ChristopherO
04-06-2021, 08:58 AM
Been toying with the Whelen and this old RN mold for a while. Last Spring I was pretty disgusted with the whole shebang, until I found out my scope mount had loosened up. But by then I was focusing on motorcycle season and left the project for another time. Now is the other time and I've loaded up 10 cast from range scrap and powder coated on top of 43 grains of H4895. Took some time the other day to shoot these over the old Shooting Chrony. The majority were well over the 2,200fps mark, some near 2,300fps, though a few were considerably lower in velocity. I thought that odd, as I measured every charge on the Redding that had just come back from being factory reconditioned (it was smoother than ever, job well done by Redding).
I'm new to H4895 and am not sure if this is normal, but I suspect it isn't.
The results on target showed promise, nonetheless. Just need to tighten the extreme spread together more (from 2,220 up to 2,295 fps).
Wondering if a line of water jugs at 100 yards could possibly capture one of these 250 grain +/- boolits I took careful aim. My concern that the range scrap and the round nose would just pencil through was instantly dismissed. That shot slaughtered the first two jugs as well as the 45/70 405's with a huge meplat. Though the shank of the boolit did escape, no surprise, it left small bits of shrapnel in a few of the middle jugs before veering off out of jug number 5 in the row. A second line of jugs experienced the same type of result. If I can ensure the groupings can be consistently acceptable, aiming this combination at a deer on the other end of a football field would not be out of the question.
With all this said, how small of groups would one expect from this 250 grain RN boolit? As mentioned, it was powder coated with a gas check installed after the paint was applied. Should I back off on the H4895 to about 2,000fps or is 2,200 - 2,300 inline with what you've experienced for good accuracy and consistency in velocity?
The rifle is a sporterized military Mauser. It will not feed a flat nosed bullet, period, thus why I am using the RN design. The freebore is long and I can seat the boolit out to 3.12" OAL before the big, fat nose starts to hit the rifling.
The main goal of having fun with this project is being achieved. Still, I welcome any input that can assist in finding the sweet spot.
I'm new to H4895 and am not sure if this is normal, but I suspect it isn't.
The results on target showed promise, nonetheless. Just need to tighten the extreme spread together more (from 2,220 up to 2,295 fps).
Wondering if a line of water jugs at 100 yards could possibly capture one of these 250 grain +/- boolits I took careful aim. My concern that the range scrap and the round nose would just pencil through was instantly dismissed. That shot slaughtered the first two jugs as well as the 45/70 405's with a huge meplat. Though the shank of the boolit did escape, no surprise, it left small bits of shrapnel in a few of the middle jugs before veering off out of jug number 5 in the row. A second line of jugs experienced the same type of result. If I can ensure the groupings can be consistently acceptable, aiming this combination at a deer on the other end of a football field would not be out of the question.
With all this said, how small of groups would one expect from this 250 grain RN boolit? As mentioned, it was powder coated with a gas check installed after the paint was applied. Should I back off on the H4895 to about 2,000fps or is 2,200 - 2,300 inline with what you've experienced for good accuracy and consistency in velocity?
The rifle is a sporterized military Mauser. It will not feed a flat nosed bullet, period, thus why I am using the RN design. The freebore is long and I can seat the boolit out to 3.12" OAL before the big, fat nose starts to hit the rifling.
The main goal of having fun with this project is being achieved. Still, I welcome any input that can assist in finding the sweet spot.