Groove dia. PP bullets and some new polish powder

[martinibelgian]

Good evening gents,

Below the latest target shot with my Greener-Martini 45-70 and a groove diameter PP bullet. After correcting the moving POI issues with this rifle, and in order to test the effectiveness of the correction, some experimenting was called for with a new (read cheaper) polish powder, in theis case Zloty Stok ZS5 (Fg). All shooting at 75m, prone, with 2-point sling, no support. Seems the powder has some potentil, even if it will need some testing at distance to really prove it.

The 1st target below, including the 1st shot from a cold, clean barrel, which printed in the X-ring. Of course, the next 2 shots printed lower, 9's at 6.
After a sight correction, I was able to keep the rest of the shots in the 10-ring - except of course for that single badly pulled shot in the white at 7. The load was 71 grs of powder behind a 30:1 RN bullet, wiping between shots with wet bore pigs, folllowd by dry VFG felts and patch.
232993

The target below was with a slightly heavier load - 73 grs of powder, and even more compression:
232992

The powder is pretty dusty and dull, no shiny granules like swiss. Still, it does seem to have some potential - and is quite a bit cheaper...

[Lead pot]

Gert the bottom target is a lot better. The vertical on the top target would concern me. You might try sifting the dust out and give it another try.

Kurt

[martinibelgian]

Kurt,

if you just look at the target like that, you're right. However, the 2 9's at 6 o'clock were shots 2 and 3, after which I added a minute of elevation and shot the remaining shots. The 10-ring has 6 shots (well, 5 + that 'stolen' 10). Also, this was just shooting with sling, so no support except my elbows. Mind you, i still have to chrono the load, pretty sure it won't be breaking MV records though.

[Don McDowell]

Looks like that powder is going to work. Is the fouling hard to deal with?

[martinibelgian]

Don,
I took my precautions - wiping was with a wet bore pig with front and back wet VFG felts pushed by a dry patch, followed by 2 dry felts pushed by another dry patch. And as it is rather wet here, too early to tell if fouling could be an issue. Barrel has Metford segmental rifling, which is also supposed to help with fouling.
But with the above between shots, no issues at all.
OTOH, when shooting blowtubing only in my military Martini in 577/450, accuracy was pretty 'casual', which can be taken as an indication of considerable fouling being generated.

[Don McDowell]

Sure looks like it could work pretty well.
Looking forward to your further trials with this powder.

[semtav]

What's the unpatched dia of your bullet ?

[martinibelgian]

Unpatched .450, patched to .458. Barrel is .462 groove. Might give bore-dia. bullets a try too in this rifle.