Pistol reloading

[Bookworm]

Hey everyone, I just started reloading pistols and I have a question. There seems to be very little powder compared to reloading rifle shells. Does anyone add some kind of filler to keep the powder at the back/bottom of the shell?

[MHWASH]

There is no need to add a filler. Keep in mind that most of the time you seat pistol bullets way deerer than rifle bullet. The only time I've had trouble was loading light charges with light for caliber bullets ie. Unique and 125s in the .38 special.

[Bookworm]

thanks, I'll give it a try and see what happens.

[high country]

warning! be careful loading slow powders in light quantites.....ex if you want to build a light load with a powder like win 296.....don't. a violent reaction can occur and it is terrible. as bad or worse then fast powders.

[Bookworm]

I just used the minimum load that my book had. Hope that works.

[high country]

it takes a severly underloaded slow powder to get into trouble, anything close to the book ought to be way safe.

[Huntbear]

I was shown the aftermath of an under loaded round.  A guy tried to load low power .44 Spl. loads in a .44 mag. case.  The whole top strap on a Ruger Super Blackhawk was gone, the cylinder had failed, and the guy lost 2 fingers. 

Just be careful when loading low end loads, as long as the load is in the book, and you are using correct components you should be ok.  Myself, I usually start in the middle of the load data and work back and forth till I get the accuracy and the velocity I want.

[12Gauge]

I do not think the low load itself cause this type of gun explosion.  I think that the low load was not strong enough to send the bullet out of the barrel and the shooter was not paying attention and shot another round causing the explosion of the Ruger.

I think it was carelessness and stupidity.

[CP]

The main risk with light loads is a stuck bullet.  And if you don’t notice the next round can be the real problem.

[jeff100]

it takes a severly underloaded slow powder to get into trouble, anything close to the book ought to be way safe.

WRONG!!!!!!!!!

It depends on the powder.  I don't know what you mean by 'slow' powder, as it's all relative. 

One of my favorite powders, Hodgdon H110 (used for hot handgun magnum loads) is one example of powder that is sensitive to light loadings.  Hodgdon recommends AGAINST light loads with this powder as even minor reductions in powder can cause dangerous high pressures.

To the original question about fillers, some people (myself included) use a small amount of dacron fiber as filler to keep the powder against the base of the case.  Some loads with especially fast burning powders pushing all lead bullets require only 2-3 grains of powder or so.  Bullets don't seat THAT deep.  Powder burn rates vary based on the amount of powder surface area exposed when ignition occurs.

A filler can be added to gain reliable ignition and consistent performance.

My opinion based on my experiences.

[Mo]

Some powders are fine enough that a double charge is not obvious.  Like was mentioned earlier some powders like H110 and W296 shouldn't used for reduced loads.

That being said I use 5 grains of Red Dot frequently in rifle cast bullet loads without a filler.  The accuracy is great and over the chronograph the standard deviation is under 10...