Handloader 363 August-September 2026

About the Cover: A Forster Co-Ax XL reloading press with a benchrest seating die is preparing to seat a 290-grain Peregrine Glider bullet in a Lapua 338 Lapua Magnum case. The press is mounted in an InLine Fabrication Junior Ultramount with the Co-Ax Sidebin System. Alongside a Ruger Precision Rifle chambered in 338 Lapua Magnum with an Athlon Ares 4.5-30x 56mm optic and a Dead Air Nomax 33 suppressor. Photo by Lacey Polacek.

COLUMNS

4 338 Lapua Ruger Precision Rifle Long-Range Loads

Reloader’s Press

Jeremiah Polacek

8 Hodgdon CFE BLK

Propellant Profiles

Rob Behr

10 Smokeless Loads for Black-Powder Rifle Cartridges

Bullets & Brass

Brian Pearce

14 9.5x56mm Mannlicher-Schöenauer

Cartridge Board

Gil Sengel

18 Cimarron 1872 Open Top Navy 44 Special

From the Hip

Brian Pearce

22 Redding’s Hefty New Dies

From the Bench

Art Merrill

24 6mm International

Wildcat Cartridges

Layne Simpson

66 Lawyers, Guns and Money

In Range

Terry Wieland

FEATURES

28 6.5-06 A-Square Long Range Big-Game Loads

An Older Wildcat Capable of Modern Long-Range Performance

Patrick Meitin

36 38-40 Winchester Sixguns

Why the 38-40 Still Earns Respect

Brian Pearce

44 NULA Model 20 Rifle

Testing Vihtavuori Loads for the 308 Winchester

Layne Simpson

50 256 Winchester Magnum

Never a Dull Moment

Terry Wieland

56 Hunting Loads for Vintage 16-Gauge Guns

Breathing New Life Into a 126-Year-Old Shotgun

Gary Lewis