I shot some 350gr. RD's in my .450 Marlin a few weeks ago. One load was almost as accurate as the LLA boolits in my preferred load for that boolit (CCI-200 and 56.0gr H-322) but not enough to bump it.
Not giving up yet, I PC'ed a bunch of Lee soupcans and Lee 170FN to try in my Savage 24F .30-30/12 Gauge. I could never get it to shoot as well with cast as j-words. While I was putting together 8 soupcan loads and 10 for the 170FN, I remembered I had a Lee 325gr. WFNGC that had always cast undersize for my .480 Ruger SRH and the gas check shank was too small to hold even crimped on checks. I never got around to opening it up. Could PC be the answer? I coated a bunch of those that had been sitting on the shelf, and I decided while I was at it I'd load up some PC versions of my BABore 400gr. LFNGC. My preferred load had always been this boolit (pan lubed with Speed Green), a CCI-350 and 20.0gr of W296.
To make a long day of shooting shorter- the loads for further testing are (drum roll, please)….
Soupcan- 9 gr. of Unique- four rounds made one ragged hole at 50 yds. I had a couple left and they chronograph at 1563fps. Perfect for a small game/varmint load. I tried Unique (8-10gr.), Trail Boss (6-8gr.)and H4895 (22-23gr.).
Lee 170FNGC-
IMR3031- 27.0gr. four rounds made one ragged hole at 50 yds. With a called flyer the group was 1 1/4" (Tried 26-28gr.)
H335- 29.0gr. four rounds made one ragged hole and with the 5th the group was 1" (Tried 25-29gr.)
H4895- 27.0gr. 5 shots made one big ragged hole. (Tried 27-28gr.)
The LEE 325gr. WFNGC is still not impressing me but 18.0gr of 2400, an S&B LP primer and the PC BABore 400gr LFN shot a 1 1/8" 6 shot group at 50 yards- visibly better than the 2" groups I got with the same boolit (both PC and pan lubed) with a CCI-350 and 20.0gr. of W296. Gonna load up a box of these and put them up against the pan lubed ones to see if they are consistently better or if it was a fluke. BTW the velocity was 1060fps- about 20fps faster than I get with pan lube.
I have some .40 and .45 PC boolits to load yet and loaded up some .357 magnums (158gr RFN and SWCGC) I'm hoping to shoot tomorrow if the snow and wind holds off a bit. Also, thinking about the RCBS 180FN for .308 and .30-06.
In summary, PC isn't replacing other lube methods for me entirely, but it definitely has a place. I've been wanting a small game load for the .30-30 barrel of the 24F for a long time. The 9.0gr Unique soupcan load gets me one. Planning to try the Lee 314-90-SWC powder coated and sized to .311" next. Hoping for an accurate load around 1000-1100 fps.
Thanks to all that shared their techniques and advice! Gotta love this site!
Great stuff!
John