I got a Axis in .223 a few years ago, it was cheap and shot J-words pretty well. When I tried many variations of cast boolits, this gun would just not shoot. My hopes were for 100 yard MOA plinking and playing, but it just wasn't happening with any of the testing I was doing with the accuracy I hoped for, so the gun was put away..
About 6 months back, a fisherman friend of mine brought up a 8lb drum of Red Dot on his fishing boat from the Lower 48 and dropped it off.. I was totally surprised and thrilled, but that Red Dot drum just kinda sat there, till now!!!
I looked through the old reloading manuals, the 3 versions of Lyman's cast boolit manual and found some starting points, re-read Ed Harris's published stuff on his work with Red Dot, and away I went... I had never tried using Red Dot for rifle of any sort.
Yesterday, I took the first offerings for the 1-9 twist 223 Axis to a very snowy so called Range nearby, and let her rip..All I can say is WOW.. even the first offering of 4.5 grains and the HM2 225-62 as well as the Lee Bator at around 52g cast hard with Lyman alloy number 2, a bit of tin, and water dropped grouped well. First offering of 4.5 grains grouped about 1 1/2 inches at 100 yards. After that as I laddered around the groups just got nicer, settling on 6.1 grains for that gun.
I must also say, I was surprised and taken back a bit with the greatly reduced recoil and 22 LR sound comming out of my Axis. Talk about fun to shoot. Even though the wind was swirling and the wet snow was really comming down, making it hard to see, I just couldn't tear myself away from the range it was so much fun... I went through magazine after magazine, no fliers at all.. sweet..
All in All, I really suggest those with a BOLT gun to give Red Dot a try for those tiny boolits, 6 grains of powder is very easy on the wallet... haven't tried Red Dot in 30 cal yet, but it is surely on my Radar now... Give it a try... check out "The Load" by Ed Harris. It sure changed my thoughts on the Axis that just never got shot...
Marko
PS... I can't post pics as my internet speed is slightly higher then dial-up speeds and picture upload just times out.