Obscure Rounds

[Johsens]

I have inherited a bunch of reloading stuff and among it are some obscure (at least to me) cartridges and I am wondering if they are worth keeping and looking for guns to feed them to or should I just forget about it and send them to one of you ( not gonna happen anytime soon).

1) 218 Bee
2)22-3000
and the 6mm BBcaps. Can I shoot these out of my .22 revolvers?

There also are several rounds of 9mm that are labeled specifically to be fired only out of a 9mm Firestar (I do not own a single 9mm, not a single one!) any ideas?

I have boxes and boxes of .44 mag reloads that are marked 2.5 grains 296 (is this only a Winchester powder?) with 300grain JSP and these reloads are noted to be used ONLY in a Redhawk. I do not own a Redhawk, can I shoot them out of my S&W 629 safely?

[versifier]

Welcome to Gunloads.

The .218 Bee is a round that is still quite popular among handloaders. Dies and brass for it are still available, but I am not sure if it is still loaded by the factories. It is quite similar to the .22Hornet, but the rounds are not interchangable. At one time, it was THE lever action varmint round, but it has been eclipsed by the Hornet, KHornet, .222, .223, etc. Notwithstanding, it was and is an excellent medium range varmint round that was limited in its day more by the lever actions chambered for it. In recent years it has enjoyed continued popularity in single shots like the T/C Condender and Encore.

The .22-3000 is a name given to one of the many .22 wildcats based on the .250Savage (aka the .250-3000). Remington eventually standardized one into the round known today as the .22-250. Exactly what, if any, the dimensional differences are between your dies and the now standard cartridge can only be determined by using cerrosafe to make a "chamber cast" of the FL sizer die and comparing micrometer measurements of what comes out to the now standard dimensions of the modern cartridge. You don't say what brand the dies are, but it is possible you might be able to get more information direct from the manufacturer if they are still in business. RCBS for instance still makes custom dies for an incredible number of strange wildcats and may even have a specific listing for yours. They may be of interest to a collector.

No clue about the 6mm BBcaps, except if they are 6mm, they won't chamber in any .22.

I suspect the 9mm rounds were loaded to a specific length to feed and function in a specific pistol. If they were loaded within safe specs, they may be safe to fire, but....

Personally I would never shoot handloads from an unknown source. "Inherited" can have a number of different meanings these days. If the loader was a relative and you have access to his loading notes along with the dies and ammo to determine the specifics about them then they might be safe to shoot. Otherwise the bullets should be pulled and reloaded with safe charges of a known powder.

As to the .44mags, are you sure you read the charge correctly? 296/H110 is a common powder for the round, but STARTING load for that bullet is19.8gr(Lyman) to a MAX of 20.7gr. Something is NOT RIGHT HERE. Strip a round and weigh the charge. If there is only 2.5gr in those cases, you run a very real risk of getting a bullet stuck in your barrel and if you don't realize it, the next round could easily blow the revolver. OTOH, if you misplaced the decimal point, the load is way OVER MAX for most revolvers, even one as strong as the RedHawk. I would not even think about shooting them. To be safe, either way I would pull them all and reload them, working the load up for your m29 as you normally would. At the prices of bullets these days it would be well worth the labor involved.

Better safe than sorry.

[kodiak1]

Them 44's if you are sure they have the powder stated pull a few and weigh the powder charges.
If you do not know really really well the person that loaded them use the powder for fertilizer and new powder charge that you know and reuse the bullets.
A pound of powder in the grass is better than a hand mutilated.

Ken.

[Johsens]

Versifier,
I am a long ways from shooting anything I inherited, if I ever do shoot it. The .44 mag info was taken from my sons notes as I read off the box, so it could have been lost in the translation.

I am interested in the 22-3000 as I have a bunch of factory loads as well as a bunch of brass and bullets and might like to get something to feed it to. Same for the .218 Bee. I only have a box of the 6mm BBcaps and no need to use them.

Unfortunately the only notes I have are on the boxes of reloads, and some of the boxes have no notes.

The 9mm does not interest me. I was just wondering about the Firestar thing. It is only 10 rounds of ammo so it doesn't really matter one way or the other.

[Johsens]

I just went out to the shooting shed and the correct powder charge is 20.5 gr. My son just transcribed it incorrectly. Even so, that is a great deal hotter than I am prepared to shoot out of my S&W. I will probably just pull the bullets and re-load them with a smaller charge. All of my loading manuals state the max to be under 20 gr. Regardless, I am not into self-punishment and my boys are too young to be shooting really hot loads like that (even if I did have a Redhawk, which I don't).

[300winmag]

you should have no trouble with the 629. I have the 629 8 3/8, I load 16.7gr.2400 1125fps 300gr.hornady xtp must use tight crimp. I have much better accuracy with the alliant 2400 than with the win 296 IMHO I think the 2400 is much cleaner.

[EthanAllen]

I was looking at some 10mm weapons, why aren't these too popular? Anyone own a 10mm that could shed light and enlighten me?

[Johsens]

Sorry to get back to this after so much time, but here's where I am. I pulled all of the .44 mag and I have set aside the .45 ACP to be pulled when I get around to it as I don't currently have a gun to shoot it from, this last I did not mention before for that reason but a friend of mine has a Ruger revolver he was willing to try a few rounds in and it is indeed a really hot load that he would not shoot in his automatics. So I now have about 1000 rounds of this to pull and use the powder for fertilizer. I also have several hundred rounds of .38 Special that shoots pretty nice in my .357 Magnum GP100. Since I can't afford any new guns right now I will set aside the .218 bee and 22-3000 until I can.