, depending on the length of the bullet in the case).

Wadd it up and shove it in the case over the top of the powder with a pencil eraser. A good tight wadd that locks the powder in place.

Just be consistent with the same weight of filler for each case, just like you are with the powder weight.

Sounds like a chrono problem, if it is acting anything like it did the day I was there.

That is what I thought. When we loaded before, the dacron filler yielded faster speeds with equal powder charge. This time there was little variability. All in all the technique was the same the results were not. I guess I will have to pull out the ohelar. The pact has always been a more compact unit to carry.

You might want to consider a powdered dacron type filler like Puff-Lon. It measures like powder and allows you to make perfectly consistent loads. Link below:

http://www.pufflon.com/index.html

Garrett made the same reply under the Reloading thread, and it is he who brought Puff-Lon to my attention. I bought some and use it with my cast bullet reloads for my 416 Rigby with good success.

Powder will migrate past the powdered PuffLon.

I use Polyfil that you buy at the fabric stores or Wal-Mart for stuffing pillows.


A small tuff. Just enough to keep the RL-15 against the primers and fill up the air space.

Rusty, after the powder charge I fill to the case mouth with Puff-Lon and then insert the bullet. The Puff-lon is compressed. With this protocol, how does the propellant "migrate"?

Rusty, the stuff I got was real stiff and in a mat form like you would use for making matresses. It did not look like your picture. I'll go back and see what else they have.

Gentlemen
Call me crazy or whatever but if it does not say Dupont Dacron I will not use it. There is a big difference in burn rate of the different fillers. Dupont Dacron is very fire resistant. When shot it will be spit out of the barrel in one tight wad. The other fillers will melt to a certain degree and adhere to the barrel wall creating fowling, excess pressure and pressure spikes.
As noted if not packed tight the powder will migrate in the filler. This is exaggerated by carrying nose down in a belt or case.
For all of these reasons I now load all rounds that need a filler with the Kynock Nitro-Express foam Wads.

James

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty:
Powder will migrate past the powdered PuffLon.

I use Polyfil that you buy at the fabric stores or Wal-Mart for stuffing pillows.


What Rusty said. That's the stuff.
I get a mini snow storm from my 470 NE if using that with RL-15 loads. It does not melt or burn, it does not foul the barrel, in my experience.

Dacron polyester fill versus the generic fire-retardant polyester pillow stuffing from Walmart: what is the chemical difference?
A small tuff. Just enough to keep the RL-15 against the primers and fill up the air space.

Could melting foam filler wads that leave a residue in the barrel be a source of residue that fouls a bore enough to cause the chamber ringing or barrel damage that Ross Seyfried hinted about? He never explained his fear of foam wads.

Wink,
I'm sure your method works just fine for you.

I'll just stick with mine!

All that polyesther matting or stuffing is the same as Dacron. Dacron is just DuPonts tradename for it since they invented it.

With any filler you never want to wad it over the powder. You want whatever filler you use to occupy the total airspace between the powder and the base of the bullet. If you wad tightly a filler over the powder leaving an airspace between it and the bullet base then you stand a very good chance of ringing your chamber. The reason for this the wad becomes a bullet in sort and the real bullet becomes an obstruction. The wad then compresses the air in front of it, possibly ringing the barrel. So don't pack any filler into a tight wad over the powder. As with any kind of filler you have to handle your loaded cartridges carefully, especially not storing them bullet down in a cartridge box because the powder might migrate into or past the filler, especially with fine ball powders. Not so much a problem with stick powders.

Also with any type filler you must readjust your load because they will slightly increase the pressure. Fillers are especiall useful in reduced powder loads in cast bullets.

Dacron doesn't leave a residue that sticks to any part of your bore.

I know there are already links to this article somewhere on the forum but just in case you'd like to read it again.

RELOADING THE NITRO EXPRESS

Simply: I don´t use any filler in my .500 jeff.

Rusty,
I tried to print it, it comes out about 40% of the page size...need about a 6X magnifying glass to read it. Can it be scanned in full size?

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Norbert:
Simply: I don´t use any filler in my .500 jeff.

Is that because you are using different powders than we are, a powder that takes up more case volume??

Idaho Shooter,
open each page then right click on the page and save it. then find the picture in your recent document on the START menu. Then you will be able to open and zoom in to them and read or print them.

lb404,

I don't see why one would need to use a filler in a 500 Jeffery either, Norbert. IMR4350 will fill the case and give excellent results.

quote:

Originally posted by ScottS:
lb404,

I don't see why one would need to use a filler in a 500 Jeffery either, Norbert. IMR4350 will fill the case and give excellent results.

This is true. Leonard had shoulder surgery and was interested in a lesser recoil load to rehab his shoulder with.

I would choose H4350 and 570 grain monometals for full power (and full recoil) loads in the 500 Jeffery, in a true magnum action.

The 500 Jeffery made from an opened up M98 standard Mauser should utilize lower pressures, as another reason one might choose to use a filler with Varget or RL-15, just like in a double rifle.

Thanks all, I will locate some of the other filler.