Primer for lil'gun

[jrplourde]

Does Lil'gun require a magnum primer?

My manual are a few years old with no mention of it and I think Lil'gun is fairly recent.

Bob

 

[jrplourde]

Does Lil'gun require a magnum primer?

My manual are a few years old with no mention of it and I think Lil'gun is fairly recent.

Bob

 

[Skip Sackett]

Needed? No. Work better in larger cases? Yes.

 

[jrplourde]

Originally posted by smith crazy:
Needed? No. Work better in larger cases? Yes.

Hi Skip. Was intending to try this powder in 357.

Bob

 

[Erich]

I only use Lil' Gun with magnum primers - and that includes in the .357 Magnum.

Single-digit deviations.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Originally posted by Erich:
I only use Lil' Gun with magnum primers - and that includes in the .357 Magnum.

There you go jr. Erich has spoken!

In all seriousness, I haven't used Lil' Gun in the smaller cases YET. (At least I can't remember doing it!) All of mine has been in the 44mag and 500S&W Mag.

Of course the 500 takes large rifle primers so that makes that a non-issue. In the 44mag though it needs the magnum primer to get the numbers to "settle in" on the chronograph.

Hope this helps.

 

[Paul5388]

The only thing I use Lil'Gun in is .22 Hornet and with just about a case full, I use a small rifle primer. Small pistol and small rifle primers have almost the same energy production, so cup hardness is the major factor, not energy.

 

[jrplourde]

Well enough said. Thanks.

Bob

 

[VAdoublegunner]

I started out using WSPM primers in .357 MAG but found that a standard WSP gave me better SDs for some of my loads. A lot of variables here though, such as barrel length, bullet weight, charge weight, etc. In 45 Colt I just use WLP primers, which are suitable for both standard and magnum loads.

 

[buck460XVR]

I use Lil' Gun in .357, .44 and .460 magnums. All with standard primers.

 

[jrplourde]

Well I guess the proof is in the pudding. Try em both and see what the group and the chrono say while staying at mid loads.

Bob

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I've used Lil'Gun in the .357 Magnum with both Magnum and standard primers. When run over a chrono the SD numbers shrink considerably with Magnum primers.

 

[RedHawk357Mag]

Seeing that there are some folks gathered here that know a little about Lil Gun thought I might ask this question here. I got a lb of this powder a month or two ago when I was passing through a gun shop in Oklahoma. Kinda bought on a whim as remembering reading a little blurb somewhere about it. Been looking for some load data for it but all seems to be jacketed variety. Loading for both 357 Mag and 44 Mag. I test my loads with chrono in 357 RedHawk before letting the 686-4PP take a drink of the same water so to speak. With the 44's I am shooting them out of a 629-4PP. The RedHawk is a pretty solid tester but I still don't care for slurry lead bullets running out of the barrel either lol. Been debating with a SL of 13 grs and 15 grs. Can't seem to make up my mind which way to start. I am working the 357 Mag load first as to get a feel of how this powder reacts as I don't have the RedHawk safety factor in 44 Mag and I would be three kinds of mad if I jacked up that 629. So any thoughts? Anyone been down this road yet? OBTW using Missouri Bullet Co bullets in Match and Action in 357 and #3 Cowboy and Magnum in 44 mag, also got some 240 gr LaserCasts to test with if that might be a better bullet in the 44 Mag Thanks.

 

[Erich]

Redhawk, I'm glad you are trying Lil' Gun, and I think you'll like it. I don't really see a question in there, though. I've been very happy using Lil' Gun under Tennessee Valley Bullets 158-grain LSWCs, but I do find that max loads get me some leading from my carbine even with the TVB hardcasts. (They're really trucking.) I have some TVB gaschecks that I need to load up - FWIW, I'm using the max load published for these.

 

[RedHawk357Mag]

Thanks for the response Erich. What my question is I can't decide what I should start with as a starting LSWC without GCs should be. I have debated starting with 13 grs and 15 grs. Thinking 15 grs will cause the bullets to look like a lead Slurrpy. And then I am not sure 13 grs might be to light and cause issues like dowloading 296/H110. I was reading about those TVB bullets, I think when I run out of these Missouri bullets I might give the TVBs a go. Thanks for the help.

 

[Erich]

Hi Redhawk,

You may have wrote it, but I just am not seeing it: what grain weight of lead .357 bullet are you wanting to use? I've used both 158s and 180s with Lil' Gun. I don't know how seriously to take them (it sounded an awful lot like someone was just applying H-110 info to Lil' Gun, but I've recently read gunrag warnings to not underload Lil' Gun - personally, I don't see any reason to start very low anyway, since the Lil' Gun pressures are so low to begin with. I've never had anything approaching a high-pressure problem with Lil' Gun, though I've always stuck with published load data.

For what it's worth, if you're worried about leading with this powder, you need to consider bullets that don't worry you. Get some gas-checked or jacketed bullets - the deal with Lil' Gun is that it makes them go fast at low pressures. If you want a powder to make your bullets go at slow or moderate speeds, well, this is just the wrong stuff (the same way it would be wrong to try to use Bullseye to achieve super-high velocities).

Interestingly, the 180-grain .357 bullets I've used did better (a lot better in terms of consistency and a bit better in terms of mean velocity) for me from a 3" barrel over a max charge of Blue Dot than with Lil' Gun. (This is one of those rare cases where it's good to have Blue Dot around.) Lil' Gun just absolutely kicks tail out of the carbine barrel, though.

 

[RedHawk357Mag]

Goodness I did leave that key detail out. 158 grs. I have been contacted by another poster saying he has done some experimenting and came up with loads using LSWC 13 grs of Lil Gun with good results. 17.5 gr primer flattens. He has additional info about even hotter loadings which is way outside anything I want to accomplish. I may just get some XTPs or something when the shopping frenzy stops making shelves bare. Again thanks for the help.