Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Talk about your 450b reloading experience, ask questions, etc...

Moderator: MudBug

Forum rules
Please try and keep it safe!

This information is the responsibility of the community, not the forum. 450bushmaster.net is not responsible if you blow yourselves up.

Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby oren87 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:21 am

I've been looking through this forum and was very happy with all the information found. Most if not all the reloading information was developed in the AR platform with a 1:24 Twist; The American rifle has 1:16 Twist, so from my understanding there would be more drag and more pressure.

I've decided to start with the 250 grain FTX .452 bullet over Lil'gun. Start at 36 gr work up .3 gr increments up to 37.8 gr seated at 2.225 COL. Once I find the sweet spot I'll move on to .1 gr increments and seating depth if the magazine allows it.

I'm also curious about the scope position and recoil hopefully it lets me upload a picture :D

Input welcome
Attachments
.450.png
My Ruger
.450.png (113.28 KiB) Viewed 13074 times
oren87
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:14 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Fri Mar 16, 2018 11:55 am

Welcome. I can save ya some powder and wear and tell ya that using Lil Gun, in the Ruger American with the bullet you’re describing, I’ve worked up a load starting at 39.0 grains of Lil Gun. Right now, I’m pretty happy with the 40.0 Grain load with a 0.474” taper crimp using wsr primers and CCI #41 primers. COL is 2.224”
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:03 pm

Here’s my little thumper monkey.
0DF8028E-DE86-4C0F-82B1-201CB1EE6578.jpeg
450BM Thumper Monkey
0DF8028E-DE86-4C0F-82B1-201CB1EE6578.jpeg (1.9 MiB) Viewed 13072 times
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby oren87 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:08 pm

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:Welcome. I can save ya some powder and wear and tell ya that using Lil Gun, in the Ruger American with the bullet you’re describing, I’ve worked up a load starting at 39.0 grains of Lil Gun. Right now, I’m pretty happy with the 40.0 Grain load with a 0.474” taper crimp using wsr primers and CCI #41 primers. COL is 2.224”


Wow, that's really hot from every other reference I have looked at. Have you loaded up to the point where you saw pressure signs or just went until you found the most accurate load? what kind of velocity are you getting with a 40 grain charge?
oren87
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:14 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby oren87 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:11 pm

Texas Sheepdawg wrote:Here’s my little thumper monkey.
0DF8028E-DE86-4C0F-82B1-201CB1EE6578.jpeg


Awesome! have you had anyone get scoped? My dad thought my scope was to far back, but he also stretches his neck out.
oren87
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:14 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby jccinohio » Fri Mar 16, 2018 12:55 pm

I'll be starting the same project soon..

For this gun (Ruger American). Did you happen to measure one of the bullets in the magazine after shooting one? So put one in chamber, one in magazine, shoot one in chamber, and take the one out of the magazine and measure it for overall length? Just wondering if the crimp is strong enough to keep recoil from causing the bullet to creep (in or out).

Texas Sheepdog: I see you have an RCBS press.. One of the reviews for the Hornday dies on MidwayUSA says that the seater die only gets one thread of engagement when set to seat the bullet. Do you have the Hornday set, and does it work ok on your press?
jccinohio
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:46 pm

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby oren87 » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:02 pm

jccinohio wrote:I'll be starting the same project soon..

For this gun (Ruger American). Did you happen to measure one of the bullets in the magazine after shooting one? So put one in chamber, one in magazine, shoot one in chamber, and take the one out of the magazine and measure it for overall length? Just wondering if the crimp is strong enough to keep recoil from causing the bullet to creep (in or out).


Negative, I'm hoping to fire the 1st round this Sunday, weather permitting. So far I've only resized and trimmed a few cases.
oren87
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:14 pm
Location: Iowa

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:31 pm

oren87 wrote:
Texas Sheepdawg wrote:Welcome. I can save ya some powder and wear and tell ya that using Lil Gun, in the Ruger American with the bullet you’re describing, I’ve worked up a load starting at 39.0 grains of Lil Gun. Right now, I’m pretty happy with the 40.0 Grain load with a 0.474” taper crimp using wsr primers and CCI #41 primers. COL is 2.224”


Wow, that's really hot from every other reference I have looked at. Have you loaded up to the point where you saw pressure signs or just went until you found the most accurate load? what kind of velocity are you getting with a 40 grain charge?


Sent a 230 Grain FMJ with the LeGendre side crimp at a powder charge of 44.5 grains out of my 20” 1:16 twist single shot.
2700+ FPS across my Chrony F1. Hit about 8” high. Lots of pressure signs and very difficult to eject. Will NEVER do that load again even in my AR.
40.0 of Lil Gun is plenty and very controllable. I would even say that 39.5 grains is a very acceptable load and showed remarkable accuracy.
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby Texas Sheepdawg » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:37 pm

jccinohio wrote:I'll be starting the same project soon..
Texas Sheepdog: I see you have an RCBS press.. One of the reviews for the Hornday dies on MidwayUSA says that the seater die only gets one thread of engagement when set to seat the bullet. Do you have the Hornday set, and does it work ok on your press?

Nonsense. Utter nonsense. I’ll post pics or make a quick video. The Hornady dies work flawlessly in the Rock Chuckers. Whoever wrote that review either wasn’t using an RCBS or they are incompetent.
-Texas Sheepdawg

http://youtube.com/c/TexasSheepdawg21
NRA Life Member
User avatar
Texas Sheepdawg
 
Posts: 4731
Joined: Fri Nov 05, 2010 10:55 am
Location: North Texas

Re: Reloading for the Ruger American Rifle (Bolt)

Postby jccinohio » Fri Mar 16, 2018 1:43 pm

I figured he was probably doing something wrong, but wanted to ask just to make sure ;)


Texas Sheepdawg wrote:
jccinohio wrote:I'll be starting the same project soon..
Texas Sheepdog: I see you have an RCBS press.. One of the reviews for the Hornday dies on MidwayUSA says that the seater die only gets one thread of engagement when set to seat the bullet. Do you have the Hornday set, and does it work ok on your press?

Nonsense. Utter nonsense. I’ll post pics or make a quick video. The Hornady dies work flawlessly in the Rock Chuckers. Whoever wrote that review either wasn’t using an RCBS or they are incompetent.
jccinohio
 
Posts: 12
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2018 2:46 pm

Next

Return to Reloading for the 450b

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 24 guests

cron