KirkD
10-04-2010, 03:44 PM
I don't have a lot of rifles, and many of you will have much more experience than I in this area, but over the past several years, I've owned a few different rifles, mostly vintage Winchesters, and developed good loads for them. Off the top of my head, I've developed good loads for the following, using cast bullets:
One 45-90
Five 45-70's
Two 45-60's
Four 38-55's
Three 44-40's
Two 30-30's
Three 32-20's
One 25-20
Two 38-40's
What I have found is the following:
1. For jacketed bullets, good loads developed by others are often good loads for me, though I've only tried jacketed bullets in a few of my guns.
2. For gas check bullets, good loads developed by others are quite often fine for me as well.
3. For plain base cast bullets, good loads developed by others are usually not so great for my rifles.
Bottom Line: For plain base, cast bullets, I find that each individual gun has its preferences. There are too many variables including ...
1. alloy hardness
2. groove diameter vs. bullet diameter
3. throat diameter and depth
4. possible pitting for some rifles
... to expect that a good, accurate load developed by someone else will be a good, accurate load in my own rifle.
I'm sure I'm not saying anything new here, but I don't pay any attention anymore to other's good loads, except if they are for a powder/cartridge/bullet I have not tried yet, in which case the info is useful for figuring out what my starting load will be.
Added:
Practical Application: Again, this is probably well known to 95% of the members of this board, but for the other 5%, I really can't see any alternative, when one wants a good Cast PB load for his rifle, but to try a variety of powders and weights and maybe even bullets, to find one or two that give real good accuracy. This is time consuming, but very enjoyable. So for those who might naively ask for a good load and then think you've got it, it just might not work for you. I've seen some fellows trade or sell a rifle with a perfect bore, because they tried one or two 'good loads' and they were not very accurate. I'm of the belief that if it has anything half way decent of a bore, even if there is quite a bit of light pitting and the rifling is half worn down, a fellow can still find a nice accurate load if he is willing to do considerable experimenting. The worst bore I ever had was a '73 44-40 with a moonscape pitted bore and rifling so worn that it was hard to see in places. With quite a bit of experimenting, I was able to get 3 & 1/2" five-shot groups at 100 yards with it. That taught me a lesson ..... if a corroded, seriously badly pitted, sewer pipe of a bore like that can give half decent accuracy, then anything remotely close to a nice bore (assuming the throat doesn't have some sort of weird dimensions) can be coaxed to give good accuracy if one is willing to put some serious work into load development for that particular rifle, rather than relying upon a load that might be a tack driver for someone else, but mediocre for your particular rifle.
One 45-90
Five 45-70's
Two 45-60's
Four 38-55's
Three 44-40's
Two 30-30's
Three 32-20's
One 25-20
Two 38-40's
What I have found is the following:
1. For jacketed bullets, good loads developed by others are often good loads for me, though I've only tried jacketed bullets in a few of my guns.
2. For gas check bullets, good loads developed by others are quite often fine for me as well.
3. For plain base cast bullets, good loads developed by others are usually not so great for my rifles.
Bottom Line: For plain base, cast bullets, I find that each individual gun has its preferences. There are too many variables including ...
1. alloy hardness
2. groove diameter vs. bullet diameter
3. throat diameter and depth
4. possible pitting for some rifles
... to expect that a good, accurate load developed by someone else will be a good, accurate load in my own rifle.
I'm sure I'm not saying anything new here, but I don't pay any attention anymore to other's good loads, except if they are for a powder/cartridge/bullet I have not tried yet, in which case the info is useful for figuring out what my starting load will be.
Added:
Practical Application: Again, this is probably well known to 95% of the members of this board, but for the other 5%, I really can't see any alternative, when one wants a good Cast PB load for his rifle, but to try a variety of powders and weights and maybe even bullets, to find one or two that give real good accuracy. This is time consuming, but very enjoyable. So for those who might naively ask for a good load and then think you've got it, it just might not work for you. I've seen some fellows trade or sell a rifle with a perfect bore, because they tried one or two 'good loads' and they were not very accurate. I'm of the belief that if it has anything half way decent of a bore, even if there is quite a bit of light pitting and the rifling is half worn down, a fellow can still find a nice accurate load if he is willing to do considerable experimenting. The worst bore I ever had was a '73 44-40 with a moonscape pitted bore and rifling so worn that it was hard to see in places. With quite a bit of experimenting, I was able to get 3 & 1/2" five-shot groups at 100 yards with it. That taught me a lesson ..... if a corroded, seriously badly pitted, sewer pipe of a bore like that can give half decent accuracy, then anything remotely close to a nice bore (assuming the throat doesn't have some sort of weird dimensions) can be coaxed to give good accuracy if one is willing to put some serious work into load development for that particular rifle, rather than relying upon a load that might be a tack driver for someone else, but mediocre for your particular rifle.