Ruger American 450 bushmaster using Lee 310's (my 1st casts)group results...

[Tripplebeards]

Well, I finally made it to the range today with my Ruger American 450 bushmaster and my first try at casting. I know some of you have been patiently waiting for my results.

The bullets were 100% WW,WQ, PC, and GC. They had a BH of 15 last week.




This is the first time my rifle has been shot and have never tried cast bullets till today.

I got the rifle sighted in and started trying out my groups in three shot strings...would have did five but not enough brass in my arsenal.

I wasn't expecting anything spectacular as far as grouping went today but kept my fingers crossed since it was a brand new, unfired rifle and from what little info I could find about the American 450 bushmaster it seemed like most shooting cast boolits out of it haven't had success.

I used H110 and started at 27g and worked up in .5g increments to 40g

I loaded up bacon grease to 34.5g and started with the blues at 35g to color code to remind myself to watch for any signs of pressure.

My load book stopped at 34.5g and I went off the s&w 460's data since I was told the Americans action is a lot stronger (Ruger uses the same action for the 300 WSM) than an AR which most load data takes into I consideration.

So WARNING...I want make clear I am not telling anyone to try this

BTW, I had no leading or signs of pressure all the way up to 40g of H110 but it sure will give you a push!

Here's my 100 yard grouping results...

27g. 3.0"

27.5g. 4.5"

28.0g. 1.9"

28.5g. 1.9"

29.0g. 1.5"

30.0g. 3.2"

30.5g. 3.3g

31.0g. 3.2g

31.5g. 3.7"

32.0g. 3.5"

32.5g. 1.9"

33.0g. 5.0"

33.5g. 3.5"

34.0g. 4.6"

34.5g. 3.5"

35.0g. 2.3"

35.5g 1.250" (best group)

36.0g. 4.0"

36.5g. 1.5"

37.0g. 2.6"

37.5g. 3.4"

38.0g. 1.5"

38.5g. 2.8"

39.0g. 3.5"

39.5g. 4.0"

40.0g. 3.4"




My goal was to find a load to shoot MOA. I got close at 1.250"... Any suggestions on how to tighten my group? Thought I'd try working up and down by .2g each way from 35.5g and try it again. My boolits were 1g or less of each other.


On my last two loads I thought my bullets were melting in mid flight being I had a bunch of schrapnel holes in my target.

After looking behind the backstop There was part of a chunk of steel behind the target buried in the dirt. I hit it, cracked it and in The process my bullet must have melted or the steel fragmented and bounced back onto the back of my cardboard and poked through...

[Tripplebeards]

And the back side of the target



And the beast....





Well, at least the gun started getting broke in today, and for my first try at cast boolits all went bang, no pressure signs all the way to 460 S&W loadings, and no leading.

Gonna have to get back this week and try out my Lee 310's I loaded up for my 77/44 and Ruger carbine that needs to be fired for the first time yet as well.

[Fenring]

40g of H110.....I bet that wakes you up!

[Tripplebeards]

40g of H110.....I bet that wakes you up!

If I had socks on it would have knocked me out of them.lol

[waco]

Very cool. These were shot at what distance?

[Tripplebeards]

Very cool. These were shot at what distance?

100 yards off my lead sled

[dragon813gt]

I'd try 35 through 38 again in five to ten shot strings. Three shots prove nothing statistically. Five really doesn't either but it's a little better than three. After that you can work in smaller increments to get it dialed in.

[Tripplebeards]

Realistically is a Lee 310 wide metplate, blunt nose bullet capable of MOA or tighter grouping at a 100 yards? Maybe I should be happy with the 1.2" group?

[DougGuy]

Hornady lists 34.4gr H110 as max under a 300gr XTP/MAG for 1800fps. My 310s weigh 320gr lubed and checked.

I would go back to your 35gr load and stick there.

[BK7saum]

Also, Hodgdon states to not load H110 below 10% of max charge. It is one of those powders that do not do well with less than a full case of powder. I didn't look at data, but if 35 is a max load, 31.5 would be the absolute minimum charge to use of H110

[Tripplebeards]

The backstop was pretty rocky so some of the boolits were blobs, some had gas checks and some were scraped off...not a good test. None looked cracked and more smeared so the WQ WW weren't brittle and smokes powder coating stayed intact. I ran a dry patch 4 times. One per each a quarter time of shooting. All that came out was a little burnt powder residual. Pretty clean, and like I stated earlier no leading.

Here was one of the four or five boolits recovered. It was sitting on top of the dirt in back of the stop.

[Tripplebeards]

This was the other bullet I found laying on top of the mud, sand n gravel. Their were alot of little rocks shattered i connected with that explained some of the goofy bullet splatters. I forgot the rest of my findings on the bench by accident.

[Love Life]

Realistically is a Lee 310 wide metplate, blunt nose bullet capable of MOA or tighter grouping at a 100 yards? Maybe I should be happy with the 1.2" group?

I'd call the load good. You could tweak more using different powders, alloys, primers, etc, but unless you are varmint hunting at 200 plus yards then I would call it good.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jonp]

What were you using? Bought or made and if made from what?

[Tripplebeards]

What were you using? Bought or made and if made from what?

To general of a question.

I'm guessing your asking about the cast boolit?

I casted them myself from a lee 310, PC with smokes paint, I used hornady GC and installed them when I sized the bullet to .452. .0002 bigger than my bore. I loaded at 2.035", federal match primers, virgin hornady brass, and taper crimped at .474

The lead, 100% WW and WQ in ice water, and then PC and WQ again in ice water. I loaded right away but waited a good month before shooting them. Last week the boolits had a BH of 15

This was my first try at making cast along with Lee 44 mag 310's. I shot the 450 loads first. I'll shoot my 44's tomorrow or next week. This project started about the same time I became a member on here in April. Luckily I had some good advise from members here and the .474" crimp suggestion came from a member from 450bushmaster.net

[jonp]

Sorry. I was trying to type this out on my phone. I was actually asking about the brass.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Have you shot this gun without the Lead Sled? That might be an appropriate method of determining top loads.

This cartridge is essentially a short .45-70 and I would expect the results to be similar with regard to recoil. I would also expect that 5744 would work in it.

Were you able to Chrono any loads?

Did I notice a Muzzle Brake on it?

I know I snoozed too long in getting a 77/44 and now they are gone, but this one looks interesting. That gun with only a TRS-25 Red Dot sight on it would be a great woods hunting rifle.

Randy

[Tripplebeards]

Have you shot this gun without the Lead Sled? That might be an appropriate method of determining top loads.

This cartridge is essentially a short .45-70 and I would expect the results to be similar with regard to recoil. I would also expect that 5744 would work in it.

Were you able to Chrono any loads?

Did I notice a Muzzle Brake on it?

I know I snoozed too long in getting a 77/44 and now they are gone, but this one looks interesting. That gun with only a TRS-25 Red Dot sight on it would be a great woods hunting rifle.

Randy

This model comes with a factory brake. I had some extra starting loads that felt like a 4-10 when I shot it. I'm guessing the 40g loads will give you a jolt. If. Had to guess probably around 12 gauge slug territory the way the sled slid back. I'm not recoil shy...until after I shoot a box of shells through my my 375 RUM.

My upper loads in this little gun surpass the velocity and energies of a factory loaded 45-70.

I didn't chrony any loads because I wanted to see if it was even worth the time if it wouldn't pattern. Next time out i will along with my 35.5g load. I went off 460 S&w loadings so if you grab a reloading manual you probably could figure out my velocities. I would have to guess that 40g load was truckin in the 2400 plus fps range but the average person wouldn't want to deal with the recoil I'm sure.

You can still buy 77/44's all over gun broker last I checked. I have new one that will get shot next week for the first time with Lee 310's and devistators. You can pick up an American for around $425 vs $700 for the 77/44.

[Jeff Michel]

I spoke to Ruger earlier this week, production of the 77/44, 77/357 and .22 has resumed as of two weeks ago. The 17 and 22 hornet will start up again in the not too distant future. They are entertaining different calibers. I suggested .327, 41 Magnum and 45 Colt. Now is a good time to let them know what you would like to see in the small 77 platform. Contact them through their web sight.
]

[robg]

Being recoil adverse I thought the 29 gr load would be my choice.