accuracy results from my modified lee mold

[Indiana shooter]

130226

Here's the results of my modified lee 310-430 mold. Shot from 50ish yards from my 7 1/2 in sbh open sight. These were the best 3 groups of my test loads. All shot with 22 gr of 4227. On the left is a hard water dropped alloy. In the middle a medium alloy water dropped, both were heavily crimped in the front grove. On the right is a medium alloy, water dropped heavily crimped in the rear grove. Although it shot about 6 in high it shows great potential.

By the way I know I pulled one no excuse (and I thought I was perfect):grin:

[62chevy]

Off hand or did you use a rest?

[44man]

Go to 296 and a moderate crimp in the lower groove. You found water dropped best. What I have said. Change to a Fed 150 primer too.
4227 is NOT the best powder in the .44.

[Indiana shooter]

[QUOTE Off hand or did you use a rest?[/QUOTE]

I was braced off of a table.

[QUOTE] Go to 296 and a moderate crimp in the lower groove. You found water dropped best. What I have said. Change to a Fed 150 primer too.*
4227 is NOT the best powder in the .44./QUOTE]

I know about the 4227, lots of unburned powder, but it's the only "magnum" pistol powder I can get a steady supply of 'round here. In the past year and a half I haven't seen any 296, I've seen 2 lbs on one occasion of h-110 ans 2400 2 times.

[44man]

[QUOTE Off hand or did you use a rest?

I was braced off of a table.


Go to 296 and a moderate crimp in the lower groove. You found water dropped best. What I have said. Change to a Fed 150 primer too.*
4227 is NOT the best powder in the .44./QUOTE]

I know about the 4227, lots of unburned powder, but it's the only "magnum" pistol powder I can get a steady supply of 'round here. In the past year and a half I haven't seen any 296, I've seen 2 lbs on one occasion of h-110 ans 2400 2 times.
H110 is the same except for lot numbers. 2400 is also better.
Your right group is still very good.

[Bodean98]

IS,
The group on the right looks very promising. It doesn't appear that the short bottom band was a huge issue.
Water dropped eh? I'll have to try that as well and see if it helps my redhawk shoot better.
Does your mold have the left hand thread sprue plate screw? If so, how did you address that? Or was there enough threaded hole to just use the original screw?
I'm thinking you got me convinced to do this and I'm fixin' to take my mold out to a friend and get it dialed in and milled off.
Thanx

[Indiana shooter]

Yes my mold has a left hand thread on the sprue plate. There is a deep hole there but the screw bottomed out on the mold handle. I just cut it down clean with a hacksaw and cleaned up the threads with a wire brush. Went right in without issue.

[44man]

I got good results with a 50-50 alloy but I oven hardened them and also found a PB would give me all kinds of fliers so I used the ones with a GC.
For PB I use straight WW's and water drop. Even works in the BFR 45-70 at over 1600 fps. All my big bores like the .475 and JRH use PB with narrow .080" base bands.
I have decent luck with air cooled except for fliers, just too many. Moving to a GC air cooled showed better groups with annealed checks, don't know why? Maybe softer checks grip the rifling better.
A PB boolit needs to be harder. If you want some expansion, play with the nose alloy and leave the drive bands hard. Hard boolits do NOT cause leading!

[44man]

What I found with the 4227's in the .44, shooting IHMSA is the powder burn changes with gun temperature. With just a little gun heat, the velocity will go up so you will hit lower and lower. Primers also got flatter as I shot. No load work corrected it. I shot a few stupendous 200 meter groups but walking to the target and back let the gun cool and I shot slow, not the 5 shots in two minutes for competition.
Watch primers! I found the .44 loves a standard primer with any powder and after a thousand tests, the standard cut groups by 2/3's every time, even at -20*.
A mag primer in the .44 tends to move out your boolit before ignition. The case is too small for the additional primer pressure.

[Bodean98]

IS,
Can you give me a description of your medium alloy. I have been useing approx. 96/2/2. That is determined from the alloy calculator found on this site.
I also noticed the best group was seated out to the second crimp groove. I have done some tests on my redhawk and have found MUCH better accuracy from boolits seated farther out.
I plan on modifying my mold this weekend and trying to get some boolits cast to try. I did want to try and duplicate your boolits as closely as possible(if that's not a problem). I'll try some air cooled vs. water dropped and see how much of a difference there is.

[taco650]

IS,
Can you give me a description of your medium alloy. I have been useing approx. 96/2/2. That is determined from the alloy calculator found on this site.
I also noticed the best group was seated out to the second crimp groove. I have done some tests on my redhawk and have found MUCH better accuracy from boolits seated farther out.
I plan on modifying my mold this weekend and trying to get some boolits cast to try. I did want to try and duplicate your boolits as closely as possible(if that's not a problem). I'll try some air cooled vs. water dropped and see how much of a difference there is.

Seating out further would lessen pressure a tad and thus the boolit might have a smoother start down the barrel. Does this sound right?

As 44man said, H110/296 are the same animal for reloading purposes. Just don't try to load down with them-they like to on the max end of the scale. I found 17.5-18 are about as low as I can go and get decent accuracy. If I go higher, the accuracy gets better.

If I could find some, I'd also try AA#9. Not quite as slow as 296 but meters just as good. Does anyone have experience with Blue Dot and this boolit?

[Indiana shooter]

Bodean, I'll try to help you out as much as I can but bear in mind that I have really just started casting myself.

What I am calling my medium alloy is aprox 3 lbs of soft lead (one of my cupcake sized ingots) mixed with a 3 1/2-4 foot piece of plumbing solder that my research has told me was 95% tin 5% antimony. The thickness of the solder is about that a pencil lead. I have no idea what the ratio is or what the bhn comes out to but when it cures (if thats the right word) I cannot scratch it with my thumb nail, but if I use a penny I can just use a bit of downforce and lightly scrape off some of tbe surface. I hope that helps you out, probably not though.

[Duster340]

Nice groups IS. Is that a gas check bullet?
Thanks

[Indiana shooter]

Duster, it was until we milled down the mold to remove the gc. I was attracted to the design of the boolit but did not want to use a gc.

[44man]

I shoot a lot of PB but still use the GC on the Lee. I hesitate to shorten mine so has anyone just removed the GC step by opening it? The boolit has proven to be too accurate and a great deer killer for me to mess with.

[303Guy]

I've been looking at my Lee 180 311 mold and wondering whether to open out the GC shank. The mold produces jaggard trailing edges so I'm thinking of a small chamfer to keep the jaggard edges away from the trailing edge. I would be using it as a paper patch core as I only have 303's to use it in.

[Bodean98]

IS,
I understand absolutely about being a beginner! Have you tried the alloy calculator? It is a very helpful tool. It won't give exact numbers because so much about the alloys is a guess but it's pretty close. I put together a mix of 20# COWW with 8# soft lead and added 1/2# of 95/5 solder. This, according to the calculator, will make 2+% tin, 2+% antimony, a smidgeon of arsenic and 95+% lead with an estimated BHN of 11.2.(Those numbers ore from memory). Definitely not exact amounts but can be repeated if necessary. Not saying this is THE alloy, but from reading seemed a logical place to start. I just tested mine with a fingernail. I can mark it with hard pressure. Mine are air cooled though and you water dropped yours. Yours should be harder.
Perhaps a couple of us noobs can do some experimenting and learn some from each other with the help of some of the more seasoned gurus that are here.
I have spent months lurking here and reading, and reading, and reading! There is so much info about this to try and fit into my pea brain that I sometimes get a headache. Now 44man has installed an idea in my head that I might try first before milling off the gas check seat!

[taco650]

I've been looking at my Lee 180 311 mold and wondering whether to open out the GC shank. The mold produces jaggard trailing edges so I'm thinking of a small chamfer to keep the jaggard edges away from the trailing edge. I would be using it as a paper patch core as I only have 303's to use it in.

Why not get this to replace it?
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/562844/lee-2-cavity-bullet-mold-c312-185-1r-303-british-312-diameter-185-grain-1-ogive-radius-gas-check?cm_vc=ProductFinding

[JohnH]

Duster, it was until we milled down the mold to remove the gc. I was attracted to the design of the boolit but did not want to use a gc. I'm curious what yours' weighs. I did the same thing to this mold the better part of ten years ago and have thoroughly enjoyed the boolit. It weighs right at 250 grains, (varies according to alloy) and shoots like a house afire out of every 44 I've tried it in including a couple of 44 Specials. This is my go to boolit for loading saboted 50 caliber muzzle loaders and I've taken two deer with it from two different muzzleloaders. I've shot at least 3 maybe 4 (my memory SUCKS!) from a 44 Magnum Handi rifle. I've a great load using 18 grains of WC820 (a milsurp AA#9 doppleganger) for my Contender. I've not taken that to the woods yet, don't trust my first shot abilities. So, as I've said, I have really enjoyed my modified Lee 310. I know they watch this site, and over the years quite a few people have done this with complete satisfaction, not sure why they don't bring out a copy. But then it never made sense to me that neither Winchester nor Marlin brought out a 357 Maximum lever, and that Winchester completely surrendered the 1872 reproduction market to Uberti. Anyhow, what's yours' weigh?

[Indiana shooter]

John, my bullets come out to 253-258gr depending on alloy.

[Indiana shooter]

Bodean, hopefully we'll get this figured out before to long.

My first attempt at casting was short lived. I had purchased a lee 240 gr tumble lube mold and , instead of reading directions, I listened to my grandpa. He used to cast back in the 70's I think. Anyway, he had told me to place the mold on the un-melted lead and turn the stove on high as it'll go. Then walk away and come back 20 min later and start casting. Needless to say no one taught him what to do.

The results from my first casting session yielded boolits that were .427 on one side and .434 on the other. During that session I also lost both of my alignment pins and made some really funky looking things. :oops:

I did just order another 310-430 mold today, I am planning to have that one milled down about 100 thousands. You know at 26 bucks after shipping I can afford to play a bit. I was actually going to try to cast some boolits with dead soft lead, wrap 'em in a sabot and see how they'll shoot out of my smoke pole.

[taco650]

IS,

Your grandpa probably was using cast iron molds when he cast and they are a different animal than the AL molds Lee sells. Did you ever repair the 240gr TL mold?

[Duster340]

Duster, it was until we milled down the mold to remove the gc. I was attracted to the design of the boolit but did not want to use a gc.
Hey thanks IS. I was wondering about that myself. Now u got me thinking. ...

[Bodean98]

IS,
LOL! My story is very similar. Tried casting years ago for economy's sake. Found a Lee pot, bought a Lee 255 gr. SWC mold, and had 5 gal. buckets of WW's (I worked at a tire shop). Internet where I live was a thing of science fiction still and the only info I found was from gun rags. I cast something resembling boolits and shot them in my redhawk. Lube? Whats that? They were absolutely terrible. I pursued it no further until now. I recently took some of those I originally cast and loaded to see if they were as bad as I remembered. YUP they are. I couldn't keep a cylinder full on a paper plate @ 25 yds. I still have the pot, mold, and a lot of the lead and dug it out of it's storage and started up again. Hopefully armed with info gleaned from here I may see success. I have already witnessed a marked improvement in my redhawk with the 255gr. and I am very hopefull/excited about the modified 310 gr. boolit.

[taco650]

IS,
LOL! My story is very similar. Tried casting years ago for economy's sake. Found a Lee pot, bought a Lee 255 gr. SWC mold, and had 5 gal. buckets of WW's (I worked at a tire shop). Internet where I live was a thing of science fiction still and the only info I found was from gun rags. I cast something resembling boolits and shot them in my redhawk. Lube? Whats that? They were absolutely terrible. I pursued it no further until now. I recently took some of those I originally cast and loaded to see if they were as bad as I remembered. YUP they are. I couldn't keep a cylinder full on a paper plate @ 25 yds. I still have the pot, mold, and a lot of the lead and dug it out of it's storage and started up again. Hopefully armed with info gleaned from here I may see success. I have already witnessed a marked improvement in my redhawk with the 255gr. and I am very hopefull/excited about the modified 310 gr. boolit.

At least you were smart enough to have onto the equipment. About 25 years ago, I borrowed a coworkers RCBS melting pot, Lyman sizer/lubricator and Lyman 357 Keith mold and cast up a coffee can of WW's I had collected. I don't remember the quality of the boolits but I sized them and shot them. At the time it seemed like a lot of work and I was still enamored with j-words so I gave it all back to him. He had become bored with the casting thing and was willing to sell it all to me for cheap. Needless to say, I still kick myself for not buying all of it. Lesson learned.

[Indiana shooter]

Taco, I got the alignment pins to stay put by drilling and tapping a 1/4-20 set screw behind them. The mold, however, still cast oval boolits. I have cleaned the mold face and lubed the pins, when I close the mold I cannot see any light, guess I just warped it pretty bad.

The only way I can get them boolits to shoot without tumbling is to use dead soft lead with a stout load. Lots of leading but at least they didn't tumble.

[taco650]

Taco, I got the alignment pins to stay put by drilling and tapping a 1/4-20 set screw behind them. The mold, however, still cast oval boolits. I have cleaned the mold face and lubed the pins, when I close the mold I cannot see any light, guess I just warped it pretty bad.

The only way I can get them boolits to shoot without tumbling is to use dead soft lead with a stout load. Lots of leading but at least they didn't tumble.

Can't size them straight?

[Indiana shooter]

Don't know, I have a sizer on its way from midway. Like I said I'm just getting started, so I don't have a lot of equipment yet. Just 2 molds a bowl for tumble lubing, a ladle, single burner camping stove, and a cast iron skillet.

My next purchase will be a pot just don't know what yet, I am thinking about a lee bottom pour but I don't know.

[taco650]

IS,

You're just a little ways behind me with your casting. My current casting set up is similar to yours. I've purchases two Lee push through sizers (.430 & .314) and picked up a used Lyman 450 last year and just got my first die/top punch set for it (.310). I've also done some pan lubing. I'll eventually pick up a Lee 4-20 pot but with my daughter going off to college this summer, $$$ will be tight for a while. This hobby is addictive LOL!

[Indiana shooter]

Addicting indeed. I find myself falling back in love with my .44. In the past year I've literally burned through 4 lbs of powder. That's about the same amount that I've used since I got the gun 8 years ago. Shooting jacketed bullets was just to expensive for a lot of plinking.

[Bodean98]

IS,
I got my mold modified yesterday and actually had time to sit down and cast a few. I stopped cutting at .110". .100 wouldn't get all of the GC area removed from my mold. The bottom driving band is .085 to .090 measured with calipers. The old feller who was helping me relies quite a bit on "eyeball" measurements, but from my measurments it seems he got it reasonably flat and square. My boolits have a tiny bit of finning at the sprue plate. I'll have to adjust this when time allows. I WDed and ACed about 50 of each. They weighed consistenty 260 gr. Got them lubed and sized to .432. Gonna let them set and age harden untill next weekend before testing. I also got several of the 255 gr. ready for testing.
I took several pictures but cannot seem to get them off of my phone. I'll post some when I can get them on my computer.
+1 about the addiction!!! The old Lee pot I mentioned earlier is rusted, bent, dented and only "sorta" works. I have recently purchased a 20# bottom pour Lee pot and hooked up a PID to control the temp. I am up to 4 molds now and, like others have mentioned, I have almost bought a mold for a caliber that I don't even have! I have loob splatters all over the kitchen. My wife thinks I have lost it (my mind) again. JEESH!

[Indiana shooter]

.110 thousands, I'll have to keep that number in mind. I, like you, wanted my boolit to weigh around 265gr. I should get my other mold and my boolit sizer Tuesday so I'll be up and running this weekend. All I gotta find now is some h 110 or 296, my LGS said they had a powder shipment coming in Wednesday with hodgon powder on it. We'll see.

[44man]

I would get a Lee 20# production pot and a Lyman ladle. I solved the drip o matic by using a tapered plug in the hole. Never made a good boolit from the bottom anyway. Casting things since sinkers as a kid, about 68,69 years, I never got the expertise to use the bottom.
Watch mold temps if boolits are far out of round, too hot is usually the reason unless the mold is cut badly.
I never tried to cut the GC area from a mold but I have removed a BB, mostly by hand, don't know how to center blocks perfect in the mill or lathe. The BB boolits without the bevel shot so much better.
I would love to buy a mold without a GC for the 310 but I am trying to gather some coin for a PID. I need one to get my busted Lyman pot working. Then I can make a mold if needed and I might have to one day but old and retired brings the lazies on real fast. I waste too much time talking here! Been putting off doing taxes for weeks, why we old farts have to even do them is stupid, I need to buy a sombrero! :bigsmyl2:

[Bodean98]

IS,
Got a few pics of my efforts.
131003Here is the mold after milling, clean up/deburring, and assembly.
131004A comparison of the booits.
131005Weight. The weights were pretty consistent. Just a few 10ths of a grain above or below 260 gr.
131006This is a different boolit but is a comparison of the difference between WD and AC of the alloy I'm using. These were placed butt to butt in a vise and squeezed against one another. They were fresh cast as well.

A tip about the Lee sizers. Mine benefitted greatly from polishing the inside. It was so rough inside that the boolits would strip off lead before I polished it and I had a lot of different sized boolits. I also increased the size of mine to .432 to fit my revolver. It works much better now.
As for powder, I think I'll try the blue dot. Mainly because I have most of a pound container left over from my last casting experience. It was made by Hercules if that gives any indication of it's age. Price on the container is $13.75!! Ahh the good old days.
44man,
PIDs are pretty inexpensive if you shop around a bit on e-bay. I got everything I needed for less than $40. They are pretty simple to hook up and they really work well at keeping your melt temp consistent.

[44man]

IS,
Got a few pics of my efforts.
131003Here is the mold after milling, clean up/deburring, and assembly.
131004A comparison of the booits.
131005Weight. The weights were pretty consistent. Just a few 10ths of a grain above or below 260 gr.
131006This is a different boolit but is a comparison of the difference between WD and AC of the alloy I'm using. These were placed butt to butt in a vise and squeezed against one another. They were fresh cast as well.

A tip about the Lee sizers. Mine benefitted greatly from polishing the inside. It was so rough inside that the boolits would strip off lead before I polished it and I had a lot of different sized boolits. I also increased the size of mine to .432 to fit my revolver. It works much better now.
As for powder, I think I'll try the blue dot. Mainly because I have most of a pound container left over from my last casting experience. It was made by Hercules if that gives any indication of it's age. Price on the container is $13.75!! Ahh the good old days.
44man,
PIDs are pretty inexpensive if you shop around a bit on e-bay. I got everything I needed for less than $40. They are pretty simple to hook up and they really work well at keeping your melt temp consistent.
One of our members here makes a good one. I have no problems casting but the Lyman has a failed thermostat, hate to toss it. I believe it is from 1951 or 53! No more parts, the lady at Lyman laughed at me.

[Indiana shooter]

Bodean, how did you polish the sizer? I ordered the same one but in reality I'll need a .431, a thou isn't that much so I was hoping I could figure out a way to make it what I want.

And only taking off .110 did you need to cut the sprue screw?

[Bodean98]

IS,
To polish the sizer I cut a slot in a 1/4" dowel and wrapped 400 grit emery cloth around it to fit the bored hole. I chucked it in a drill and with some cutting oil on the emery run the dowel in and out of the sizer hole. For resizing the hole I used 180 grit paper the same way but went very gently and slowly. I checked the diameter several times by running an oversized boolit through it and then measuring the resized slug.The steel is fairly soft and it doesn't take a whole lot to open it up. Polish after resizing the hole.
Yes I had to shorten the sprue plate screw to get it to tighten down.

[Indiana shooter]

Got ya, thanks.

That was close to what I had planned, just didn't know if it would work. My idea was steel wool and a a piece of aluminum round stock.

[44man]

Got ya, thanks.

That was close to what I had planned, just didn't know if it would work. My idea was steel wool and a a piece of aluminum round stock.
Steel wool will not work very well. You can get ripples. The slotted rod is best and make a tight fit with the abrasive paper. You don't want a "flap" sander. It can work but will take much longer.

[Bodean98]

Right on 44man. I wasn't very clear on that.
I "fit" the paper to the hole to where I could just feel a slight resistence when it went through the tight part of the sizer. I wasn't brave enough to go bigger. While resizing or polishing I spun the dowel in a drill while oscillating it in and out of the hole. When sizing I only gave it a few strokes and then measured until I got the size I wanted. Takes a little time yes but it's awfull hard to put the metal back in that little hole.:shock: I think a flap type sander would cause ripples as well. I have experience with those while polishing steel and it's pretty easy to over do it with one. Again I wasn't brave enough to go that route.
Yesterday was a snow/sick day for me. Didn't go to work so I decided to get some loads assembled. Decided on using a light (for Blue Dot) charge of 14 gr. Loaded up 12 of each WD and AC. Hopefully have some decent weather this weekend to test them! Work sure does get in the way of the fun stuff.

[44man]

You did good! Always need to check so you don't remove too much metal.

[Bodean98]

IS,
Thought I would check in and see if you got your mold and sizer.
It looks like foul weather here tomorrow and I might not be able to test my loads. Decided to load some more @ 15 gr. of blue dot to test as well.


Here are a few pics of my "boys"
131511
131512
131513

[Indiana shooter]

Never did get my mold and sizer. We've been hit pretty hard with snow and cold this past week, pert near shut the city down. (But I still had to go to work) as a matter of fact it's freezing rain out there as I type this. UPS finally tried to deliver my stuff Friday morning but I work nights and after working over 74 hours in 5 days, well... I wasn't gonna get up. Should be here Monday.

I've been trying different ways of lubing my boolits. I tried one of the homemade mixes I found on here last night. It was my first attempt at pan lubing, they turned out so so. The mix I used was 50/50 Vaseline and paraffin wax with 2 tablespoons of stp gas treatment.

Have fun, be safe and keep me posted on how those things shoot for ya.

[Shuz]

Bodean98 and IS--Your boolits look just like mine, which I have dubbed the Lee 270M(M for modified). Try 8.3 to 9g of Green Dot with this boolit. I'm sure you'll both like the results.--Shuz

[Bodean98]

Weather turned out pretty nice here yesterday and got to get in some trigger time in the afternoon.
Was able to test the loads I had with the modified Lee mold and blue dot. Nothing exceptional but 1 was not too bad.
131677This is 14 gr. blue dot with the air cooled boolit. Approx.950 FPS. Virtually no leading. The flier appears to have keyholed. I have not a clue as to what caused it.
131678This is 15 gr. blue dot with the air cooled boolit. Approx. 1050 FPS. Had some very slight streaking of lead in the grooves.
131679This is 14 gr. of blue dot with the water dropped boolit. This gave slight leading on the tops of the lands.
131680This is 15 gr. blue dot with the water dropped boolit. This gave slight leading on the lands as well.

These were all fired from 25 yards across a bench with sandbags using a 6:00 hold. The dot is 3" for group size comparison. Recoil was stiff but not brutal. It's more than I want for a target/plinking round. I think I'll try some H110 loads with this boolit next. These would still be hotter than I want but would be great for hunting I would think.
The Green Dot load mentioned above intrigues me as well. What is the velocity of your loads? I don't have green dot but could possibly come up with a comparable load.
I was of course hoping for better results with the blue dot.

[Indiana shooter]

I don't really have any actual data on my load so I used the next highest weight that I could find. My best guess is around 1300 fps. As far as a plinking load goes I use 7 1/2 gr of unique, scary light recoil and accuracy is okay. Honestly I have never shot that load on paper but I bounce a can every shot out to about 50 yrds, good 'nuff for plinking.

[Bodean98]

I was just reading your other thread. Got me to thinking about trying different loob before switching powders. Groups like 44man posted are impossible to ignore! Looks like I have a ways to go!
Perhaps I'll whip up a batch of FWFL and try the same loads with the blue dot again only changing the loob.

[Indiana shooter]

I saw that as well, think I'm gonna look that on up as well

[Bodean98]

IS,
Have you made any progress?
I did get a batch of FWFL made up. Got some boolits re-loobed and loaded. I am ready to test again. Crappy foul weather here again though. Freezing rain and snow now.:mad:

[Indiana shooter]

Bodean, I have worked up a couple of lubes and found some h 110. I'm gonna shoot as soon as I can get back to the range. Last I checked it was still snowed in but I'm gonna try again in the morn. I'll keep ya posted.

[44man]

I have not shot since deer season! Here in the eastern pan handle of WV, I have never seen snow on the ground last more then a few days. We had rain and ice form on top of it and it stays. I don't know if I can get down to my range. Friends don't want to shoot either.
Today we are supposed to get rain, sleet and snow.
At least it is better then mud we get when it warms, hate to wash my dogs feet all the time.

[62chevy]

I have not shot since deer season! Here in the eastern pan handle of WV, I have never seen snow on the ground last more then a few days. We had rain and ice form on top of it and it stays. I don't know if I can get down to my range. Friends don't want to shoot either.
Today we are supposed to get rain, sleet and snow.
At least it is better then mud we get when it warms, hate to wash my dogs feet all the time.

I don't get it the first winter after moving here from Michigan right up till January it stayed in the 70s. Even after that it was mild. You get tired of all that ice and snow and the older I get the quicker it sets in.

[Indiana shooter]

132659

This is at 55 yrds using 22.5 gr of h 110. Shot open sight once again no sandbag just braced off a table. My boolits weigh in at an average of 255 gr and sized to .431. I used a home made lube that consists of a 60/40 mix of paraffin and Vaseline with about 3 tablespoons of Johnson paist wax and 2 tablespoon of stp oil treatment. I had NO leading. It may not be the best group but it's about as good as I can do without optics.

[Bodean98]

IS,
You are more brave than I am. I don't trust my shooting enough to go without resting the barrel on bags.
I have gotten way behind in testing loads because of the weather. I am testing some other boolits as well. I loaded up the last of my modified Lee boolits last weekend. I'm going to stay @ 25 yds. with the 14gr. blue dot load, changing only the loob. Hopefully this weekend will be nicer for shooting.
I also need to cast some more but the weather affects that as well. I'm not going to cast in the house and I don't have a protected outdoor area either.
The loob I was using was 1# beeswax, 1# lard, and 6oz. vaseline. It's more of a black powder type lube I think. There was a lot of it left in the chambers when I was done shooting. I got a small amount of leading but nothing like when I used LLA. Anxious to try the Felix Lube.
My loading/shooting is confined to weekends because I work on the road. Gone all week at work. When I get weathered out it really irritates me!

[Indiana shooter]

Bodean, I completely understand about the weather. It cost me an arm and a leg to drive my truck to work and the range. This morn I was dragging the bottom of my car on ice/snow going down the gravel road to the range.

As far as not using a bag to rest on, I believe if you plan on using the gun to hunt with you should practice supported but not rested. I found this out the hard way back when I had a scope on my blackhawk. I became very good with it and could easily hit a can at 150 yards. When I finally had a chance on a doe at about 60 yards I found that without the sandbag I couldn't hold the weight of the gun and scope steady during my release of the trigger. Long story short, gut shot, long tracking job, no deer.

[Bodean98]

IS,
I practice off hand and in situations that might be encountered in hunting. For the load testing though, I'm not confident enough in my shooting to rule out "me". I figure to get a decent shooting load and then get rid of the bench and sandbags for some real practice. It's the same way I work with my rifles. Figured it would work with a handgun also.

[taco650]

132659

This is at 55 yrds using 22.5 gr of h 110. Shot open sight once again no sandbag just braced off a table. My boolits weigh in at an average of 255 gr and sized to .431. I used a home made lube that consists of a 60/40 mix of paraffin and Vaseline with about 3 tablespoons of Johnson paist wax and 2 tablespoon of stp oil treatment. I had NO leading. It may not be the best group but it's about as good as I can do without optics.


Bodean, I completely understand about the weather. It cost me an arm and a leg to drive my truck to work and the range. This morn I was dragging the bottom of my car on ice/snow going down the gravel road to the range.

As far as not using a bag to rest on, I believe if you plan on using the gun to hunt with you should practice supported but not rested. I found this out the hard way back when I had a scope on my blackhawk. I became very good with it and could easily hit a can at 150 yards. When I finally had a chance on a doe at about 60 yards I found that without the sandbag I couldn't hold the weight of the gun and scope steady during my release of the trigger. Long story short, gut shot, long tracking job, no deer.

IMO, those groups look very promising. I like your lube recipe too, will have to try it. I also agree with your practicing ideas. Shooting off a rest CAN give you a false sense of security.

[Indiana shooter]

Bodean, I must not do something right when I use a sandbag, for whatever reason with a rifle my groups open. I'm assuming it has something to do with inconsistent cheek placement on the stock. With a handgun I like to leave in the human factor just because a perfectly tuned load will not do you any good if you can't shoot it. When I had a scope on my blackhawk I had a great load using 2400 but the excessive flash made me flinch hard off the bag. It's odd that I'm not recoil sensitive but that flash got me every time.

Thanks taco, I may have to put my scope back on and shoot from a bag just to see what my group really is.

[44man]

Paraffin and all the oils do not make a good lube. You need to stay away from slippery stuff. A primer can move a boolit too soon. Cast has very little friction to start with.
I have drawers full of lubes and all have been tested, some work great in a rifle but fail big time in a revolver.
Beeswax and lanolin provide more grip when used in a lube.
You don't want a hard lube either, try for sticky.

[Indiana shooter]

44man,I'll try the beeswax soon enough. A friend's family does bee keeping. He's going to go visit them in a few weeks and said he'll bring me back a lot. As soon as he does (and I find our what lanolin is and where I can get it) I'll try to make some of that felix lube. I see you and he were friends, sorry for your loss.

[44man]

44man,I'll try the beeswax soon enough. A friend's family does bee keeping. He's going to go visit them in a few weeks and said he'll bring me back a lot. As soon as he does (and I find our what lanolin is and where I can get it) I'll try to make some of that felix lube. I see you and he were friends, sorry for your loss.
Go to From Nature With Love or Majestic Mountain Sage. You can buy pure lanolin by the pound pretty cheap. I once got a 2# jug for $12.
Felix explained his health problems to me and told me to keep it under my hat. It was still a shock.
He will be missed.