chinaski
02-01-2020, 02:33 PM
Hopefully I'm in the correct forum for this question if not I apologize.
I work with a local gunsmith making smokeless muzzleloaders built mostly off Rem 700 actions, we use custom barrels (mostly Brux) and run jacketed aluminium tipped bullets from 275-325g at speeds from 2800-3100 depending on barrel length and kind of powder used. Accuracy and range has been amazing to say the least with these.
A project that I'm trying to work on now for a friend and owner of one of these rifles is a subsonic load. We've run suppressors on the rifles with good results with full power loads but I've only once messed with running our regular jacketed bullets subsonic and didn't have good results. The man that owns the rifle punctured his eardrum years back and can't take any kind of loud noise. Even the sonic crack of a suppressed full power load causes him nausea dizziness, the suppressed subsonic loads I tried didn't bother him at all.
The twist on these barrels are 1-18 or 1-20, I forget which one his rifle is. With our regular jacketed bullets we do swage them to fit the bore, we don't engrave any rifling groves, just swage them where they can be rammed down with reasonable effort. I was hoping to find something in the 350-475g weight range that would work well as a hunting bullet out to say 150yds, most of what the man will be shooting is around 100yds. I've been thinking maybe Trailboss as a powder just to give it some mass under the barrel, last loads I used were 15ish grains of IMR4198 but figured Traillboss might do better, it works well in the suppressed centerfire rifles we've used.
I guess my questions are, does this sound like it would work, if so could I just swage the cast bullets as we do with the jacketed ones or would I need to engrave rifling, is the barrel twist that much of an issue or is that enough to stabilize some of the heavier cast projectiles?
I ran across a man on this forum once before that had a good reputation for selling bullets and a website but I can't seem to find him now. I was hoping to be able to order from him and if someone could point me in his direction I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.
I work with a local gunsmith making smokeless muzzleloaders built mostly off Rem 700 actions, we use custom barrels (mostly Brux) and run jacketed aluminium tipped bullets from 275-325g at speeds from 2800-3100 depending on barrel length and kind of powder used. Accuracy and range has been amazing to say the least with these.
A project that I'm trying to work on now for a friend and owner of one of these rifles is a subsonic load. We've run suppressors on the rifles with good results with full power loads but I've only once messed with running our regular jacketed bullets subsonic and didn't have good results. The man that owns the rifle punctured his eardrum years back and can't take any kind of loud noise. Even the sonic crack of a suppressed full power load causes him nausea dizziness, the suppressed subsonic loads I tried didn't bother him at all.
The twist on these barrels are 1-18 or 1-20, I forget which one his rifle is. With our regular jacketed bullets we do swage them to fit the bore, we don't engrave any rifling groves, just swage them where they can be rammed down with reasonable effort. I was hoping to find something in the 350-475g weight range that would work well as a hunting bullet out to say 150yds, most of what the man will be shooting is around 100yds. I've been thinking maybe Trailboss as a powder just to give it some mass under the barrel, last loads I used were 15ish grains of IMR4198 but figured Traillboss might do better, it works well in the suppressed centerfire rifles we've used.
I guess my questions are, does this sound like it would work, if so could I just swage the cast bullets as we do with the jacketed ones or would I need to engrave rifling, is the barrel twist that much of an issue or is that enough to stabilize some of the heavier cast projectiles?
I ran across a man on this forum once before that had a good reputation for selling bullets and a website but I can't seem to find him now. I was hoping to be able to order from him and if someone could point me in his direction I would appreciate it.
Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.