Alcan AL-7 and 41Mag

[JonB]

So, I have all these empty 41mag cases and some Saeco 411 SWC (230gr) and I have a bunch of Blue Dot, but I have decided that I will no longer use Blue Dot (see 41 mag reloading) thread.

I do have about 3 lbs of AL-7 that I'd be happy to use loading these in 41 Mag. I am looking for some data.

I have data from Alcan for 357 Mag 158gr. (9.5 gr MAX) and I have some data from Lyman CBHB3 for 44 Mag 215gr (18.7gr MAX).

I wish I had Quickload. Since I don't have Quickload, I did some load data comparison of other powders that that have similar MAX charges and similar starting charges (2400,630,BD,AL-8,HS-7) in 357mag, 44mag, as well as 41mag. When I compare the differences from the three calibers with the above mentioned similar data as well as the AL-7 data I have, I came up with a ballpark Max load of 14gr. and starting load of 11gr for Saeco 411 SWC (230gr) in 41 Mag. BTW, 11.0gr is about 70% of case capacity with the Saeco seated to the crimp groove and COAL=1.695

I am open to comments.

 

[Ian]

Sorry, no Alcan listed in my version of QL. Lyman #45 published in '73 has nothing, neither does the cast #2 manual or Speer #11. I think you'll be just fine extrapolating, you know about how it's going to burn in a straight-wall case and how much should be in there volume-wise, so load up a few at the low end and work up from there.

Lamar or Ric in Yakima have probably shot train carloads of the stuff and will be along shortly with their pet loads....

 

[Ian]

Holy crap, pet loads. I forgot about that. Mr. Waters' data includes 210 Remington JSP @ 1.580", Fed 150 primers, and 11.5 grains as near max @ 1240 fps.

In the text he mentions that "factory lead bullet loads" can be equaled from a 6.5" revolver barrel (1050 fps) with 8 grains of Unique, 8.5 grains SR7625, 9 grains of Herco, 9 grains of SR4756, OR 11 grains of Alcan 7. So there ya go.

 

[JonB]

Ian, that's some good info, thanks.

I loaded a few over the weekend.
10.6gr chrono'd 1140
11.4gr chrono'd 1190
12.3gr I got one chrono reading of 1187(doesn't seem right?) and then I couldn't get another reading, and I only loaded 6 rds that hot.

They were all about the same accuracy, shootin' off-hand at 50 feet, as this wasn't a accuracy test.
The 11.4gr felt about right, recoil-wise in a 6" Mod 57.
I wasn't able to recover any bullets, but I hoped I would, as these are AC-COWW, and I figured I might be pushin' the limit of that.

 

[fiver]

with AL-7 14.5 would be max with a 200gr bullet 13 with a 220
AL-7 is just a click faster than SR-4756 and a touch slower then HS-6
I'm more a fan of AL-5 it is still one of the lowest muzzle flash powders available.