Maven
07-03-2008, 04:41 PM
My Lee 250gr. & 360gr. R.E.A.L.'s arrived last week and after a bit of "Leementing" and degreasing, I got almost perfect CB's (pure Pb or what passes for "pure" these days). The consensus of opinion, based on responses to my initial testing, was mixed: R.E.A.L.'s would be very accurate v. very inaccurate. Once again, the consensus was correct! I.e., the 250gr. conicals weren't impressive at all, giving me a 5" extreme spread @ 50 yds. The 360gr. ones, on the other hand were highly accurate with 5 grouping into 2 1/4" at the same distance, but with 4 of the 5 touching. A second group of 6 went into 2" with 3 clustering into 1" and 3 in 1" x 1 1/2", again @ 50 yds.
Here's the load chain for both weights:
80grs. Pyrodex RS
Ox-Yoke Wonder Lube
1/2" cardstock disk (cut from a cereal box, ~ .03" thick) seated atop the powder charge
Damp swabbing the bore after 2 - 3 shots
Seating the conical, but then letting the weight of the stainless steel 30" ramrod compress the powder charge and maybe expand the CB to boot
Dry swabbing after the CB was seated
Win. 209 shotgun primers (have a pile of loose ones that I need to use)
Observations: Initially neither weight of conical was very impressive, possibly because the bore wasn't "conditioned" and possibly because I hadn't got all of the vinyl sabot material out of the bbl. after my initial testing. (I'm betting on this one.) After giving up on the lighter CB, I began loading the 360 grainers and after seating, let the full weight of the ramrod from ~24" hit the projectile twice. Decent and repeatable groups were the result, but not with the lighter R.E.A.L.
What's next? As I don't want to count the 250gr. CB out just yet, I'll try paper patching it and see what transpires. Also, a like-new T/C 370gr. Maxi-Ball (described as a Maxi-Hunter) that I won on E-Bay arrived today and will be pressed into service shortly. I'm thinking/hoping the long bearing surface will -> accurate shooting, but we'll see.
Here's the load chain for both weights:
80grs. Pyrodex RS
Ox-Yoke Wonder Lube
1/2" cardstock disk (cut from a cereal box, ~ .03" thick) seated atop the powder charge
Damp swabbing the bore after 2 - 3 shots
Seating the conical, but then letting the weight of the stainless steel 30" ramrod compress the powder charge and maybe expand the CB to boot
Dry swabbing after the CB was seated
Win. 209 shotgun primers (have a pile of loose ones that I need to use)
Observations: Initially neither weight of conical was very impressive, possibly because the bore wasn't "conditioned" and possibly because I hadn't got all of the vinyl sabot material out of the bbl. after my initial testing. (I'm betting on this one.) After giving up on the lighter CB, I began loading the 360 grainers and after seating, let the full weight of the ramrod from ~24" hit the projectile twice. Decent and repeatable groups were the result, but not with the lighter R.E.A.L.
What's next? As I don't want to count the 250gr. CB out just yet, I'll try paper patching it and see what transpires. Also, a like-new T/C 370gr. Maxi-Ball (described as a Maxi-Hunter) that I won on E-Bay arrived today and will be pressed into service shortly. I'm thinking/hoping the long bearing surface will -> accurate shooting, but we'll see.