Clearly, I am the biggest, hardest headed, doofus on the planet ... size matters!!

[MtJerry]

Marlin 1894c .357 magnum. Groove diameter = .359

I have been trying to put together a load for this rifle for about a year ... I was just sure that a .359 boolit would bump up to groove diameter and grab that micro-groove barrel just fine.

Load: NOE 360 180 WFN GC. Alloy is 50/50 lead/ww. 15.0 gr. Lil' Gun. Distance - 50 yards.

The 6 rounds that make up the ragged hole are sized .360 (as cast) and the two on the left are sized .359 ... same alloy, boolit, and powder load, same POA.

Class is now dismissed .......

[John Allen]

it is amazing what .001 can make.

[**oneshot**]

Don't feel bad. I can't tell you the alloy I wasted trying to figure out what BHN shot better in my barrels. I got schooled in barrel/throat fit a few years ago and am enjoying my cast shooting instead of pulling my hair out trying to mold perfect alloy slugs.
Fit is king around here.

[BAGTIC]

Why only two shots for the .359? If you had fired six you may have ended up with a group that looked like the six shot .360 group. Actually the latter's extreme spread is greater than that for the .359.

I too believe it is best to use a large bullet and forget about 'bumping them up'. Start big enough in the first place and let the gun do the sizing.

[MBTcustom]

Nah, I win. 15 years doing it wrong, and figuring "you just can't expect much from a cast lead boolit" figure about 10 buckets of COWW and not one blessed one of them was the right size. Uuugggg!
5-18-2011, you know that sound you heard about midnight? That was the forehead slap heard round the world when I read Molly's thread:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...nk-so-try-this
That was the biggest lightbulb moment that I have had on castboolits.com. Of course I felt like a complete idiot, and rightly so, for wasting all that lead, but I'll take that any day. If all my problems were that easy to fix, I'd be a happy man!

[sthwestvictoria]

That was the biggest lightbulb moment that I have had on castboolits.com. Of course I felt like a complete idiot, and rightly so, for wasting all that lead, but I'll take that any day. If all my problems were that easy to fix, I'd be a happy man!

Goodsteel didn't you have another thread with photographs of two projectiles losing rifling engraving?
I just had a hunt for that thread but could not locate it.

There is also a good deal of similar debate going on at this thread:
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...2500-FPS/page2

I agree with BAGTIC that only two shots does not make a group - it may be a smaller group than the .360 if the next shot lands between the two!
What is more interesting (if they had the same point of aim) is why the .359 is off to the left.

[MtJerry]

The two rounds sized .359 were fired as the same POA. If all of them were sized .359 the group would have been much much larger. For comparison, here is a shot of the larger target I was shooting at with the other loads I was testing (14.4 to 15.0 gr of Lil Gun) There is a line drawn from each group to the circle i was using as the POA. All the other loads I was firing were sized .359.



Thew thread you were looking for is here I think - http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-alloy-results

[Doc Highwall]

MtJerry, now you will have to open your sizing die to .360" or buy one. Think what might happen if you could shoot a bullet that is .361". This is what gets me into trouble when I ask myself "What if", I go either from Hero to Zero or Zero to Hero.

[MtJerry]

Doc, they drop at .360 so that is simply not an option.

I was back at the range today and posted these results: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...eadly-medicine

[Doc Highwall]

Have you looked at the stickies about lapping a mould? Taking off .0005" per side = .001" should be easy and also have the benefit of dropping the bullets from the cavities with less work.

[MtJerry]

Doc, I'm thinking that this load will work just fine

[Clinebo]

Thanks for posting! I checked out that target. Found the shooting drill that goes with it. I'm a gonna give 'er a whirl. Cast a bunch of 230gr .45 acp and they need testing. Think I'll torture me sum dots!

[TheGrimReaper]

it is amazing what .001 can make.

That is what I was thinking too.

[sthwestvictoria]

This is direct comparison, I was suprised the difference was not more marked.
Winchester 1894, Williams sights, 50metres, 150grain Lee FP, GC, pan lube, 19.0grains AR2206H (H4895), CCI primer.
Apart from sizing, loads the same. Elevation was set lower for the right hand shoot, on different day.
Left to right is size .309, .311, .311 (I put in two of those to convince you the high shoot on the middle is just a flyer):

the .309 group is 2 7/8", the middle 1 1/2" (discounting uppermost flyer) and right 1 1/8" (only 4 shots fired)