Contender .25-35

[26Charlie]

I decided to do some shooting of guns I haven't fired for a long time, the contender being one. I have a .25-35 octagon 10" bbl. for it, and exhumed some cast loads I was experimenting with back in the day. I tried a load of 7.0 gr. 800-x with the RCBS 25-85-FN bullet, put together back in 2008. I have written about this bullet before; I couldn't get it to shoot in .25-20 rifles, and this was no exception, got a 5.2" group of 15 shots at 25 yards. I let the mould go down the road to a friend who thought it might work in his .25-20 single shot.
[I am shooting off my back porch, hence the 25 yard range, since the bullets go into a swampy woods, so it is safe to shoot until the green leaves come back and I can't see back there. The weather has been unpleasantly cold and wet, not much snow. Just itching to shoot some targets.]
The second load was much better, the Lyman 257388 88 gr. pointed gas check, 12.0 gr. 2400. seven shots went into 1.1", with two outliers making the nine shot group 2.15". These have been in the box since 1990. Both loads were in .30-30 brass.

[26Charlie]

Another load tried today - Lyman 257312 FPGC 90 gr. with 10.0 gr. Blue Dot. 5 shots in 1.9" at 25 yd. - the first shot was the outlier, the next 4 went into 1.3". These were loaded in .25-35 brass, in 1993, and was the go-to load back then.
A nice measuring tool for groups is a triangular engineer's scale, like an architect's scale except with tenths, etc. instead of fractions.

[MT Gianni]

Nice going, I have shied away from the octagonal bbls due to the frequently seen chambering misalignment errors. Glad yours is a shooter.

[26Charlie]

MTG, I have not heard that. I only have the one octagon barrel; I started with a 10" bull barrel in .30-30 for shooting silhouette, and got the .25-35 later. I do know one must be careful of trigger squeeze because the barrel is light and easily disturbed.

Third day shooting this - a 77 gr. RNGC from a Modern-Bond mould, 5.5 gr 5066 (I know, old obsolete powder, but these were loaded in April 1992,and I have since used it all up in .38 Spl. loads). 9 shots into 1.35" at 25 yd., 10th one opened it to 2.15". The first shot was the outlier, as before. These were made up to be for small game but never tested at the time. I am sure 231, Red Dot, or any other pistol powder for .38 or 9mm could be substituted.

[26Charlie]

I put the .30-30 10-inch bull barrel on, and tried two loads, still at 25 yards off the back porch. The RCBS 30-150-SP 150 gr. GC with 20.0 gr. 4227 gave a 2.9" 5-shot group. The SAECO #316 150 gr. FPGC 17.0 gr. of 2400 gave a 2.7" 5-shot group.