JohnH
01-11-2006, 10:23 PM
Finally got a 375 sizer in and made up a dummy round for my Encore 375 JDJ rifle. Seating the bullet to the base of the neck as is done with jacketed bullets, the lands engrave the bullet for a length of .165" I can seat the bullet deeper, but it is then exposed to the brunt of ignition. I read this is an undesirable condition.
My first trys with the rifle have 6, 10 shot groups with the Lee 379-250-RF. From a clean barrel the first 10 will go into 1" very nicely, makes a nicely rounded group. No weirdness. But by the time the last shot of the 3rd 10 shot group is fired, the group has opened to 3" (50 yards) Bullet is 10 BHN and the twist is 1:12
I decided to get a .375 sizer as I was having some chambering problems and since the groove slugs to .3755, figured sizing to 375 wouldn't hurt and has the possibility of helping. Perhaps. I wonder if the rifling is too fast for the 10 BHN. The leading I get is more a wash than slivers though I do get small flakes from the barrel on cleaning.
I can close the barrel with a tad of effort, but I wonder if a harder bullet is going to make that harder if not impossible. I wonder how a harder bullet is going to act seated below the neck.
Finally I wonder if shooting some jacketed at full pressure through the barrel will help. One can see the tooling marks at the rifling/throat clearly on the bullet of the dummy I made up this evening.
This is a new barrel and the 60 rounds I've fired are the first through the tube. MY inclinatin is to shoot some sized to 375 and made up as my dummy round is. If leading continues, oven harden some boolits and start over. To deep seat or not at that point remains to be seen.
My first trys with the rifle have 6, 10 shot groups with the Lee 379-250-RF. From a clean barrel the first 10 will go into 1" very nicely, makes a nicely rounded group. No weirdness. But by the time the last shot of the 3rd 10 shot group is fired, the group has opened to 3" (50 yards) Bullet is 10 BHN and the twist is 1:12
I decided to get a .375 sizer as I was having some chambering problems and since the groove slugs to .3755, figured sizing to 375 wouldn't hurt and has the possibility of helping. Perhaps. I wonder if the rifling is too fast for the 10 BHN. The leading I get is more a wash than slivers though I do get small flakes from the barrel on cleaning.
I can close the barrel with a tad of effort, but I wonder if a harder bullet is going to make that harder if not impossible. I wonder how a harder bullet is going to act seated below the neck.
Finally I wonder if shooting some jacketed at full pressure through the barrel will help. One can see the tooling marks at the rifling/throat clearly on the bullet of the dummy I made up this evening.
This is a new barrel and the 60 rounds I've fired are the first through the tube. MY inclinatin is to shoot some sized to 375 and made up as my dummy round is. If leading continues, oven harden some boolits and start over. To deep seat or not at that point remains to be seen.