Ballard rifled barrel, the receiver has been D&Ted before I got it else I would not have afforded it.
I have a Williams 5D receiver sight installed right now.
Also, I acquired an RCBS 35-200 2 cavity mold used a few years ago.
Done some powder coating on other calibers in the .257” bore range, primarily to get a .25-20 Win up and going.
So recently I started casting some of those 35-200’s. PC’ed them, put on gas checks and sized them to .358”. Then as the PC was a bit thin so I re-powdered them (shake and bake).
I had been prepping brass prior to this and shot a few with the J-word from Speer, their 180 Flat nose.
It shot very nicely.
Today I took the plunge and began with the above mentioned RCBS 35-200’s.
I am using a long discontinued and forgotten powder, Reloder 11, both for the J Words and the cast today.
When I was loading the J words I picked 30 gr as my start and was rewarded with a pretty tight group at 30 yds to help center the load on paper.
Today, going for cast, I decided to try 3 rounds at 25 gr of the Rl 11. At 30 yds, again a good group with two shots in a single hole and a third out about 3/4”.
I would say not bad! I loaded three more, this time dropping the Rl 11 down to 24 gr. The group opened up substantially! My 64 year old eyes are not good with irons though. I was once a WHIZZ with aperture sights but now I am merely sufficient. Before I stretch out the yardage to a more realistic number (100 perhaps) I think I better scope this rifle again, even if only for load development.
I had 5 more cases ready so I stuffed 25 gr of “11” in them and called it time to come for dinner!
One thing that surprised me however is that the throating on this rifle must be unusually short. I had to seat the cast 35-200 to where the front driving band is just barely visible at the case mouth for the action to close easily.
It’s not that the two coats of PC are overly thick though, I would call the combination average for one decent cover.
All in all, I better watch out as I keep thinking about Tripplebeards Hollow point mold made by Mihec. I can already tell this 35 Remington/Marlin is going to be addictive!
Three44s