Share your .327 Federal Mag load data

[Sevens]

I am not familiar with that bullet, but if it is a cast lead slug -- it should have some manner of a crimp groove? Being that these are launched from a revolver, COAL is typically not a big issue.

I think your starting load of 6.5gr of 800X under a 90gr cast bullet is a fine place to start, and if they print well and don't cause grief in your barrel, I would probably advance the load (depending on what you're looking for...)

I have a lonely can of 800X but I cannot stand trying to run it through my Lyman 55 measure, so it just sits in the corner and gets ignored.

Make sure you are using small rifle primers with your loads.

 

[FrankenMauser]

For those of you that cast, or have considered casting for your .32s....

NOE has an active group buy for a hollow base wadcutter designed for .32 S&W Long and .32 H&R (and .327 Federal). The hollow base version is designed to drop at 90 gr; and the solid (flat base) at 100 gr.


We need a few more interested parties to sign up (four, to be specific), before the molds will be cut.

Info here:
315-90-WC (HB)

Currently, NOE only plans to offer RG molds with extra pins for flat base bullets. There will be 2-cavity and 4-cavity blocks available, in aluminum and brass.
1, 3, 5, and non-RG blocks are not planned for the run.

If you're interested, join the NOE forum and post what you want in the group buy thread.


I know this isn't where you might typically find a post like this, but I figured it was my best shot at drumming up a little more interest. I'd really like to get my 2-Cav before Christmas.

 

[Real Gun]

A word of caution that bullets for 32 don't necessarily fit 327 Federal Magnum. I stopped trying with Missouris; intended for 32-20, I believe; and went to Penn to get a slightly shorter ogive when crimping as far into the groove as possible.. The MO bullets will be fine in my 32 H&R. The longer bullet prevented the Single Seven cylinder from rotating. The SP101 double action was okay.

 

[Sevens]

I can tell you that Xtreme plated 123gr .311" rifle bullets intended for the 7.62x39 work awfully well in my .327 Federal chambered Ruger GP-100!

More testing upcoming. Will report back.

 

[FrankenMauser]

A word of caution that bullets for 32 don't necessarily fit 327 Federal Magnum. I stopped trying with Missouris; intended for 32-20, I believe; and went to Penn to get a slightly shorter ogive when crimping as far into the groove as possible.. The MO bullets will be fine in my 32 H&R. The longer bullet prevented the Single Seven cylinder from rotating. The SP101 double action was okay.

Interesting.

I don't know what the Single Seven cylinder length is, but mine measure:
GP100: 1.610"
Blackhawk: 1.635"


...Which means I can run a COAL of up to 1.655" without worrying about it causing problems in either revolver (with 0.010" of bullet creep allowed).

I also don't know exactly what the SP101 cylinder length is, but anything that Crankylove or I have loaded has had plenty of room to spare in his SP101.

(COAL includes a nominal rim thickness of 0.055" that is in addition to cylinder length.)

 

[Sevens]

I should upload a picture of the Xtreme 123gr loaded in to my GP-100 at 1.598" COAL. They look... different.

 

[Real Gun]

Quote:

A word of caution that bullets for 32 don't necessarily fit 327 Federal Magnum. I stopped trying with Missouris; intended for 32-20, I believe; and went to Penn to get a slightly shorter ogive when crimping as far into the groove as possible.. The MO bullets will be fine in my 32 H&R. The longer bullet prevented the Single Seven cylinder from rotating. The SP101 double action was okay.

Interesting.

I don't know what the Single Seven cylinder length is, but mine measure:
GP100: 1.610"
Blackhawk: 1.635"


...Which means I can run a COAL of up to 1.655" without worrying about it causing problems in either revolver (with 0.010" of bullet creep allowed).

I also don't know exactly what the SP101 cylinder length is, but anything that Crankylove or I have loaded has had plenty of room to spare in his SP101.

(COAL includes a nominal rim thickness of 0.055" that is in addition to cylinder length.)

The problem seemed to be the chamber length and the bullet hitting the throat ledge. COL was not what I mentioned. The cylinder binding was at the case head.

I am aware that the statement "interesting" really means baloney or worse, but this was a real problem.

 

[FrankenMauser]

The problem seemed to be the chamber length and the bullet hitting the throat ledge. COL was not what I mentioned. The cylinder binding was at the case head.

Understood, with the clarification.

I am aware that the statement "interesting" really means baloney or worse, but this was a real problem.

I really meant it at face value:
in·ter·est·ing
ˈint(ə)rəstiNG/
-adjective
--arousing curiosity or interest; holding or catching the attention

 

[Sevens]

Another update to the above load...
I built 50 more of those and then I also built 14 rounds each of 10.6gr and 11.2gr AA#9 and I chrono'd all three loads and then I once again (for the 3rd time in two different sessions) chrono'd the 10.0gr loads.

I saw very little increase in velocity with the 10.6 and 11.2gr loads and the 10.0gr loads showed very consistent numbers through the traps.

In NONE of the loads did I see any manner of excess pressure, no extraction/ejection issues and although I think "reading primers" is WAY overblown, especially in internet discussion forums, it is still relevant and I saw no discernible difference across the three different loads.

I found that the 10.0gr load does a fantastic job of whacking an 8" steel gong at 100 yards and I plan to go forth with this new pet load.

There certainly could be a better propellant than the one I chose (Accurate#9) and I am sure that a lot more work could develop safe loads taking this Xtreme .311" (7.62x39) FP plated rifle slug to higher velocities than the ~1,200 fps that I am running, but for simple steel plate shooting, this is a fantastic and fun new load for me to play with.

In the event you may not have been aware...
Xtreme shows these selling for $46.48 per 500 count box right now. The fantastic Hornady 85 and 100 grain XTP slugs are great bullets but they run about $19 per 100 before tax.

I'm planning to build a LOT of these and when the weather turns cold and I'm forced to shoot indoors for a few months, I will put these rounds to the test for accuracy. Indoors with no wind, consistent light and paper targets, it is a pretty good environment for accuracy testing, even if it's not nearly as much fun.

 

[FrankenMauser]

Just so that the information is all in one place (and since I can't edit my previous post), I figured I'd add this here:

Ruger LCR .327 Federal Magnum cylinder length is 1.550".

Edited to add:
SP-101: 1.575"
GP-100: 1.610"
Blackhawk: 1.635"
Single Seven: 1.455"
Taurus 327 (2"): ~1.563"
S&W 632: ~1.575"
Charter Arms Patriot Target (4"): 1.580"
I'll keep adding cylinder length in this post until I am no longer able to edit.


And, Sevens... You know I have not been opposed to the 7.62x39mm bullets in the past, but you may have finally talked me into trying some of the Xtreme plated bullets. They may not work in the LCR (I'll still try ), but they should still be fun in the GP-100 and Blackhawk.

As always, thanks for the data.

 

[Real Gun]

I am wondering about that Xtreme bullet for 7.62x19. In order to achieve the necessary COL, and in using a heavier than normal weight, is the bullet seated deeply enough to cause concern for what is already a high pressure cartridge? Seems like this would be the last caliber for reloaders to be messing with. I say that and have myself substituted lead bullets in a cartridge supported mostly by jacketed bullet data and one magazine article (Handloader).

 

[skizzums]

very cool your able to run x39 bullets. that would be interesting to see the ballistics from the "tipped" rounds available, although jacketed rounds may be pushing it with the diameter of only .310. 1200fps may be enough for the small bulets to get some expansion though, might be a good hunting choice.

maybe these would be okay
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/17643

 

[Sevens]

Let's see if we can get some visuals.
Having some issues with the second pic, but here is a side by side with a 100gr Hornady XTP.

The Xtreme rifle slug is 23 grains heavier than the XTP but as the picture helps to point out -- that extra mass is NOT eating crucial space inside the cartridge case. And while that is certainly quite a bit more mass than the 85 and 100gr slugs, it's not exactly a lot more weight than the 115gr factory Gold Dot load.

As I am using it in a revolver, my limitations are obvious and not difficult to work with.

 

[Sevens]

Here is how they look when loaded up and ready to roll:

As you can very easily see, there is not much extra room to play with and one of my earliest concerns was any manner of bullet jump under recoil. These slugs are NOT cannelured, they have no manner of a crimp groove in any way.

I have run them at FIVE different charge weights (using just the one powder) and I settled on one load in the middle. I have sent 100 of these down range and not one has shown any forward creep under recoil. So in my (limited, early) experience-- it is an issue to be well aware of, but it has been no roadblock whatsoever.

 

[Sevens]

I am wondering about that Xtreme bullet for 7.62x19. In order to achieve the necessary COL, and in using a heavier than normal weight, is the bullet seated deeply enough to cause concern for what is already a high pressure cartridge? Seems like this would be the last caliber for reloaders to be messing with.

To the first part of the question, I say no -- without doing mathematical volume calculations, I went in to this task with the goal of NOT reducing the combustion space inside the case and I hope the first photo shows that I did that fairly well. I encourage anyone to replicate it and do the math to either contest or support it. While I love the knowledge base and chase it, the practical use is my goal and I am only one step short of my end goal already: a new pet load. To achieve that goal, I need to put them on paper and build a round count of many hundreds before I will personally call it a success.

To the second question, I will again say no, and for a couple reasons. Better examples of a cartridge "on the edge" might be (IMO) the 9mm, .40 S&W and the 5.7x28. The key here is internal space combined with an already high pressure -and- the naturally violent and chaotic environment of a self-loading semi-auto pistol where the rounds are naturally abused as part of the process.

Furthermore...
This entire thread was conceived because of the utter dearth of quality sources of published, professionally and lab-developed load data. As we have chosen to play with a somewhat obscure fringe cartridge, we are extremely limited if we choose to avoid experimenting.

Me? I would NOT recommend the things we do in this thread to novice handloaders. But this entire discussion isn't directed at them.

 

[Sevens]

very cool your able to run x39 bullets. that would be interesting to see the ballistics from the "tipped" rounds available, although jacketed rounds may be pushing it with the diameter of only .310. 1200fps may be enough for the small bulets to get some expansion though, might be a good hunting choice.

I can tell you that while the question sounds interesting... I will never have those answers. I pretty much don't hunt at all except for an annual varmint hunt that is done between 100-300 yards.

However, "tipped" and premium rifle slugs are definitely not on my radar for the .327 Federal because my goal was never to find & use a rifle bullet, my goal was a plated or jacketed slug that would allow me to run decent velocity and discontinue the use of cast lead, all the while -NOT- going anywhere near the cost of the XTP or Sierra pistol bullets. A tipped premium rifle bullet is probably going to exceed the cost of the otherwise perfectly capable pistol bullets.

My testing so far has been limited to only a hundred rounds and not even ONE shot on paper to get an idea of potential accuracy. I have been slapping steel plates at both short handgun range and rested rifle ranges -- at this, I am thus far quite pleased and I am salivating at the prospect of attempting to shoot small groups on paper.

For that, I know from experience that the Hornady XTP bullets work extremely well. What I am hoping for is that I can do as well (or better) for fully less than -HALF- the cost.

(Just for the sake of info, I am not a cast lead bullet hater, quite the contrary, so it makes sense to detail why I want to get away from them in .327 Federal. First reason is because I shoot on indoor ranges for about a quarter of the year and like most, mine does NOT allow cast lead. And the other reason is particular to my revolver-- the previous owner had it Mag-Na-Ported and I do see lead coming from my ports and I am not a fan of that. But the revolver was a good buy, I've enjoyed it and I can't change that, so that's where I'm at.

 

[Sevens]

They may not work in the LCR (I'll still try ), but they should still be fun in the GP-100 and Blackhawk.

As always, thanks for the data.

Heck, if you replicate them and experiment with different powders and platforms and return to discuss the results, that is WAY more than thanks enough. It seems that factory support for the .327 is hardly different here in 2015 than it was back whenever we started goofing with it. I think it was '09 or maybe 2010 for me.

It really seems like the collective "WE" are the world's leading source for load data and ideas for handloading and experimenting with .327 Federal.

 

[FrankenMauser]

very cool your able to run x39 bullets. that would be interesting to see the ballistics from the "tipped" rounds available, although jacketed rounds may be pushing it with the diameter of only .310. 1200fps may be enough for the small bulets to get some expansion though, might be a good hunting choice.

maybe these would be okay
https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...roductId/17643

While Sevens simply doesn't want to mess with the idea, I bow out because I've dealt with too much of the "rifle bullet" / "handgun bullet" crossover in the past, and quite a bit of it in just the last couple of years. Being on the edge of bullet failure (to expand) is a crappy place to find yourself.

I even dropped a nice chunk of change to build the .475 Tremor, so that I could stop worrying about expansion velocities in .458 SOCOM. (I'm sure you've seen me mention it before, but .475 Tremor is .458 SOCOM necked up to take advantage of .475 Linebaugh and .480 Ruger "handgun" bullets, rather than dealing with overly-tough rifle bullets. And those .475 bullets happen to be designed for the velocity window the Tremor produces. )

In my opinion, 1,200 fps simply won't get the job done with the average .30 caliber "rifle" bullet. And, since most varmint bullets still tend to fragment at low velocity, if they expand at all, they're not a good choice either.

For hunting, as much as it hurts me to say it in this forum, I carry the 100 gr American Eagle factory load or Speer 115 gr Gold Dot factory load. In the future, I plan to work up a load using my various NOE 314-316 115 gr FP molds (actually 122 gr) or the hollow point version of that bullet. But, until then, I'm satisfied with the performance that I've seen from the factory loads. (In wood, wet-pack, water, mud, and dead animals. ...Haven't shot a live animal.)

I have seventeen trillion other load and/or bullet development tasks that come before the 314-316, anyway....
I mean, come on ....I still haven't tested some .327 Federal Meister 115 gr loads that I put together 4 years ago!

I'm getting there, though. I'm very slowly establishing "go-to" loads for each firearm (rifles, in particular), with alternates where necessary. Once the important stuff is taken care of, I can turn my attention to the .327s. It's just a little bit of a slow process, since 4 of the current projects are wildcats and most of the other cartridges don't often get loaded the way I do things (obscure bullets, uncommon powders, long COALs...). Plus, there are two more kids in the house, multiple unfinished rifle builds, and a new project car in the garage.

 

[Sevens]

Arrrrgh!
I had posted two images...
First one was my odd-looking new round sitting next to a round capped with the familiar 100gr XTP.

When I uploaded the second picture showing the charged cylinder -- it wiped out my first picture.

I'm apparently better at building goofy rounds than I am with posting pictures.

 

[JayCee]

I did some load development work for the 327 Fed Mag SP101 over the last couple of weeks. So far, I’ve only worked with the Hornady 100 grain XTP. Here are the results:

CFE Pistol

I started at 6.7 grains and worked up to the maximum load shown on the Hodgdon website, 7.0 grains. Accuracy at 6.7 grains was quite good, but seemed to drop off at 7.0 grains. 7.0 grains produced an average velocity of 1344 fps and a standard deviation of 23. I continued to experience sticky extraction on all the CFE Pistol loads I’ve tried, so I’m beginning to think that CFE Pistol may not be the best powder for the 327, at least in the Ruger SP101.

W-296

The Hodgdon website shows a range of from 12.2 to 13.2 grains of 296 with the Hornady 100 grain XTP. I started at 12.8 and went up to 13.0 grains. The latter load was the most consistent of all the loads I tested, with an average velocity of 1245 fps and a standard deviation of 11. There were no pressure signs and no problems with case extraction. The Hodgdon website shows velocities between 1419 and 1525 fps for W296/H110 out of a 5 inch barrel, which seems really optimistic, since my loads were almost 200 fps slower out of the SP101’s 4 inch barrel. 13.0 grains of W296 produced the tightest group:



Alliant 2400

Alliant hasn’t published any data that I could find on the 327 magnum. I was able to find two other sources that showed 10.0 to 11.5 grains of 2400, so to stay on the safe side, I started (and ended) with 10.8 grains. Average velocity was 1227 fps, with a standard deviation of 24. The 2400 load produced a huge muzzle flash, visible even in bright sunlight. There were no pressure signs and no problems with extraction. The group was reasonably tight:



For economical shooting, I've ordered some Berry's plated 71 grain .312 bullets, along with a taper crimp seater die. I'll probably go with HP38, Bullseye and possibly Unique for some lighter plinking loads.

The 327 Fed Mag is a fun round to play around with, and the SP101 seems to me to be the ideal revolver for the round. Even with the heaviest loads, recoil is mild, and it's easy to get back on target for follow up shots. It appears very loud, however, so I'm using both plugs and muffs.