I shot my bent boolits !

[superior]

I fired off all 10 of my barely seated 303's this afternoon so I could reload them again only with the Lee cTL312-160-2r's seated deeper in the cases. I set up a computer generated printer paper target consisting of white paper with a black circle of about 4 inches. 2 foot long pieces of 2x4 with nails in them held the target upright against a white cardboard box. There was about 8 inches between the boards that I had to work with. At 55 yards I sat in the truck and aimed Maffia style out the window with the rifle in the left barricade position tucked in my hand between the side mirror and the door frame. One by on I touched off the funny looking rounds( some of them looked bent lol). As I approached the target about 10 yards away, I was still unable to see any holes in the target. One hole in the black circle appeared to have been made by a nail or other sharp object. Then at 5 yards I looked the the left of the black circle where the paper met the edge of the 2x4. OH- MY- GODDDDDDD! A semi-cicle of wood the size of half a fifty-cent piece was gone out of the wood and the other part of the circle was on the paper, making a complete circle of holes about the size of a half dollar! Could this be true? I didnt think these boolits would work in my 18.5 inch bbl enfield but now I'm a believer! My load was 16.5 gr 2400 at 3.08 oal with the boolit 2 thousandths off the lands. I've already reloaded them with 18gr 2400 and seated the boolits deeper. They appear to have no runout now. I need a new front sight because mine is loose in the dove-tail without shimming I made from popcan material. I think I'll visit my local gunsmith tomorrow. Anyway I couldn't be happier with the accuracy and compatability of the 312-160 and my carbine. I still am ordering a heavy boolit mold for elk but in the mean time I have an excellent target load and with some homemade soft noses, I'm sure it will take a western Oregon Blacktail.
I wonder what velocity I'll be hitting with 18 gr of 2400? How about 21 grains? :twisted::twisted:

[dk17hmr]

Sounds like you have an accurate rifle on your hands.

Try peaning the dovetail over a bit. Take a Ball Pean Hammer and tap the top of the dovetail cut down. I have done that on a few of my rifles and it helps, it makes the cut tighter and holds the sight tighter.

[dubber123]

You can also use a sharp punch to raise a bit of metal at the bottom of the dovetail. This forces the front sight up tight against the dovetail, and works well too.

[Bloodman14]

Outstanding! Try Lee's C312-185. It's a longer bullet, and may help eliminate some of the 'jump'.

Lead Forever!