375 Ruger with MY cast bullets

[High Desert Hunter]

Shot some of the big 350gr bullets I cast today. Thinking I was pushing them too hard for my alloy. They were beginning to keyhole at 50 yards, just a slight yaw, but imagine at 100 it would be much more severe. I will try these again, but I will go back to my standard of 2400 or Unique to see how they shoot. I was disappointed to say the least. I shot them over RL17, I will also try some again over RL 22 maybe, also I will try some 4198 as I can't find any 4895, and I have heard it has been discontinued.

[starmac]

4759 is on the chopping block, haven't heard that 4895 was.

[High Desert Hunter]

That is good news!

[High Desert Hunter]

Definitely think I was pushing them too hard for my alloy. Fired a bunch yesterday loaded over 2400 to about 1800fps, they were still flying true at 136 yards, no keyholes. I am thinking I may need to add some linotype to harden my alloy a bit, would like to get to 2100 with accuracy. Just need the weather to cool off, I hate summer any more.

[RobS]

You will likely be better served with a slower powder if you are looking at 2100 fsp.

[High Desert Hunter]

I have tried as slow as RL 22, just think there is too much pressure for my alloy. I had originally purchased the mold to shoot the bullets at around 1800fps, not sure why I became obsessed with speed.

[williamwaco]

Definitely think I was pushing them too hard for my alloy. Fired a bunch yesterday loaded over 2400 to about 1800fps, they were still flying true at 136 yards, no keyholes. I am thinking I may need to add some linotype to harden my alloy a bit, would like to get to 2100 with accuracy. Just need the weather to cool off, I hate summer any more.

I can do 2100/2200 just fine in the .30-30 with 99% clip on wheel weights and 1% tin.
( With a gas check )

[1Shirt]

With 2400 in my #1, 375 H&H, at about 1800, I get excellent accuracy with 270 gr. both Lyman and NOE. If I wanted more vol, I would go with slower powders, but at 1800 it is a bang flop deer load out to 150.
1Shirt!

[Bullshop]

Don't give up Dave! I was getting well over 2100 with my 375 cal design from the Ruger cartridge and getting excellent accuracy at 100 yards of one average about 2 moa or just slightly less.
If your not already doing so try quenching your boolits from the mold. I have designed a quenching troth the sets on a bucked and leans on my casting bench. It is lined with soft cloth and has a hanging baffle to retard the speed the boolits drop at.
Many years ago when I was buying antimony from Bill Fergusson ( The Antimony Man) to harden up my alloys and at the time China was buying heavily and supply was short bit told me that if starting with WW alloy or similar he would simply quench harden them and forget adding antimony.
I took his advice and have advanced my experience base from there. A ww alloy of a BHN-9 air cooled is quite easy to quench harden up to BHN-20 without any special equipment. They can be made still harder but then temp and timing become more critical.
The additional hardness of quenching will most definitely give your boolits a higher pressure/velocity potential.

Hope this motivates you to a new horizon and the achievement of your goal that I know to be doable and only just a bit beyond your current level of experience. It is there and you will find it but will require a bit more effort. Soon though I expect you will be setting a new goal as when you reach your last you will REQUIRE a new challenge.
My personal goals are small bore boolits 22 and 24 cal at over 3000 fps with minimum 2 moa accuracy. Keeps me out of trouble!

[RobS]

With the slower powder it's probably not a point of pressure rather RPM's as you push for upper velocities.


I have tried as slow as RL 22, just think there is too much pressure for my alloy. I had originally purchased the mold to shoot the bullets at around 1800fps, not sure why I became obsessed with speed.

[Bullshop]

Not an rpm problem. I know the boolit he is shooting and I have used a very similar design up to 2400 fps with good accuracy from the 375 Ruger, 375 H&H, and the 375 JRS (improved H&H).

[RobS]

Not an rpm problem. I know the boolit he is shooting and I have used a very similar design up to 2400 fps with good accuracy from the 375 Ruger, 375 H&H, and the 375 JRS (improved H&H).

Yes, possibly a RPM problem with the alloy (hardness/toughness etc.) that the original poster may be using. I too shoot a 375 H&H with 275 grain cast boolits (BRP 378-275) at 2300 fps with MOA accuracy but this is not done with a 12 BHN boolit. As you already mentioned, the use of water quenched boolits to achieve this does make things easier and is the direction I turned to when working on the higher velocity cast boolits in a 1:12" twist barrel.

[High Desert Hunter]

Thanks for all of the replies, I haven't given up, just the addition of a new Ruger 1911 has distracted me for the time being. Once the weather cools off, I will get back to the work of getting this bullet to shoot well. I am hoping that it isn't my bullet design that is the problem.