Boomer Mikey
07-07-2008, 04:16 PM
I purchased a Savage 10FCM "Scout" rifle maybe 5 years ago with the idea that it would be a cast bullet "plinker" for desert walks and double as a cast bullet rifle for silhouette fun shoots in addition to exploring the scout rifle concept.
I got busy with CAS stuff and it remained in the corner of the safe... once in a while I got it out and ran a patch thru the bore, did a trigger job on it and fire lapped the bore (maybe 10 rounds) to clean up a few snags discovered when a dry patch was pushed thru the bore. I also re-crowned the barrel as there was a nick in one of the lands.
Cast bullet load development in 30 caliber for me has been disappointing in the past compared to 35, 375, 44, and 45 caliber work so I wasn't in any rush to be disappointed again and kept putting the rifle back in the corner of the safe.
After poking around for a while I found the Ed Harris article about using double base pistol/shotgun powders in military rifles and the "Universal Load" of 16 grains of 2400.
A copy of this article is here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=17574
Well, I looked up articles written by Ed Harris and compared notes with other resources to confirm load characteristics then ran a few numbers with Quick load... all OK.
I had an old 1 pound bottle of 2400 on the shelf and loaded a set of test loads from 16 to 19 grains in 1/2 grain steps.
Match prepped WW brass, LBT Blue lube, WLR primers.
RCBS 165 SIL and RCBS 180 SP boolits sized to 0.310" using 50/50 WW/LINO air cooled alloy for the rifle's 0.308" groove diameter bore.
Bullets were seated to an OAL of 2.8" which engraved the rifling in the throat lightly, feed from the removable magazine well, and loaded cartridges can be un-chambered without pulling bullets.
I put a Simmons 2X20 IER 1" scope on the rifle in Leupold "QRW" rings and mounted the scope as far forward as possible completely clearing the ejection port.
The results are very satisfying - and it looks like this will be perfect for what I intended it for... velocities from the 20.5" barrel ranged from 1600 fps to 2000 fps and 50 yard accuracy ranged from 3/4" to 1-1/2" with most groups in the 1"- 1.2" range. Further load development should produce moa or sub-moa loads that will shoot to point of aim all day long.
The rifle wasn't cleaned during the 100 round testing period in 98 degree weather. No leading issues... 2 wet patches and 10 strokes with a patch covered brush using Shooter's Choice was repeated once for a total of 20 strokes which produced a spotless bore.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend using the information in Ed Harris's articles to achieve success using cast bullets. As you can see... the "Universal Load" does indeed work well in my Savage 308 and you can bet I'll be trying the Ed Harris Red Dot load soon as well.
Boomer :Fire:
Thumbnails: Rifle, bullets 165 SIL (left) 180 SP (right), groups
I got busy with CAS stuff and it remained in the corner of the safe... once in a while I got it out and ran a patch thru the bore, did a trigger job on it and fire lapped the bore (maybe 10 rounds) to clean up a few snags discovered when a dry patch was pushed thru the bore. I also re-crowned the barrel as there was a nick in one of the lands.
Cast bullet load development in 30 caliber for me has been disappointing in the past compared to 35, 375, 44, and 45 caliber work so I wasn't in any rush to be disappointed again and kept putting the rifle back in the corner of the safe.
After poking around for a while I found the Ed Harris article about using double base pistol/shotgun powders in military rifles and the "Universal Load" of 16 grains of 2400.
A copy of this article is here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=17574
Well, I looked up articles written by Ed Harris and compared notes with other resources to confirm load characteristics then ran a few numbers with Quick load... all OK.
I had an old 1 pound bottle of 2400 on the shelf and loaded a set of test loads from 16 to 19 grains in 1/2 grain steps.
Match prepped WW brass, LBT Blue lube, WLR primers.
RCBS 165 SIL and RCBS 180 SP boolits sized to 0.310" using 50/50 WW/LINO air cooled alloy for the rifle's 0.308" groove diameter bore.
Bullets were seated to an OAL of 2.8" which engraved the rifling in the throat lightly, feed from the removable magazine well, and loaded cartridges can be un-chambered without pulling bullets.
I put a Simmons 2X20 IER 1" scope on the rifle in Leupold "QRW" rings and mounted the scope as far forward as possible completely clearing the ejection port.
The results are very satisfying - and it looks like this will be perfect for what I intended it for... velocities from the 20.5" barrel ranged from 1600 fps to 2000 fps and 50 yard accuracy ranged from 3/4" to 1-1/2" with most groups in the 1"- 1.2" range. Further load development should produce moa or sub-moa loads that will shoot to point of aim all day long.
The rifle wasn't cleaned during the 100 round testing period in 98 degree weather. No leading issues... 2 wet patches and 10 strokes with a patch covered brush using Shooter's Choice was repeated once for a total of 20 strokes which produced a spotless bore.
I wouldn't hesitate to recommend using the information in Ed Harris's articles to achieve success using cast bullets. As you can see... the "Universal Load" does indeed work well in my Savage 308 and you can bet I'll be trying the Ed Harris Red Dot load soon as well.
Boomer :Fire:
Thumbnails: Rifle, bullets 165 SIL (left) 180 SP (right), groups