H&g #73

[beladran]

I have a old 6 cav H&G #73. My grandpaw bought it new back in the 50's and it has been passed down to me. I love the design of the bullet and i am getting sub one inch groups at 50 yards. From what i have read this was THE swc bullet shoot back in the day and was what all other bullets were compared against. My question is what happened?? Seems like all the swc now are keith styles.
http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq149/beladran/Mobile%20Uploads/A0-18.jpg

[fecmech]

That is almost a truncated cone design and looks like the 9MM TC designs on steroids. Both the Lee and Lyman 9MM TC 120-125 gr are super accurate in .38's and .357's and I've always wanted to try the Saeco 158 TC for accuracy. The molds are pretty pricey though just to try. In magnum loadings with 358429@1250FPS out of my GP 100 my groups avg. 1.9"@ 50 yds(that's for 5, 5 shot groups), that's about the best I can do with the "Keith". I'm not weighing bullets or powder or anything, just a visual boolit exam and load on my CH Auto Champ. Looks like you've got a winner there!

[59stude]

I have used H&G #73 for nearly 20 years now. My load is 4 grains of Vihtavuori N320 that have been tested as my best target load both in my 6" GP100 and in my Colt Officers Match for accuracy, about 25mm at 25 meters for a 5 shot group when I do my part.
Whenever I try a new Bollit or a new loading this is always the one to match.
Started with one 2c block that I got of an auction for 250 Skr ( $35 ) and now have 3 2c and one 4c Mould with original handles and all made in SanDiego Cal. Now only have to get my hands on a 6c and a 10c mould also to make my collection of H&G #73 more complete.

59stude

[Jack Stanley]

What happened sez you ?? I was just a pup in the fifties but grew up reading the gun rags and if I had to guess what happened , I'd say salesmanship . It's hard to say something bad about something that is provable to be good as long as one wants to be honest . But ........ you can try to sell something "better" :mrgreen:

With writers like Kieth , Skelton and others saying how good the "other" semi-wadcutters were , people start listening after a while . So start talking , after all .......... you know how us Americans like something "better" :drinks:

Jack

[FISH4BUGS]

I have a old 6 cav H&G #73. My grandpaw bought it new back in the 50's and it has been passed down to me. I love the design of the bullet and i am getting sub one inch groups at 50 yards. From what i have read this was THE swc bullet shoot back in the day and was what all other bullets were compared against. My question is what happened?? Seems like all the swc now are keith styles.
http://i442.photobucket.com/albums/qq149/beladran/Mobile%20Uploads/A0-18.jpg

I bought a 4 cavity # 73 H&G some time ago. I don't know why, but I thought the bullet design was cool. I only have about a half dozen 38 moulds, so I really didn't need this one. Because I collect H&G moulds, I just couldn't pass on it.
I have cast up about 300 bullets but haven't started to size, lube or work up a load to test them. I am looking forward to shooting them in my S&W 6" Model 28, Model 36 3" square butt, and the Rossi 92 lever gun.
I am glad to see that they work well for you. I can only assume I will get the same results.

[MtGun44]

Probably a fine target boolit, and looks like it will feed well in a 9mm, too. The Keith
designs are intended to be accurate AND to have a large enough meplat to drive really
straight through game and cause a lot of damage. Also lighter wts will penetrate less.
A final point is that for max velocity, Keith pushed as much of the boolit out of the case
to leave powder space and combustion chamber volume to get velocities up.

Probably that design would be somewhat less effective on game than a typical Keith
which is heavier and has a larger meplat.

Tuning a boolit design for some improvement is a fun game. Doesn't mean that other
boolits are not any good. Since you are getting great groups, you are doing fine unless
you see a need for more penetration, more velocity or a wide meplat for more impact
damage.

Bill

[beagle]

The H & G #73 was in it's popular phase back in the early bullseye days. It was used in the centerfire guns at 50 yards and was deemed to be more accurate than wascutters. This was in the wheelgun days. When the boys changed to autos for centerfire and the .38 AMU and .38 Special custom guns were developed, the #73 went away as they required a flush seated wadcutter bullet.

It's a great bullet for normal practice and general plinking but a bit light (mine weighs 148 grains) for hunting.

Does fine in the 9mm but the velocity has to be kept down a bit due to the seating depth required for functioning./beagle

[beladran]

the gun in my avatar is what eats these bullets and it loves them! I never would have guessed people would use this as a hunting round but for match purposes i have not found its equal.

[beagle]

Makes a darn fine small game bullet in a .38 Special. I've used loads of them for that and plinking./beagle

[MtGun44]

Now beagle, you KNOW that without a 85% meplat at least, those boolits are
just going to bounce off of a prairie dog or rabbit. No way you could hunt
with that kind of boolit.

:bigsmyl2::kidding:

Bill

[beagle]

Heck, I've killed a lot of rabbits and squirrels with H & G #50s and 358311s too. I like the #73s as they're easy to tell apart from my 358429s. They're deadly on dump rats too if you have a place to hunt.

The animals in question can't tell the difference./beagle


Now beagle, you KNOW that without a 85% meplat at least, those boolits are
just going to bounce off of a prairie dog or rabbit. No way you could hunt
with that kind of boolit.

:bigsmyl2::kidding:

Bill

[MtGun44]

"The animals in question can't tell the difference"

Yep.