I just bought me a point form die! Yep.....won't be selling this one. I simply grabbed one of the several 22 cal BTSimple point form dies of the shelf, polished it up and proceeded to make me 700 perfect bullets with it. Not one reject, no folded tips, no lube dimples, nothing but simple perfection! Bullets where all 55 grains with the .092 meplat.
I suspected these bullets had just as much potential as the rest of the 22 cal bullets I have made and shot from 22lr brass with great success and I finally got a chance to get out to the range (woods) and shoot a few. I wanted to find a good load for the up coming annual sage rat shoots here in Oregon. I think this bullet is going to be very impressive on the little varmints with the large HP. I was certainly pleased with the results on paper as I found a couple impressive loads that my gun likes.
Here is the stats.....
Savage short action 223 rem
CBI 26" 12 twist barrel
Old Duramaxx Stock
Sightron scope
Surplus pulled new FC brass still with crimped in primers
55 Gran BTSimple bullets all made from Lapua 22lr brass
Loaded length of 2.165" which equaled about a .020" jump to the lands
Test with H-335 and Ramshot TAC ball powders
110 yrds, light wind from right to left, 55 degrees
There are other powders that would be worth testing for utmost in accuracy but for my high volume loading needs for sage rat shooting I want a ball powder that meters well threw the powder thrower. I got over 13,000 rounds of various 223 and 20 practical rounds loaded up this winter ready, being able to throw an accurate charge with a powder dispenser is a must.
I tested Ramshot TAC from 24.0 to 25.5 grains in half grain increments as well as H-335 from 23.5 to 25.0 grains also in half grain increments. I found that my gun liked 25.0 grains of TAC and 24.0 grains of H-335 with the edge going to the TAC load.
I have always gotten good groups with a mild load of 23.5 grains of H-335 at about 3100 fps with my 6s and 9s 52 to 57 grain bullets made from 22lr brass. Also got good groups with same bullets at a max load with H-335 @ 3500 FPS but for high volume varmint shooting the mild load is better for all day shooting. I suspect these BTSimple bullets also would shoot well at higher velocities too but for my needs a mild load is going to work very well.
Here are some pics.....
Results from RamShot TAC powder, charge load of powder is written on target dot.
25.0 grains gave best results. Would have been even better but pulled that 4th shot a bit left.
and results from H-335 with 24.0 being best potential, might have had some horizontal with wind....
TAC group covered with a dime!
700 bullets ready now all loaded up with the 25.0 TAC load ready for spring ground squirrels!
Good shooting and swage on!
BT