Too much engraving?

[DeanWinchester]

How much is too much engraving when seating a boolit?

I'm playing with a cartridge/ boolit combo that have NO business being together. That's never stopped me before. :bigsmyl2:


When seating a 500g plain base Lee (spitzer-ish) boolit into a .454 Casull case, I can seat it as deep as it will go before I get to the thicker part of the brass; when I load that I to my Handi rifle, it will close with a light but sharp snap shut. Extraction is easy as can be but I have rifling engraved for about .300 long. Obviously, this would kill any accuracy potential by loading and unloading by chewing up the boolit, but my question is, can one have too much boolit engraved?

btw, this is another one of my backwards attempts at goofing off.
I can get 5.0g of Trail Boss in there with no compression. Oughta be a hoot!


I figure this might be a real fun way to get rid of a particular lot of soft lead I have. I wasn't planning on using it for anything else, so........

[Tatume]

My muzzle loading bullet guns (as opposed to round ball guns) engrave the entire bullet.

[DeanWinchester]

Ha, Too true!!

[flounderman]

I'm not sure which end the old schuttzen shooters inserted the bullet from but at one time I am told they inserted the bullet before the case. They may have shoved it down the barrel. The only thing I have seen about seating the bullet into the rifling, it tends to raise pressures because the bullet is stuck instead of being able to move ahead. A lot of variables here, size of the bullet in relation to the bore size, hardness, speed of the powder. It shouldn't hurt the accuracy once you develop the right load, it could improve it. Fast powder and soft lead could mushroom the base. just speculation.

[Tatume]

Schuetzen competitors typically load the bullet into the throat from the breech end using a tool to hold the bullet as it is firmly inserted into the rifling. The tool fit the chamber so the bullet would be concentric with the bore. A primed and charged case was then inserted behind the bullet.

However, Harry Pope shot some of his best targets by chambering the charged and primed case, and then loading the bullet from the muzzle, as in a muzzle loading rifle.

So long as powder charges are appropriate, engaging the rifling with cast bullets prior to ignition is not dangerous. It can often result in the best accuracy. The disadvantage is that bullets may be partially or fully pulled if the cartridge is extracted without firing.

[imashooter2]

That is my thought. Too much rifling is engraved when removing an unshot cartridge pulls the boolit.

[Wayne Smith]

That is my thought. Too much rifling is engraved when removing an unshot cartridge pulls the boolit.

Exactly! If the engraving 'chews up the boolit' when unchambering then only unchamber by firing!

[DeanWinchester]

I'm thinking now......uhhohhh!!!


I'm thinking about milling off the bottom driving band and lube groove on this one. I love the profile but it's really sucking up case capacity.
It falls from the mold .4585 so sizing it back to .454 makes a very clean and round boolit. Also, the second driving band is pretty healthy. I think I can face mill the mold down to shorten the boolit and then deepen my spru plate hole to match. Don't know how much it'll weigh, I think I will cut a cast boolit down first and see what it weighs in at.

It'd still be engraving the same but give me a LOT more case capacity. I'd really like to be able to get around 8.0-10.0g of Trail Boss in there.

Thoughts?

[Tatume]

Hi Dean,

I’m supposing you’re using the Lee DC 459-500-3R mold. My question is, why not just get an appropriate mold for the cartridge? Of course, I know the answer is that you want to experiment with heavy rifle bullets in your Handi-Rifle. But you can still have a lot of fun sizing down and loading the Lee 457-405-F bullet. For $20 how can you go wrong?

Take care, Tom

[DeanWinchester]

Hi Dean,

I’m supposing you’re using the Lee DC 459-500-3R mold. My question is, why not just get an appropriate mold for the cartridge? Of course, I know the answer is that you want to experiment with heavy rifle bullets in your Handi-Rifle. But you can still have a lot of fun sizing down and loading the Lee 457-405-F bullet. For $20 how can you go wrong?

Take care, Tom



I already have 'The load' which is 23.0g of 296 under an Accurate 45-340L. Shoots incredible.

Now, I'm goofing off.

[dudel]

I'm thinking now......uhhohhh!!!


I'm thinking about milling off the bottom driving band and lube groove on this one. I love the profile but it's really sucking up case capacity.
It falls from the mold .4585 so sizing it back to .454 makes a very clean and round boolit. Also, the second driving band is pretty healthy. I think I can face mill the mold down to shorten the boolit and then deepen my spru plate hole to match. Don't know how much it'll weigh, I think I will cut a cast boolit down first and see what it weighs in at.

It'd still be engraving the same but give me a LOT more case capacity. I'd really like to be able to get around 8.0-10.0g of Trail Boss in there.

Thoughts?


Sounds like a lot of mod work when there are plenty of less fluffy powders out there. Any particular reason for Trail Boss?

Other than to make this load difficult?:kidding:

[DeanWinchester]

Difficult? Gonna have to disagree with you dudel. Trail Boss may be the best powder ever made (except Holy Black) for loading things that probably shouldn't be loaded.
I'm sure there are exceptions but for the most part, you can run as much or as little Trail Boss as you like, the two rules being, Enough so you don't get a squib, Not so much as you compress it. Except for Holy Black I've never seen another propellant where no data is needed.


Besides, it's not in my nature to walk on a smooth trail.