Best/Safest way to take a live manufactured bullet apart

[daisygordoninc]

I want to examine the amount of powder that Hornady uses in their 444 Marlin 265gr FTX.
Does anyone know what powder they actually use or is it a secret? What is the safest way
to take the bullet out to measure the powder?

[Pete44ru]

.

AFAIK, Hornady's powder is proprietary (secret).

There are 3 ways to remove a projectile from it's cartridgecase:

1) Fire it out

2) Pull it out (presumably using a collet bullet puller) - the projectile may be damaged

3) Remove it using inertia (special tool, below - about $15), which will not damage the projectile.






.

[1894cfan]

I use the RCBS collet type bullet puller with little to no damage to the projectile. When I want to put it back together I resize and flare the case, dump the powder back in, seat and crimp the bullet, more often than not with the Lee FCD. HTH

[Hawkeye2]

I hope that you are only curious as to what the factory charge weighs and what the powder looks like. Attempting to duplicate a factory load by weighting the charge and guessing as to what the powder is based on appearance or what someone tells you is a recipe for disaster. There are plenty of manuals out there that will tell you how to duplicate a factory load safely. Stay safe my friend.

[AJMD429]

I hope that you are only curious as to what the factory charge weighs and what the powder looks like. Attempting to duplicate a factory load by weighting the charge and guessing as to what the powder is based on appearance or what someone tells you is a recipe for disaster. There are plenty of manuals out there that will tell you how to duplicate a factory load safely. Stay safe my friend.

+1

However, the 'inertia' pullers work pretty well on a heavy-bulleted round like 444 Marlin. Trying to use one on military-crimped 223's can be a real chore though...!

[daisygordoninc]

Thanks, no I will not guess on the powder type, I was curious about the weight however,
It was 46.3 gr. That's pretty much a full load with most powders listed in Hornady for
that case. I have not fired the gun much but have noticed that it seems to be a pretty
stout load with those FTX cartridges.

[Pete44ru]

.

It takes more than a pretty/pointed boolit to get a flatter trajectory.

A healthy charge of the proper propellant, that results in a higher velocity, is a strong portion of the solution.

The FTX boolit is Hornady's solution for safety when using pointed boolits in tube magazine rifles.

.

[Blaine]

Directly copied from the Hodgdon Site about LEVERevolution powder....

***Hodgdon® Powder Company and Hornady® Manufacturing have teamed together to answer the frequently asked reloading question; "Can I buy the powder used in Hornady LEVERevolution factory ammunition?" Yes, this is the same spherical propellant used in Hornady's innovative and award winning high performance factory ammunition. This fabulous propellant meters flawlessly and makes lever action cartridges like the 30-30 Winchester yield velocities in excess of 100 fps over any published handloads, with even greater gains over factory ammunition. Other cartridges include the 35 Remington, 308 Marlin Express, 338 Marlin Express and the 25-35 Winchester. The list of cartridges and bullets is limited with this highly specialized powder, but where it works, it really works!***

I was sure this was the case, but wanted to quote the makers....

[AJMD429]

I read a couple years ago that the "LeveRevolution" powder released for reloaderre was the '30-30' mix and that the 444 Marlin was loaded with a different, yet-to-be-released mix; then I read that 'SuperPerformamce' was the big-bore mix, and the one to use in 444 or 45-70...but if that were true, Hornady would surely list it in their reload data for the 444, which I don't see....http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

Anyone know whether LeveRevolution really is the one to use for 444 Marlin...?

Just browsing and found AmmoGuide lists LeveRevolution loads for these 12 cartridges, but NOT the 444...

1. .223 Remington (5.56mm NATO)
2. 6.5 Grendel
3. 6.5x47mm Lapua
4. .30 Remington AR
5. .30-30 Winchester
6. .300 Remington SAUM
7. .308 Marlin Express
8. .308 Winchester (7.62mm NATO)
9. .338 Federal
10. .338 Marlin Express
11. 9.3x62mm Mauser
12. .375 Ruger

Kinda interesting to see the 375 Ruger on the list though...

[Blaine]

I read a couple years ago that the "LeveRevolution" powder released for reloaderre was the '30-30' mix and that the 444 Marlin was loaded with a different, yet-to-be-released mix; then I read that 'SuperPerformamce' was the big-bore mix, and the one to use in 444 or 45-70...but if that were true, Hornady would surely list it in their reload data for the 444, which I don't see....http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

Anyone know whether LeveRevolution really is the one to use for 444 Marlin...?

Just browsing and found AmmoGuide lists LeveRevolution loads for these 12 cartridges, but NOT the 444...

1. .223 Remington (5.56mm NATO)
2. 6.5 Grendel
3. 6.5x47mm Lapua
4. .30 Remington AR
5. .30-30 Winchester
6. .300 Remington SAUM
7. .308 Marlin Express
8. .308 Winchester (7.62mm NATO)
9. .338 Federal
10. .338 Marlin Express
11. 9.3x62mm Mauser
12. .375 Ruger

Kinda interesting to see the 375 Ruger on the list though...

I saw what Hornady called LeverEvolution ammo for the .444....did I jump to conclusions? I'm probably wrong, but I thought (oops, there I go thinking again ) that if the name of the powder was used for the ammo....Oh, well....

[AJMD429]

I read a couple years ago that the "LeveRevolution" powder released for reloaderre was the '30-30' mix and that the 444 Marlin was loaded with a different, yet-to-be-released mix; then I read that 'SuperPerformamce' was the big-bore mix, and the one to use in 444 or 45-70...but if that were true, Hornady would surely list it in their reload data for the 444, which I don't see....http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/rifle

Anyone know whether LeveRevolution really is the one to use for 444 Marlin...?

Just browsing and found AmmoGuide lists LeveRevolution loads for these 12 cartridges, but NOT the 444...

1. .223 Remington (5.56mm NATO)
2. 6.5 Grendel
3. 6.5x47mm Lapua
4. .30 Remington AR
5. .30-30 Winchester
6. .300 Remington SAUM
7. .308 Marlin Express
8. .308 Winchester (7.62mm NATO)
9. .338 Federal
10. .338 Marlin Express
11. 9.3x62mm Mauser
12. .375 Ruger

Kinda interesting to see the 375 Ruger on the list though...

I saw what Hornady called LeverEvolution ammo for the .444....did I jump to conclusions? I'm probably wrong, but I thought (oops, there I go thinking again ) that if the name of the powder was used for the ammo....Oh, well....

I couldn't even find "LeveRevolution" on Hodgon's website load data for the 444 Marlin (link in my post)...
All these new (for me, that means post-1980 or so ) powders confuse me anyway...