[BD]

My brother recently sent me a few 250 grain LFNs to try in my Dan Wesson. In looking at this bullet I'm noticing that it seats pretty far out there leaving about an additional 1.55" of case capacity beyond any other design I've used. I'm interested in this bullet for longer range shooting out beyond 100 yards and I'm wondering if anyone here has any advice on H110 or (preferably) WC820 loads to get me started. If this works out, my next question will be "who will cut me a mold"?

 

[Chief RID]

Welcome to the forum BD. I can't help but ther are many here who can. I garrantee you asked the question in the right place. Good to have you aboard.

 

[MikeG]

BD, when working up loads with cast bullets and especially those designs which have a long nose, one very important factor is how much case capacity the bullet is taking up.

In this case I believe that the bullet leaves about the same amount of powder space as the 180 gr. jacketed.  Your loads are going to probably end up being between the standard loads for 240gr and 180 gr. jacketed bullets.

You really need to check the velocities with a chrono as you work up - this will give a good indication of what's going on.  Should easily outrun the 240 gr. jacketed bullets, and will likely take several more grains of powder just to equal 240gr. jacketed velocities.

Make sense?  Check Loadswap.com for other people's data, and work up carefully.  Unfortunately I have not yet used this bullet so can't offer specific data.

Hope this helps.

 

[BD]

Thanks for the replies. While I do have a chrony, I don't have any reference data for the 180 gr. or 240 grain jacketed bullets in this revolver. In fact this DW has never seen a jacketed bullet. I've been shooting the 260 gr. WFN and the Lee 310. I'm looking at the 250 LFN for something which might group to a longer range. Unfortunately I only have a dozen of these on hand to try, so I was hoping for a recommendation of a "middle of the road load" to see how they fly. The only load for this bullet in loadswap uses AA#5 in a rifle. This is a faster powder than I had in mind (or have on hand). The idea of starting between the book loads for the 180 and the 240 jacketed seems like a good one and lacking a more specific reference I'll go with it.

 

[MikeG]

BD, if I wanted to just try a few, I'd go from any 240 gr. data that had been previously used in that gun (whether jacketed or cast).

If the 250's take up less powder space than say, a 240 gr. cast you should be in good shape to use the same data.  This is assuming that you have shot some 240's in your gun, that being a popular weight.  What have you used in your gun?

With 12 bullets I'd probably load 6 each at two different powder charges to see what happens.  

 

[BD]

I've shot a fair number of 240 grain Carrol SWCs over 24 grains of H110 in the DW. The 250 LFNs give a full .2" more case capacity then the Carrols. The load this gun has seen the most of is 21.5 grains of WC820 pushing the 260 grain WFN for about 1350 fps. This is an excellant load to 100 yards but it falls apart in a serious way over 150 yards.  Headstamp sent me an LBT file on this bullet today. I'll open it tonight and see what I learn.

 

[James Gates]

We were working with the BTB 250 gr LFN GC last spring and found it to be an excellent bullet for the Ruger SBH and The Marlin 1894P. Unlike some cast bullets, it feeds well in the Marlin.
Many of us still like to use a velocity around 1200/1300 fps with 250 gr bullets in the handguns. With this in mind we load 14.5 grs of AA5 for avg 1281 fps for 7 1/2" and avg 1450 fps out of 16 1/2" barrels. AA5 is extra claen at this loading.
It is true that the shallow seating depth does reduce velocity (and pressure), However you can use any load data for cast 250 grs (like #429421), check velocity and pressure signs, and then work up.
I think this is an overlooked bullet in the BTB lineup. We loke it and have put down some large hogs with the above loading.
Best Regards, James