bench rest approach to pc

[nekshot]

I was very happy with my results with CF loads around 2000 fps to be good and stay together, but definetly not to brag about. When I got involved in casting I was encouraged to forget how I reloaded jackets and learn the proven cast method. So I tried to relearn and it worked very well for me. I kinda felt this PC thing was very differant than cast and decided to treat it the way I reloaded in the 70's when I was in the Bench Rest fraternity. So this weekend I dug out forrester lathe trimmers, neck trimmers and all the other goodies to make the perfect round. I didn't see some of this stuff for 30 some years. Ok, I got my brass sorted and worked into common denominater groups and got these PC boolits sorted and grouped and finally loaded A bunch of loads that I was having mediocre succes with. The first shot was from the clean barrel and was 1 inch away but every thing else was one holing. I could not believe the differance. What I mean by one holing they were making a bigger hole (in other words very tight groubing). No fliers. When the dust settled after I tried differant powder increases the groubs were 3/4 inch on average at 80 yards. Can it be repeated, we will find out. I really believe somebody with far more knowledge than me could really get these Pc boolits to hold together at much higher speeds than I can. Hope this helps someone to push for more because this is how we learn. Did I say I love my PC boolits?!!This was with 2 differant guns.

[Yodogsandman]

Do you have any photos? I'd love to see a tight group that was shot with PC'd boolits. A goal for the rest of us to shoot for.

[Smoke4320]

Do you have any photos? I'd love to see a tight group that was shot with PC'd boolits. A goal for the rest of us to shoot for.

Not to steal his thunder but here you go
First round out it suppressor is always off from the group but I shoot in on paper anyway
Attachment 132607
Attachment 132608

[nekshot]

heres 2 groubs of 3shots that I didn't tape over. The others are covered in masking tape. My boolit trap needs more sand and I must replace the wood in the front. Will get some at Lowes tomorrow. These boolits were all GC and I believe the checks do give tighter groubs. These were done with the last rifle a 30-06. The other 5 shot groubs from a 308 are taped up to help keep the sand in. I am getting alot of sand running out of target front.

[nekshot]

No thunder taken from me!! I am glad more are getting them tightened up. I sure would love to have a suppressor.

[Yodogsandman]

Wow! Shot the sand out of it! Thanks, in this sub forum, pictures are king!

[Garyshome]

Really good results.

[cs86]

What method are you using to powder coat your boolits? Just curious if anyone sees a difference between the shake and bake vs ESPC.

[nekshot]

cs86, for me all I spent was 1 container of HF red. I use a no5 plastic container to shake and then bake. My boolits are not as pretty as some but all I want covered is where the boolit contacts rifle barrel. At first I sized the s&b and resized, now I only size after baking. Yesterday I took a 30-30 sav340 that never shot cast all that well and I prepared the brass as I would for serious bench rest shooting and used a load that was its best before at 1900 fps and shot a groub with prepped brass and the first shot was 1 inch out and the rest made a 1\2 inch hole. This is at 80 yards and now I want to try this at 200 yards to see if they hang together. I have not been able to keep the groubs together beyond 2000 fps, but I can now get decent groubs about 500 fps faster than before. To me this makes all the differance for a hunting load or just getting trigger time in.

[nekshot]

I almost forgot this. The other day I assembled a load for 2800 fps load out of a 308 just for giggles and at 80 it gave a 1 3/4 inch groub. Was better than I thought it would be but I got some leading at the beginning of the rifling. I am not going there again because my goal is repeatable cast hunting loads at 2000 fps. Esteemed members here say over 2000 causes massive wounds and that is what I don't want. If I need to reach out fruther then 200 yards it will be with a Barnes bullet at proper speed. I am very happy with PC and again I appreciate those who have gone before me and found it all out. I have been very familier with PC in the past but never ever would have thought of using it for cast boolits!

[bangerjim]

I get tight groups all the time with PC on 30,38,40,45 cals at anywhere from 25-60 yards. Of course the rifles are MUCH more acurate. I throw away my targets and do not keep notes on them or take pictures. Guess I will have to keep a few for "braggin' rights".

bangerj

[nekshot]

I get tight groups all the time with PC on 30,38,40,45 cals at anywhere from 25-60 yards. Of course the rifles are MUCH more acurate. I throw away my targets and do not keep notes on them or take pictures. Guess I will have to keep a few for "braggin' rights".

bangerj

bangerj, I sure hope I am not taken as bragging. I have no desire for that and I was taken back by the thought "no pictures it didn't happen" because honesty has been my mode of operation for 50 some years! I do enjoy pictures but that doesn't enhance my thoughts of what people say. I did shoot this morning a super tight 3 shot cluster 1/2 inch and I then reloaded and shot 5. I did get a little sloppy in the col of cartridge and groub opened up to 1 inch. As soon as the weather breaks I am gonna try this load at 250 yards which is 50 yards more than I need. I was on the verge of giving cast up for hunting because I could not get consistancy of repeatability I need for most of my hunting situations. Now I think I might be able to use cast but as a PC boolit.

[bangerjim]

No brag.....just fact......that is the way I read it! I know a lot of guys keep their targets, write results on them and post on here. Great! I am not one to post many pix anyway.

Glad you feel you can reliably PC and hunt with them. The only hunting ever I do is on the menus at Claim Jumper or Texas Roadhouse! But I do kill a lot of those paper demons at the range!

I have been reading where more and more hunters are developing confidence in PC'd rounds. I certainly have had no problems with inaccuracies....other than ME!

banger

[coffeeguy]

Always good to know that someone can get such decent accuracy, even at full-power loadings! Sure, 1-3/4 inch at 80 yards may not be benchrest-type results...let's call it maybe 2 inches at 100 yards, 4 to 5 inches at 200...but it'll sure put meat in the freezer and makes for a fun day of plinking or killing some paper!

Nothing wrong with bragging, especially with pictures to back it up. Remember how it felt to punch your first one-holer? Plenty of bragging going on here, and plenty of outstanding folks...It's a good thing when we all share knowledge and experiences. I'm a relative newcomer at a little over 40 yrs old, have learned a lot, but have a LOT more to learn and enjoy soaking it all in.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I know there's lots of opinions on this, but I believe if you're looking for as much accuracy as you can get, the traditional methods used for benchrest and high power to achieve accuracy also give you rewards when shooting lead.

After reading a lot of these threads, I am seeing a new shift in PC boolits vs. traditional lube related to velocities and accuracy at the higher velocities. I think sorting one's boolits works and gives similar success to weighing one's jacketed boolits. At least that's been one of the rewards I've gotten for doing such with my lead reloading.

[StromBusa]

No brag.....just fact......that is the way I read it! I know a lot of guys keep their targets, write results on them and post on here. Great! I am not one to post many pix anyway.

Glad you feel you can reliably PC and hunt with them. The only hunting ever I do is on the menus at Claim Jumper or Texas Roadhouse! But I do kill a lot of those paper demons at the range!

I have been reading where more and more hunters are developing confidence in PC'd rounds. I certainly have had no problems with inaccuracies....other than ME!

banger

I keep...er, cough,...some of my targets.... I'm just now thawing out from the global warming, should have some targets to post after the opening weeks of trout season...

[DanOH]

Is groub a bench rest term?

[coffeeguy]

A 'groub' is a 1-holer which forms a line or a narrow oval either horizontally or vertically; it's a mix between 'group' and 'grub', basically a grub-shaped group.