Giggidy
03-30-2013, 02:33 PM
Shot my first boolits today through my CZ82…now I have questions so any help from the cumulative wisdom/experience here will be appreciated.
First, the load data. Shooting a 93 grain Meistercast sized to .365. Worked up two different loads of 2.5 grains and 2.8 grains of titegroup. My main goal was to see how the .365 boolits would work. My barrel slugs out at .363 and I’m trying to determine if I should get a .365 or .364 sizer made. The .365 were available through meistercast so I bought a pack of 100.
My experience: the 2.5 grain loads were a bit snappy and didn’t group too well. The 2.8 grain loads were a bit snappier...felt slightly less powerful than Brown Bear rounds. They grouped pretty good and were actually more accurate than Brown Bear factory loads in my gun. After shooting five at a paper target to get an idea of how they would groupo, I fired my five remaining rounds at some steel plates and hit with each one. I loaded ten Brown Bear rounds and didn’t hit a single plate.
Now, here are some questions I have, and again, any advice is appreciated:
1. The cases were pretty sooty. I’ve seen some talk about titegroup being a dirty powder, but these cases were dirtier than I’ve ever seen titegroup make my 9mm reloads. My thoughts are that either the load is too light, or this is a result of the fact that I was using trimmed 9mm cases and they haven’t been fireformed yet. As an aside, I did mark all of the trimmed cases with an “X” on the base and wrote “MAK” on the side. I was also able to find all but one of my cases. I would guess maybe it is a combination of both, but the fact that my cases weren’t thrown into the next state I’m leaning towards the light load issue. Any thoughts?
2. I checked the barrel after every five rounds. There were some particles towards the back of the barrel that came out with just a dry patch so my guess is that this was powder. I can see some minor lines going down the barrel after shooting the 20 test rounds I made so it seems there was some minor leading. Does this sound correct?
3. I caught some shmootz in the face when I fired. I’ve had this wonderful experience when shooting my Ruger SR22 pistol. This made me think that I had unburned powder because of a light load. However, this being the first time I’ve shot lead, and that the round I was using was .002 larger than my barrel, could this be lead that is sheared off and getting blown back in my face?
4. Should I try some .364 rounds so they are only .001 larger than my barrel? If so, does anyone know where I could find some cast boolits sized to that dimension? If money weren’t so tight I would just go ahead and get two sizers, one .365 and one .364. Given the money situation, I’d like to avoid having a sizer made that won’t be useful though.
I'll post some pictures in a bit if I can figure out how.
First, the load data. Shooting a 93 grain Meistercast sized to .365. Worked up two different loads of 2.5 grains and 2.8 grains of titegroup. My main goal was to see how the .365 boolits would work. My barrel slugs out at .363 and I’m trying to determine if I should get a .365 or .364 sizer made. The .365 were available through meistercast so I bought a pack of 100.
My experience: the 2.5 grain loads were a bit snappy and didn’t group too well. The 2.8 grain loads were a bit snappier...felt slightly less powerful than Brown Bear rounds. They grouped pretty good and were actually more accurate than Brown Bear factory loads in my gun. After shooting five at a paper target to get an idea of how they would groupo, I fired my five remaining rounds at some steel plates and hit with each one. I loaded ten Brown Bear rounds and didn’t hit a single plate.
Now, here are some questions I have, and again, any advice is appreciated:
1. The cases were pretty sooty. I’ve seen some talk about titegroup being a dirty powder, but these cases were dirtier than I’ve ever seen titegroup make my 9mm reloads. My thoughts are that either the load is too light, or this is a result of the fact that I was using trimmed 9mm cases and they haven’t been fireformed yet. As an aside, I did mark all of the trimmed cases with an “X” on the base and wrote “MAK” on the side. I was also able to find all but one of my cases. I would guess maybe it is a combination of both, but the fact that my cases weren’t thrown into the next state I’m leaning towards the light load issue. Any thoughts?
2. I checked the barrel after every five rounds. There were some particles towards the back of the barrel that came out with just a dry patch so my guess is that this was powder. I can see some minor lines going down the barrel after shooting the 20 test rounds I made so it seems there was some minor leading. Does this sound correct?
3. I caught some shmootz in the face when I fired. I’ve had this wonderful experience when shooting my Ruger SR22 pistol. This made me think that I had unburned powder because of a light load. However, this being the first time I’ve shot lead, and that the round I was using was .002 larger than my barrel, could this be lead that is sheared off and getting blown back in my face?
4. Should I try some .364 rounds so they are only .001 larger than my barrel? If so, does anyone know where I could find some cast boolits sized to that dimension? If money weren’t so tight I would just go ahead and get two sizers, one .365 and one .364. Given the money situation, I’d like to avoid having a sizer made that won’t be useful though.
I'll post some pictures in a bit if I can figure out how.