Handloader Ammunition Reloading Journal October 2011 Issue Number 274 May 2026

He set the die in the press. The first case slid in with a soft squeak . The primer seated with a satisfying crush . The powder measure dropped its charge like dark, fine sand.

“Dear Editor,” it read. “For twenty years, I used my father’s data for the .44 Mag. 240-grain Sierra over 21.5 grains of 2400. Last month, that load keyholed at 25 yards. My new chronograph shows pressure signs he never had. Is the powder different? Or have I just forgotten how to listen to the brass?” He set the die in the press

He pulled out his notebook—the green one with the spiral binding, coffee-stained and dog-eared. He turned past ten years of loads, past the deer he never shot, past the prairie dogs he never missed. On a fresh page, he wrote: The powder measure dropped its charge like dark, fine sand