Hey Bass, .475 WFN at 200 yd's.

[44man]

You made me do it. I cut out two circles from white paper to see if I could aim at one. First was 10" and the other was 13-1/2". I drew around pot lids.
I thought about putting my 2X scope on but my red dot is mounted with Warne rings which means a total removal---NO WAY.
I only had 5 shots left too.
First I tried the small one but had trouble with the first shot. I could not see the edges for a second shot. I went down and put the large circle up and shot the last 4.
How about 4 shots in 2-15/16" at 200 yd's?
Now, do I blame boolit stability or me and my old eyes? I bet if I had a high powered scope that would take the recoil, I could cut the group to 1-1/2". Hee, maybe less! You just don't realize how good BFR's shoot!
The first shot is the low, right one.

[Bass Ackward]

You made me do it. How about 4 shots in 2-15/16" at 200 yd's? Now, do I blame boolit stability or me and my old eyes?


44,

The way those 5 shells shot you should have saved them to be buried with. :grin:

Competition gets a little tougher up there. :grin:

[44man]

Now you are scaring me! Are we that old???
It was HOT today with a heat factor over 100 degrees. I was soaked before I got back up the hill, then the stinking bugs! We have biting gnats like black flies that go in my eyes and ears. I bought one of those bug catchers with the propane bottle and sent it back. If I caught 50 bugs of any kind in a week, I was lucky.
If anyone knows what will attract and catch them, PLEASE tell me.
What do the guys up north do? Even military repellent doesn't keep them away.
No, I will not try and shoot them out of the air!

[Bass Ackward]

I wanted to think about this a little before I said too much. What's the twist rate in that BFR?

SO much of stabilization is a guess. And it is hard to to keep facts straight. I don't play with a lot of calibers anymore, but I do have several 44s with twist rates from 16 to 20. The line bored custom 44 that shoots everything. It's a 16 twist. It's limitations are that it has a lower velocity ceiling with the same bullets or I need to shoot harder bullets to run it on up.

My Rugers are 20 and much more finicky than anything I own. Not only that but most designs have to be run up towards the top end to stabilize. Same bullets in a Smith and I think they use 18 and change can be stabilized with less powder.

240-250 grain bullets using Unique as an example: (ACWW)

Ruger: 9.5 to 10 grains.
Smith: 8.5 grains
Custom: 7.0 grains And it doesn't matter how you shoot them. Forwards or backwards. Yep. Boattail wadcutter.

Same with 296:

Ruger: 23.5 to 25 grains
Smith: 22 grains
Custom 18.5 grains

You have read here of guys comparing Colt and Smith 38s and how the Colts stabilized wadcutters better. And some guys are using 10 twist for competition now. Bet they need harder bullets too.

I always said that there are two ways to use up twist rate. That's a rifle statement. For handguns, it's three. A heavier and longer bullet. Use a wider meplat. Or .... slow your bullet down. Where those points blur would even vary from gun to gun and should be different for every caliber. But I now understand why Freedom builds their 357s as they do.

If I was going to build 44 Special, I would go 16 twist. If I wanted a top end 44 for hunting with softer cast, I would go 20. If I wanted a top end 44 for wider meplats or knocking over steel with heavier slugs, I would go 16 twist and use a longer barrel. If I wanted a long range anything, I would go faster on the twist rate and shoot harder bullets. If I wanted a fair compromise, I would go 18.

This is what makes long range bullet testing VERY complicated. And why we never talk the same language. What was it shot in? And is that Ruger really a 20 twist? Or is it 19.5 or 20.5? This can go on and on because we know the secret to shooting lead is to have a twist rate no faster than we need to stabilize the weight and design of interest to the range of interest. (at the velocity level of interest)

[Bass Ackward]

I wanted to think about this a little before I said too much. Then I wrote it twice! Sorry.

[44man]

The BFR is 1 in 15", throats are .4765", grooves are .475".
The boolit weighs 411 gr's. they measure .4765", length is .920", meplat is .370".
They run 20 to 21 Brinnel.
The load is; Hornady brass
Fed 155 primer
26 gr's of 296
velocity is 1329 fps
The gun doesn't begin to shoot until a 400 gr and up boolit is used. It does like the high end, near max loads and since the caliber is a hunting caliber, it makes good use of the proper boolits. Thats what I ask of any hunting revolver, utilize hunting loads the way they were designed to be used.
However, it is still super accurate with 15 gr's of HS-6 and is pleasant to shoot.
I tried .480 brass and I can't get top accuracy from them with any load, just not fast enough.
All loads shot are heavy, no plinking loads because I am either shooting long range or keeping in shape for hunting. If I was to use anything lighter, it would be the HS-6 load.