Update--worst cast bullet performance ever.

[Elkins45]

This post is an update to this thread: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?328444-Worst-cast-bullet-performance-EVER!

Problem solved: water dropping the tumble lube bullet was all it took to turn a four foot group into a pretty good one. This is three magazines at 25 yards, and it's about as well as I can shoot a handgun these days. So it looks like I'm going to be able to use this mold after. The folks who thought the bullet was skidding on the rifling appear to be right, since hardening it was all it took to tighten up the group.

http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm35/elkins_pix/DE68DE35-0F24-48D6-8583-FB2F5B664638_zpsd4gcjyus.jpg (http://s292.photobucket.com/user/elkins_pix/media/DE68DE35-0F24-48D6-8583-FB2F5B664638_zpsd4gcjyus.jpg.html)

[wmitty]

Thanks for the post; I'm using this boolit in a Hi-power and a M39 Smith and have had a few tumble. I'll start dropping them in water and then check the targets.

[longbow]

I can't comment on 9mm but I have experience skidding in my .303's with anything but mild to moderate loads with ACWW boolits. A few recovered boolits showed wide grooves in the boolits where rifling has equal width lands and grooves. There was gas cutting all along the wide grooves. I took the hint and oven heat treated. That fixed it.

I have not run into that before so have to think it is the heavy boolit (200 gr.) and 1:10" twist causing the lead to swage some while the boolit gets up to rotational speed.

These were not undersize boolits either. In any case, harder boolits solved it.

Were you getting any leading with the softer boolits? And did you recover any boolits to check for gas cutting? I always like to recover some boolits when I can. They all have a story to tell, some good and some not so good.

Glad you got it solved.

Longbow

[Elkins45]

No leading at all, just tumbling and washtub-sized groups. I wasn't able to recover any bullets...too many people also shooting for me to go digging through the berm.

I have a plain base 200 grain mold that I shoot in my subsonic blackout. I have noticed that I get noticeably better groups when I water drop it, even at 1050 fps. That's a shame because if I ever wanted to shoot game with the silencer I would want the bullet to be as soft as it could be.

[Wayne Smith]

No leading at all, just tumbling and washtub-sized groups. I wasn't able to recover any bullets...too many people also shooting for me to go digging through the berm.

I have a plain base 200 grain mold that I shoot in my subsonic blackout. I have noticed that I get noticeably better groups when I water drop it, even at 1050 fps. That's a shame because if I ever wanted to shoot game with the silencer I would want the bullet to be as soft as it could be.

Look up BruceB's soft pointing technique for those few hunting boolits you would want. It works.