Range results 4 LR challenge thread

[cpileri]

I promise to test it soon. Just rained again today, after teasing me with nice weather.
Soon.
C-

[Hogtamer]

express 870 - don't know the rifling yet.

[longbow]

I still haven't made it our with the new slugs yet either. Winter is dragging on. I do shoot in some pretty cold weather but lately things have been getting in the way and the weather doesn't help. We hardly had any snow over Christmas and now we are getting regular heavy snowfalls and unseasonably cold weather.

Hogtamer:

If that Remington 870 is "standard" it should have a 1:36" twist IIRC. Seems fast for round ball but I got some very good groups of 2" +/- a bit at 50 yards with a borrowed 870 Express with rifled barrel. I didn't shoot at 100 yards because I had been shooting my Marlin .44 mag. off the bench with tout loads and that light little gun kicks a bit then I shot 30 rounds of 12 ga. 0.735" balls off the bench at 50 yards and by that time I was beat silly so gave it up. Still got pretty good groups out of that rifled barrel. I recovered a ball and the rifling was very good with no sign of stripping or skidding. 38 grs. of Blue Dot under a 580 gr. ball was a bit more fun than I was prepared for.

If I ever do get a rifled gun I will likely use the 0.735" round balls. Good weight, easy to cast, easy to load, shoot well. I like 'em anyway, even out of my smoothbore.

Longbow

[Hogtamer]

Good to hear from you Kent....thought you mifht be snowed under! Good arrow making weather though!

[longbow]

Yeah, we didn't get a lot of snow this winter until recently then got dumped on. It has been cold though. We were running into -18 degrees C for a while and still around -5 to -10. The weird and unpredictable weather has kept me away from the range (at least it is part of the reason) and yes, I should be making arrows for our upcoming spring shoot in April.

I always seem to run on the ragged edge ~ nothing gets done until it is a crisis and has to be done. I just get too wrapped up in too many things! That and sometimes procrastination is my middle name.

I'll get slug testing and arrow making done... well, soon.

Longbow

[Hogtamer]

BLAST! Going the wrong way! Made it to the range with new 870 express, rifled barrel w/red dot sight. Bottom line was minute of trash can @ 100 yds with 3 loads: all straight wall hulls, 209 cheddite primers. 1) 23 gr CLAYS, trap commamder wad, 1-20 ga nitro card, 1-16 ga card, lee 7/8 slug from COWW. 2) 34 gr Longshot. 3) 37 gr Longshot, helix cushion driver #18 wad, same cards. All these are perfect fit but wads mostly mangled! I was getting cap-size groups w/32 grn Longshot, WW12 r wads, 2 - 20 ga hard cards out of smoothbore, so this is certainly not what I was expecting. Strangely enough I gave a friend who has a custom heavy barrel bolt rifled gun some of the light Clays loads last week. He shoots Hornady sabots and snuff can (his preferred target) groups @ 150 yds with high dollar scope. My slugs out of his gun shot a 1 1/2 bore group (basically 1 hole) @ 100 yds. but 12 " low from his sight - in and he brought me the target. I am pretty disgusted with this result as you might imagine. The good news is that the crappie are biting so somebody keep me from using this gun for a boat anchor!

[longbow]

Hogtamer:

What did the wads look like? Perfect fit for smoothbore might not translate to perfect fit in rifled gun. Could be you are either cutting up petals with rifling or maybe not enough grip to slug so not picking up the spin (a bit loose).

If the petals are cut up then the fit is probably too tight. If the petals don't show deep rifling then probably too loose.

I have little experience with rifled bores though. My one and only shooting session with a rifled 870 went pretty well using 0.735" RB's over 36 grs. of Blue Dot. Even after having been recoiled to a dumber (and number) point than I am already at, I managed several groups of 2"+/- a bit at 50 yards. I was pretty impressed but made a mental note to take some shoulder padding next time ~ that gun was light and it hurt!

Recovered balls showed nice rifling.

I am currently building a "rifling bench" mini style for rifling home made choke tubes to my "secret spec". They will make me famous I am sure!

Anyway, I will likely get a lesson about wads and rifling when I am done (I am tired of "lessons" I just want to hit the target!).

So, before using a nice gun as a boat anchor, you should try some bore size balls or slugs and see how they do. If they do well, you know it is a wad issue causing you grief now.

Longbow

[bikerbeans]

hogtamer,

If you want to try some fullbore slugs in your 870 rifled barrel PM me your address and I will send you some. My results with fullbore slugs in rifled barrels have been much better than my attempts to use shotcup wads for sabots.

Another thing, I have had some of my worst range sessions with Red Dots. I have blown up many of them shooting heavy recoiling rifles, shotguns and pistols. Maybe check you mounts, rings etc. and try different optics?

BB

[Hogtamer]

OK, put a good scope on gun and back to range...UGLY! Even worked up a 2 - 600 ball load in a thick multimetal wad that looked good on paper but my barrel made mulch of the the wads, not even recognizable. So, i have a serviceable smooth bore load @ 100 yds and abmysmal 50 yd loads @ 50 yds from rifled loads. Apparently bore is much tighter on rifled barrel. So how do full bore loads work that won't hoplessly lead the rifling? Thinking about Hubel's sabots w/575 Minie but gun shy about spending additional $$$ now...