Morning Fellas...
Up until now, my initial trial uses of PC have been with some generic black stuff from Princess Auto (probably similar to Harbour Freight) on .35 caliber bullets, used just as shooters. No drama or issues.
Now I have a custom mould for my .303 No. 4 Mk1 and a supply of Smoke's clear and black colored PC. Last night I finished setting up the Lee Enfield with a no-gunsmithing scope mount and PC'd some already picked over 314299 bullets. Same technique as I did with the previous Princess Auto powder:
Some powder in a plastic container, dump in the bullets, swirl for a few minutes, then pick the bullets out with long lab tweezers, give a few knocks against the side of the container to knock loose powder off, stand on parchment paper on a tray, into 400 degrees for 25 minutes, then dump into water.
The bullets look like things of beauty - except for the big rim/fin at the base of the bullets. Depending on where I measure across which bullet, they fin is about .34". Measuring across the bands of the 314299, I'm getting about .323".
I was thinking "That's a LOT of PC" as I stood the bullets on the tray for baking, but my only experience so far has been with the generic PC I started with, where I often wondered if they were sufficiently coated.
I'm thinking I've got WAY too much PC on these bullets, and even after a trip through the Saeco Lubri-sizer, that rim of PC at the bottom of the bullets is going to contribute to inaccuracy.
Anyways, I'm going to run them through the sizer, load them, and head to the range to get the scope setup zeroed for group testing with bullets out of my new mould and Smoke's powders. That will also give me some idea of how sizing these bullets with this much PC worked out.
Am I PC'ing these bullets in less than the best way? Should be doing something different to knock even more of the PC off before baking? Anybody else getting fins/rims this big at the bottom of long bullets like these 314299?
Thanks for any tips guys...