georgewxxx
04-24-2007, 05:26 PM
When I first mentioned having this mould several people wanted how it performed. When loaded and in the box, they realy look impressive(nasty).
For those of you that missed the thread, this is a 1930's Hensley & Gibbs mould #38. It's a .30 cal 147gr. from W.W. at .313 diameter. Hensley & Gibbs made all their hollow point pins adjustable for length, so the weight can be changed to some degree.
Last month I fired 5 of these through my M-1 Greek Garand as fast as I could pull the trigger just out of curiosity. I didn't target it as there was still snow on the ground.
Last week I shot 50rds of test loads without choreographing. I Didn't have time to set up the rig. I just picked standard cast boolit loads that did well before in most 30-06 rifles. Trying 5 different powders, they averaged 2.5". The best load was 1.75" using 39gr of XMR3100. Upping it to 41gr. I got 1" for 4 shots with a flyer that opened it up to 2". The worst group was my standard high power load of 27gr BLc2 at 3". One thing I know is a problem while testing different loads is I should load 7 rds of each so I can foul the bore with the next brand of powder. Almost always when changing to a new powder the first round or two will almost always be out of the next 5. But being lazy and I stick with the 5 rds only and watch my groups get bigger.
Yesterday I fired 50 more test rounds. This time I set up the chronograph. After every shot I kept getting that stupid "ERROR" message on the screen. It took me a while to figure what was wrong. A wayward boolit bouncing off the sky screen rods last year ripped a couple strands of the wire ....again! I had it happen last year too, and what a pain in the butt it is to splice those tiny wires.
5 more powders were tried with two different boolit sizes. Half were sized .308 and the others were .309. The .308's outshot the .309 in most cases. Several of the groups were 1.5" 24gr 5744, 44gr. RL19, 36gr. H4350, 13grs Green Dot. I Did get one nasty 15" group using 39gr of WW748. I've used that load before but this time it didn't work. It needs a wad or filler.....Geo
For those of you that missed the thread, this is a 1930's Hensley & Gibbs mould #38. It's a .30 cal 147gr. from W.W. at .313 diameter. Hensley & Gibbs made all their hollow point pins adjustable for length, so the weight can be changed to some degree.
Last month I fired 5 of these through my M-1 Greek Garand as fast as I could pull the trigger just out of curiosity. I didn't target it as there was still snow on the ground.
Last week I shot 50rds of test loads without choreographing. I Didn't have time to set up the rig. I just picked standard cast boolit loads that did well before in most 30-06 rifles. Trying 5 different powders, they averaged 2.5". The best load was 1.75" using 39gr of XMR3100. Upping it to 41gr. I got 1" for 4 shots with a flyer that opened it up to 2". The worst group was my standard high power load of 27gr BLc2 at 3". One thing I know is a problem while testing different loads is I should load 7 rds of each so I can foul the bore with the next brand of powder. Almost always when changing to a new powder the first round or two will almost always be out of the next 5. But being lazy and I stick with the 5 rds only and watch my groups get bigger.
Yesterday I fired 50 more test rounds. This time I set up the chronograph. After every shot I kept getting that stupid "ERROR" message on the screen. It took me a while to figure what was wrong. A wayward boolit bouncing off the sky screen rods last year ripped a couple strands of the wire ....again! I had it happen last year too, and what a pain in the butt it is to splice those tiny wires.
5 more powders were tried with two different boolit sizes. Half were sized .308 and the others were .309. The .308's outshot the .309 in most cases. Several of the groups were 1.5" 24gr 5744, 44gr. RL19, 36gr. H4350, 13grs Green Dot. I Did get one nasty 15" group using 39gr of WW748. I've used that load before but this time it didn't work. It needs a wad or filler.....Geo