358156pb

[Patrick L]

Oops! I originally posted this on the end of the GB thread for this mold, but it really belongs here under "GB Results."

I went to the range today and shot a few. I'm quite happy.

It was cold, and I had some .45s I needed to test too, so I only shot two groups with this one.

Here's 6 shots at 25 yards from the bench. Gun was my 6 inch S&W Model 66. The load was a mild .357 load, 12 gr 2400 and a standard primer. Size diameter was .358. I didn't measure the group, so I just stuck the gun in the picture. The low flyer was called. I don't think I could have flinched harder if I tried.



I 'm sorry its not one ragged hole, but this is about how well I shoot. Its no relection of the boolit or the load, its the shooter. Like I said, I'm delighted.

[vanilla_gorilla]

I got to looking for the flyer, and figured I hare missed something. Then I saw it down there.

[Bass Ackward]

Here's 6 shots at 25 yards from the bench. Gun was my 6 inch S&W Model 66. The load was a mild .357 load, 12 gr 2400 and a standard primer. Size diameter was .358. I didn't measure the group, so I just stuck the gun in the picture. The low flyer was called. I don't think I could have flinched harder if I tried.

Well, I'm not to far off from ya. I use 12.5 grains.

Them 66s can be tricky. The low flier is because you forgot to take the safety off.

[Patrick L]

I shot a few more targets today. I think this bullet is a shooter. The load was still 12 gr 2400 and bullet sized to .358, and still my 6 inch Model 66 benched at 25 yds.

The first target was a real eye opener



Unfortunately, I was not able to duplicate it on the second target.



This is more typical of my abilities, and closely duplicates the group in my first post. Actually, that first target may have been a fluke. I do believe sometimes we just jerk the trigger right a few times and end up with something that looks like target #1. Target #2 is still pretty good shooting for me.

I also tried bumping the charge up to 12.5 gr, but I shot it terribly. I blame the shooter, not the load. I'm going to try that again, along with some Blue Dot. That powder always shot well out of my gun. I think this bullet is a winner.

[cajun shooter]

Did you say the first target was fired from 10 ft? Just joking! When shooting by ones self you can use the ball and dummy drill to better your shooting. Take one or more dummy rounds and load them in you cylinder; spin and close the cylinder while looking away. If the hammer falls on the dummy round and you catch yourself pushing the barrel down you have a problem. This is one of the easy ways to help stop the flinching and was used by me as police range officer for many years. Good Luck and Shooting

[Cayoot]

Thats good shootin'!

Thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to casting some of these up after deer season!

[MakeMineA10mm]

Late to the party, but better late than never.

I casted up a few hundred of these last Fall and finally got around to loading and shooting them. This bullet has dual crimp groove design, so part of my curiosity/interest was trying this boolit in all of its loading possibilities.

To that end, I grabbed a box of 1x-fired 38 brass which I had previously fired as factory loads in the same revolver about 15 years ago. They're nickle-plated Federal 38s. Sized, primed (WSPs all from same box), and flared the brass, and decided I'd add some Winchester brass in 357 (all from their own same lot) for a full-length loading option and prepped them the same way as the 38s. All the boolits were sized .358" and lubed with 50/50 alox/beeswax only in the lube groove. Alloy was WW +2% tin air-cooled.

I chose 2 loads, both with W231 (all loads loaded out of the same can of powder); 4.4grs & 5.6grs. I loaded both charges in the 38 cases at both the upper crimp groove (loaded short) and the lower crimp groove (loaded long). I also loaded the 5.6gr load at the upper crimp groove (loaded short) in the 357 brass. Here's how the COALs worked out:
38 Spl (loaded short): 1.442"
38 Spl (loaded long): 1.527"
357 Mag (loaded short): 1.5865"

The test gun is my S&W 686-3 "Midnight Black" (blued stainless) 4"-barreled former duty sidearm. This gun has shot perfect scores with issue factory reloads, so I have confidence in its accuracy abilities. I recently gave this revolver a thorough cleaning in the cylinder to get rid of carbon ring build-up.

The results were interesting. I tried to do accuracy testing simultaneously, but a problem with targets came up (I forgot them...), so only chrono data for now.

38 Spl (loaded short) w/ 4.4grs gave the following velocities (FPS): 875, 900, 895, 882, 877, 890. The average was 887 fps with an ES of 25.

38 Spl (loaded long) w/ 4.4grs gave the following velocities (FPS): error, error, error, 818, 849, 831. The average was 833 fps with an ES of 31. (The errors came from a swarm of tiny insects I didn't notice hanging around the stop screen until the third shot...)

38 Spl (loaded short) w/ 5.6grs gave the following velocities (FPS): 1069, 1095, 1062, 1085, 1079, 1075. *The average was 1078 fps with an ES of 33.

38 Spl (loaded long) w/ 5.6grs gave the following velocities (FPS): 1036, 1027, 1026, 1035, 1035, 1018. *The average was 1030 fps with an ES of 18.

357 Mag (loaded short) w/ 5.6grs gave the following velocities (FPS): 1020, 1067, 1046, 1055, 1049, 1053. The average was 1043 fps with an ES of 47.

Note that this is all very consistent with conventional wisdom, with the exception of the 357 with a longer OAL giving higher velocities. My only thoughts are that the Winchester Magnum brass has less capacity, even with a minimally longer COAL.

Although I didn't have targets, I did notice the 5.6gr loads were noticably less accurate than the 4.4 loads. Didn't matter whether it was long- or short-loaded or loaded in the 357 case. I personally believe this has more to do with the powder than anything else. W231 doesn't "like" higher-pressure loads. It can certainly be safely loaded hotter, but accuracy tends to suffer. I've seen this same characteristic in 44 Mag and 10mm Auto loads too (but curiously, not so much in 9mm, where 231 works fine at 30k+ psi).

Overall, I'm really pleased with the looks and casting quality of this mould and boolit. I'm not real convinced the dual crimp groove idea will get much use, though. More testing will follow, and I'll include more firearms and I'll try some 2400 (skeeter's load). Accuracy testing will also be much more thorough than I did here, too, and in fact, will probably determine if the second crimp groove will get used.

[Dutch4122]

My 6" S&W 686 simply dotes over 13.5 grains of 2400, CCI standard small pistol primer, and this boolit in magnum brass. Best group has been 1.75" at 50 yards off the bench.

[Keith429421]

Interesting observations makemInea10.
I just cast some of these this afternoon. I will use mine in a Rossi 92. My Colt Trooper is on loan right now.
I'd be interested in your next results in other weapons.