Automag V with big pills

 

   I had'nt handled an Automag V for more than a few minutes my very first time before realizing the magazine was spacious. That is, it allowed for longer cartridge OAL than say a Desert Eagle mag. I pondered that some day I would exploit this with 400 grain bullets. That was more than 12 years ago. I finally got around to it.

 

   The Sierra 400 grain JSP's for the .500 S&W mag looked ideal. They have a profile that looked accommodating to good feeding. The charge was festidiously decided upon at 14.0 grains of Blue Dot. Winchester standard large pistol primers were in order. OAL mic'ed in at 1.685". Taper crimped just behind the cannelure so that it is not visible; All of it concealed in the case. This allowed for a tiny amount of shoulder to resist the bullet from sinking into the case during forceful feeding. I may be forgetting other details, but it was just shy of a straight forward process.

 

   Testing at the range proved fruitful and satisfying. Velocity was right at expectations. I was going for 900 f/ps. A 15 shot string averaged 874 f/ps. A high of 922, and a low of 821 were in the mix. No operation frustrations occurred, and was a pleasure. Accuracy was 2 1/2" at 25 yards, off sand bags.

 

   Cautions of note. This was a renegade project for me, and post it for academic purposes. The 14 grain charge should not be reduced. I calculated it as a minimum, and have had high pressures before from Blue Dot undercharges. No explosions, but ridiculous recoil, velocity, and other notable signs in the cases. I do not know how much you can go over, since I do not intend to. I achieved what I wanted, and the gun cannot take more. It would be abusive. This load is right at it's operating range. Considering all this, accept the post for what it is, gun lore of marginal interest. Repeating this exercise is at your own risk. Yada, yada, yada......sorry I've seen alot of foolish gun behavior lately, and I think it's gotten to me.

 

 

David

 

   The 22 grain load you mention would be hot for the Automag. You are correct in best using it through a T/C Contender. The 325 grain NEI with 16 grains of blue dot seems like an underload. If memory serves me correct, 21 grains of Blue Dot is a proper load for a 325 grainer. 16 would be a 25% reduction. 10% reduction would be more in order, at about 19 grains. If it behaved nastily, it could have been high pressure. It comes to mind only because of an experience I had similiar to this. I did a chronograph test series of the .50 AE and accidentally discovered the following:

 

15.5gr. Blue Dot under 350gr. XTP gave 1020 f/ps

1) Did you check and calibrate your scales/ powder measures?

 

2) Is there any way you got magnum primers in the mix? Blue dot should only be used with standard primers. Magnum primers may not matter much at near maximum loads, but with light loads, they can go berzerk on the powder burn rate.

 

Thanks for sharing by the way.

 

David

 

I'm not really qualified to speak to the handloading issues, but my prior experience in shotshell reloading seemed to indicate that powders had to be really old before burning rate changes could be noticed. The member of the Herc family I used (a lot) was GreenDot, and I eventually changed to W-W powders partly because they were cleaner burning with less residue. I don't know if that is noticed or plays a role in metallic loading or not.