.357 Range Report 1894C, RBH and Ruger 77/357

[pcw907]

Shot my microgroove 1894C and Ruger 77/357 today with home cast. Had been using water dropped hardball alloy and 15.0gr Lil'Gun with 8 inch groups at 100 yards. The mold was a 180 grain .360 WFN GC custom brass mold from NOE. This particular 1894C has a slugged bore of 0.3585.

Today I shot two other alloys. First was air cooled WW with 2% tin. The other was air cooled 50/50 mix of Hardball and WW with 2% tin. 5 shot groups at 50 yards with a bipod.

The best group in the 1894C was the air cooled WW at 15.0g Lil'Gun. Group size was 1.5 inch at 50 yards. Avg velocity was 1847 with SD 11.4 and extreme spread of 28. Sights were Skinner peep sights.

That same load in the 77/357 was 2 inches with avg velocity 1859, SD 24, and extreme spread 59. The Ruger had a 4x Leupold scope.

The best load in the 77/357 was the WW/HB mix with 15.0gr with a group of 1.25 inches, avg velocity 1854, SD 13.5, and extreme spread 33. This gun is brand new and has not been fully broken in yet.

The lighter the loads were, groups opened up (4.5 inches at 14.0), there was vertical stringing and the velocity extreme spread opened up a lot, up to 100 fps.

BTW, these same loads were both stringing badly in my Blackhawk. Avg velocity was 1409, SD was 28, extreme spread was 93 (12 shots).

Thoughts or comments are welcome.

[stocker]

I'm currently playing with a 185 RNFP plain base in my 1894 (short barrel) Ballard style. Initial testing using 2400 and H110 was revealing. I'm not trying to push these too hard as the boolits are aircooled WW +2% Sn. , sized at .359 and intended for small game/plinking and probably some junior firearms exposure to center fire. The bore in mine slugs at .356 which is quite different from yours. The 2400 loads grouped 5 in 1.5" at 50. The H110 strung vertically over 4'' although the group width was only 3/4". I attribute that to inconsistent ignition with that powder at the load level I selected. Primer was mag Win small pistol. I could try a small rifle mag primer but think I'll just move to a more suitable powder. H110 seems to work better at near max levels which my load was not. Fun little rifle.

[Gunnut 45/454]

Stocker
I've shot my Lee 125gr PB at 2101 fps out of my 1894C over 19 gr H110. It goes about 2"-2.5" at 100 yards scoped. I get about 1700 fps with my Lee 158 gr PB and about the same accuracy.

[Dan Cash]

2400 The only reason to say more is the stupid word count required.

[stocker]

As it turns out the load that initially gave me the vertical spread was caused by shooting technique. I still had 75 rounds of it loaded and no kinetic puller. I decided to just shoot them all the next day to reclaim the brass. This time I was holding the fore end in my left hand rather than bag resting it. All 75 rounds at 50 yards went into a circle that 2.5 inches totally enclosed. I was basically shooting as fast as I good load , aim and fire to boot. Seems these little rifles are subject to some muzzle jump just like the Savage 99F's are when not held down a bit. I also tested some loads using Unique at about half the powder per load as the the H110 and 5 shot groups of 1.25 were about the norm. I think that will be my junior firearms introductory load for the kids. Very mild and powder economical.

Later that same evening I found Ken Water's had tested these rifles and when reading his article he had the same problem and result when changing the technique. Should have read it first.

I have been running a kind of test with this rifle to see if it will start to eventually show any sign of leading. Total round count through it is now 1075 without any cleaning other than one single pass through it with a nylon bore brush to clear some lube and powder fouling to let me get a closer look which I did at 810 round count. Nothing then and nothing now as best I can see with a bore light. The last 265 rounds have been all plain base boolits while the first 810 were gas checked RCBS 162's. Granted I have not been pushing the plain base to the max but that was the reason I bought the 180 mould from Tom was to eliminate need for a gas check.

The lube I'm using is Lar's C-red with a bit of ATF added to soften it for winter use and it works very well although it still needs a bit of heat to flow in the sizer. Yes, it still seems like winter here although the snow is slowly leaving when we get the occasional warm day (3 or 4 degrees above freezing). Can't be gone fast enough.

[x101airborne]

I am a noob to all of this also, but I think you need to soften up your alloy. Even a well fitted boolit that wont slug up any at all is still going to rattle down the bore a little, at least in my mind.

[pcw907]

I am a noob to all of this also, but I think you need to soften up your alloy. Even a well fitted boolit that wont slug up any at all is still going to rattle down the bore a little, at least in my mind.

I agree. I have bullets in a couple softer alloys already cast for more testing. The lower pressure of LilGun with a softer bullet makes sense.