1917 Enfield POA change at 100 yards from from 150 grain bullet to a heavier pill?

[TCLouis]

Until you shoot the new bullet/powder/velocity you have NO idea what may be on paper/in the field.

I find it interesting that folks kill deer all the time with lead projies sailing along at pedestrian velocities all the time, but must drive coated projies to the max.

Fellow at the range one day was telling me how many elk he had shot and not recovered with his 7mm STW.
I put a couple over my chronograph for him and noted that the bullet he was shooting had to get out to 300 yards before it slowed to the manufacturers MAX suggested velocity. None of the elk had been anywhere near that far away.

[Tripplebeards]

So I finally went out and tested my gun yesterday with three loads. Tow loaded with 165 grains Nosler ballistic tips (the black combined technology bullets)and one with 180 grain Nosler ballistic tips. The reason I chose these two bullets is because I have had both laying around since these bullets first came out and had all of 7, 165’s and 3 180’s left in each box. I figured I’d burn them up. I loaded the 165’s with 45 and 46 grains of H4895 and the 180’s with 45.5 grains of the same. Basically starting loads to see where my POA would shift.

What makes my testing screwed up is I raised up my ladder sight and made sure it was all the way down...it wasn’t. I felt it lower just a hair and bottom out. So I must have had it raised just a hair when I was shooting POA with my 150 grain loads....or I played with it afterwards...which I doubt happened. I’ll have to retest my 150 grain Seirra load and see if it hits low next time out.

So after running my volley sight all the way down I tried the 45 grain 165 grain load. It was a horrible group. One shot high and left a few inches above, the 2nd shot about an inch or two low and left, and the third shot didn’t hit paper. I’ll blame it on me since the gun can’t shoot that bad imo. All I can tell you it was a challenge to try and figure out where the front post and red diamond meet. It was a little fuzzy. Then I tried the 46 grain load at 100 yards...




I then tried the 180 grain load at 100 yards...




So all three loads shoot left to POA vs my 150 grain load. I also did not take my time shooting these for groups as it was an experiment for drops abs POA shift. I cycled the bolt, bang, cycled the bolt, bang, cycled the bolt, bang. Trying to but thst little triangle on top of my front sight was a challenge as well. I might have to retest with a square red box because if I was balancing the bottom tip of the triangle I wasn’t as low to POA as I probably think it is. My 46 grains 165 grain NBT bullet load was 1.25” after not taking my time! I will have to buy some more and take my time shooting my rifle to see if the load shoots any better and do some ladder testing. I’ll also drift my front sight and adjust my volley sight to adjust POA.

These were my last time out with my starting loads using 150 grain seirras. The all in one hole group was with my volley sight raised. I lowered it what I thought was all the way down and checked again for POA.



After lowering my volley sight all the way down with the 150’s...



So it was shooting a hair low with the 150’s as well.

The 180’s look like they hit pretty close to same vertical drop but to the left. The 165’s are about an inch lower if I had to guess and still left. I know when I first started out my fun shot left with the 150’s and I had to make a home made sight pusher besides re installing my sight forwards. I’ll have to readjust it when I go back to the range with the 165 grain loads or what ever I plan on shooting with the gun as a staple load.



These targets were at my very first range session with the gun back in its original form last year with various 150 grain loads and my home made sight pusher with front sight in backwards. It’s been turned around correctly.





Since my front post is a PITA to see when trying to target shoot for groups I was thinking of painting my front post a bright color to see it. Does anyone do thing on their front post to help see it?

[Cree]

Sierra GKs have been around a long time and - depending on when yours were made, I’m not surprised at all at what happened. I had virtually the same performance on a doe at 50 yards with a 175 GK in my 7x57 Spanish small ring with a full load of either 4350 or 4064 a few years ago with the “old” lot. From what I’ve read, the older style did have a tendency to blow apart too quickly if the speed was still up there - hence what the tech might have meant by stretching out the distance. I’m also not sure if, when they were redesigned (if they really were), that they “toughened” anything up at all. Nonetheless, they gave great accuracy out of a badly worn barrel, and, honestly, great performance- it killed her quickly, but the lack of an exit wound made tracking a lot harder than it ought to be, even though it was a short track to follow.

But to your point, I’ve found - in my 1969 Winchester Model 70 in ‘06, that 168 grain Ballistic Tips and an ancient box of 150 grain Herters bullets (supposedly made by Norma for them) shoot within an inch of each other with the same powder charge. Like your targets, though, it’s not a straight drop, rather, a slight difference in both elevation and windage based on the “spin” of the bullet. As far as performance, the Ballistic Tips have been great and I’ve been loading them for a long time. Easily one of the best bullet designs for whitetails in terms of performance and - generally, they kill quickly and leave a good exit wound.

[Tedly]

You will need to shoot to know for sure , BUT...in general a heavier bullet will shoot HIGHER point of impact than a lighter bullet will at a given equal target.

[Eddie1971]

I wouldn't use any 4350 with a bullet under 175 grains. I'd go with something a little faster like 4064 or 4895. W748 is also a great choice.