Trailblazer
08-09-2008, 09:45 AM
I have been trying to use my original 44 WCF Winchester 73 to shoot 200 meter levergun silhouette. My first load was with a Saeco 441 which is a Keith style 44 SWC that casts at 256 grains. I use 6 grains Unique and estimate the velocity at 800 to 900 FPS. My Chrony would not read the velocity. The rifle is very accurate out to the 150 meter turkeys. If I miss a turkey it isn't the rifles fault! Rams have been a different story. The load just doesn't shoot well at 200 meters. Two or three out of 10 will fall low about 3 feet to the right. That seems consistent. The rest probably group into about 3 feet. I finally decided that load is not going to do the job.
I did some reading in the archives and other places. I believe Deputy Al wrote that his 73 would not stabilize the 240 grain slugs. I also read the same a couple other places, that the old 73's won't stabilize the 240's and up. For some reason my rifle will stabilize the 256 grain slugs to 150 meters but from there things go sour. I have not measured the twist so I don't know exactly what it is but I assumed it is 1-38". Anybody know what Winchester used?
I have started working with the Saeco 446 I bought from JonK. It cast at 202 grains and just a little smaller than I would like. I think Beagle will fix that. I shot a 5 shot 100 yard group of 3-1/4" with that bullet and 8 grains Unique Thursday. These were suspect bullets. I had segregated the loads with good looking bullets from the loads with flawed bullets and then forgot what I was doing and got them mixed up when I put them in the cartridge box. I don't know how much better I can do with iron sights though. I do not resize the cases because I have a Lee die set that reduces the neck way to much. Necks will split after 3 firings if I use that die set. All I do is flare the case mouths and push the bullets in by hand and then lightly crimp them. Could be that a little neck tension will improve accuracy too.
This old 73 is a fun rifle! I have always been a high powered kind of guy. Who woulda thunk I would be so fascinated by this anemic little pip squeak 44 WCF?
I did some reading in the archives and other places. I believe Deputy Al wrote that his 73 would not stabilize the 240 grain slugs. I also read the same a couple other places, that the old 73's won't stabilize the 240's and up. For some reason my rifle will stabilize the 256 grain slugs to 150 meters but from there things go sour. I have not measured the twist so I don't know exactly what it is but I assumed it is 1-38". Anybody know what Winchester used?
I have started working with the Saeco 446 I bought from JonK. It cast at 202 grains and just a little smaller than I would like. I think Beagle will fix that. I shot a 5 shot 100 yard group of 3-1/4" with that bullet and 8 grains Unique Thursday. These were suspect bullets. I had segregated the loads with good looking bullets from the loads with flawed bullets and then forgot what I was doing and got them mixed up when I put them in the cartridge box. I don't know how much better I can do with iron sights though. I do not resize the cases because I have a Lee die set that reduces the neck way to much. Necks will split after 3 firings if I use that die set. All I do is flare the case mouths and push the bullets in by hand and then lightly crimp them. Could be that a little neck tension will improve accuracy too.
This old 73 is a fun rifle! I have always been a high powered kind of guy. Who woulda thunk I would be so fascinated by this anemic little pip squeak 44 WCF?