longbow
02-09-2009, 02:04 AM
Well, it was about time!
Things didn't go nearly as well as I would have liked but like they say "A bad day at the range is better than the best day at work". Good thing I've got a job though as I don't think these results would get me a job writing for a gun magazine or designing slug moulds or loads.
It was a nice sunny day and just below freezing. Best of all, the snow was hard enough to walk on which is good because it is still deep.
I loaded up 10 each of:
560 gr. wadcutter hollow base (home made mould) 520 gr. TC hollow base (home made mould) 660500 Rapine 0.735" round balls left over AQ clones made with 0.735" round balls
All were loaded into Fiocchi low base hulls with Winchester 209 primers and for simplicity all powder charges were 33 grs. of Blue Dot.
All shooting was with smoothbore and open sights.
I had loaded 10 of each with the intent of seeing if they grouped well enough at 50 yards to try another group at 100.
The wadcutter slugs and TC slugs were made with the same mould. Both have a skirt of about 0.100" thick and have a balance point about 1/3 back from the nose.
Diameter is 0.651" and they were paper wrapped (to take up slop) and loaded into Winchester AA Red wads with a 1/8" nitro card wad under the slug. The Rapine 660500 were about 0.662" diameter and again paper wrapped and loaded into Winchester AA Red wads and again with a 1/8" nitro card wad under them.
I used 3 wraps of 0.004" paper on the 0.651" slugs and 2 wraps on the Rapine slugs to take up rattle room in the shotcups. They were all dry wrapped and paper cut in 4 petals.
I shot the first 5 shot "group" with the wadcutters, looked at the group and sobbed a little (well not really, I am more manly than that) so decided to shoot the other 5 at 50. No better.
I then shot 10 shot groups at 50 yards with all other slugs. Paper wrapping left the slugs right at the firing line and all slugs hit the paper nose on but groups were 12" to 16" at 50 yards.
Recovered wads from hollow base slug loads were badly blown and even the nitro card wads were crushed in the middle where they tried to climb into the hollow bases. Also, several had wrinled petals. Thicker petal steel shotcups would likely have made for a better fit and probably would have avoided blown wads. I don't have any though and none available locally.
The left over AQ clones were from a previous loading session and originally had 38 grs. of Blue Dot behind a 0.735" round ball with attached skirt. Last time out I pulled the trigger once and found the report and recoil substantially more than just a 0.735" round ball over the same charge and the cartridge wouldn't eject so I decided to pop the primers out and drop 5 grs. out. Did that but still got sticky extraction this time.
I have not seen any pressure signs using 38 grs. of Blue Dot under a 0.735" ball and am now down to 33 grs. so can only conclude that the attached skirt is causing too much barrel friction and so high pressure.
The winners of the day were plain old 0.735" round balls sat in a cut down shotcup and with a 1/8" nitro card wad under them. Those gave me a 10 shot group of 6" x 8" at 50 yards and 8 shots were in 4" x 6" vertical with the other two shots out horizontal. So far the 0.735" ball have given pretty consitent performance with groups of 4" to 6" at 50 yards for past outings.
What did I learn?
1) Well, it appears that either a filled hollow base, more hard card wads and maybe a different shotcup might help avoid blown wads and wrinkled petals.
2) The slugs from my home made moulds gave better accuracy than the Rapine slugs ~ likely due to thicker skirt so less wad deformation.
3) Since Rapine designed and sells this mould it must be a better performer than what I saw today so again I figure a shotcup change and better support is in order.
4) The 0.735" round balls are pretty consistent performers and while don't provide tack driving accuracy they give dependable results.
5) So far I have had best results with full bore slugs and round balls. Since I like full bore slugs I will make another mould for full bore TC hollow base.
Before I give up on slugs sized for shotcups I will try some different plastic shotcups and better support for the slugs along with filling the hollow base.
So far the best hollow base slug performance I have gotten is with the Rapine 730550 which gave me 2" groups at 50 yards ~ not too shabby. I have also gotten similar accuracy with AQ's, Brenneke, and Gualandi DGS slugs but no other home cast Foster style I have tried has performed as well.
The search continues.
In hind sight, it was a good day at the range. I learned something, it was a nice sunny day to be outside, I was shooting (always a good thing), my daughter came out with me and shot my .22 and .50 cal. Hawken (even better shooting with family), and last but not least. I remembered extra padding so my shoulder isn't all bruised!
Hopefully I will be back at it with better results in a week or two.
Longbow
Things didn't go nearly as well as I would have liked but like they say "A bad day at the range is better than the best day at work". Good thing I've got a job though as I don't think these results would get me a job writing for a gun magazine or designing slug moulds or loads.
It was a nice sunny day and just below freezing. Best of all, the snow was hard enough to walk on which is good because it is still deep.
I loaded up 10 each of:
560 gr. wadcutter hollow base (home made mould) 520 gr. TC hollow base (home made mould) 660500 Rapine 0.735" round balls left over AQ clones made with 0.735" round balls
All were loaded into Fiocchi low base hulls with Winchester 209 primers and for simplicity all powder charges were 33 grs. of Blue Dot.
All shooting was with smoothbore and open sights.
I had loaded 10 of each with the intent of seeing if they grouped well enough at 50 yards to try another group at 100.
The wadcutter slugs and TC slugs were made with the same mould. Both have a skirt of about 0.100" thick and have a balance point about 1/3 back from the nose.
Diameter is 0.651" and they were paper wrapped (to take up slop) and loaded into Winchester AA Red wads with a 1/8" nitro card wad under the slug. The Rapine 660500 were about 0.662" diameter and again paper wrapped and loaded into Winchester AA Red wads and again with a 1/8" nitro card wad under them.
I used 3 wraps of 0.004" paper on the 0.651" slugs and 2 wraps on the Rapine slugs to take up rattle room in the shotcups. They were all dry wrapped and paper cut in 4 petals.
I shot the first 5 shot "group" with the wadcutters, looked at the group and sobbed a little (well not really, I am more manly than that) so decided to shoot the other 5 at 50. No better.
I then shot 10 shot groups at 50 yards with all other slugs. Paper wrapping left the slugs right at the firing line and all slugs hit the paper nose on but groups were 12" to 16" at 50 yards.
Recovered wads from hollow base slug loads were badly blown and even the nitro card wads were crushed in the middle where they tried to climb into the hollow bases. Also, several had wrinled petals. Thicker petal steel shotcups would likely have made for a better fit and probably would have avoided blown wads. I don't have any though and none available locally.
The left over AQ clones were from a previous loading session and originally had 38 grs. of Blue Dot behind a 0.735" round ball with attached skirt. Last time out I pulled the trigger once and found the report and recoil substantially more than just a 0.735" round ball over the same charge and the cartridge wouldn't eject so I decided to pop the primers out and drop 5 grs. out. Did that but still got sticky extraction this time.
I have not seen any pressure signs using 38 grs. of Blue Dot under a 0.735" ball and am now down to 33 grs. so can only conclude that the attached skirt is causing too much barrel friction and so high pressure.
The winners of the day were plain old 0.735" round balls sat in a cut down shotcup and with a 1/8" nitro card wad under them. Those gave me a 10 shot group of 6" x 8" at 50 yards and 8 shots were in 4" x 6" vertical with the other two shots out horizontal. So far the 0.735" ball have given pretty consitent performance with groups of 4" to 6" at 50 yards for past outings.
What did I learn?
1) Well, it appears that either a filled hollow base, more hard card wads and maybe a different shotcup might help avoid blown wads and wrinkled petals.
2) The slugs from my home made moulds gave better accuracy than the Rapine slugs ~ likely due to thicker skirt so less wad deformation.
3) Since Rapine designed and sells this mould it must be a better performer than what I saw today so again I figure a shotcup change and better support is in order.
4) The 0.735" round balls are pretty consistent performers and while don't provide tack driving accuracy they give dependable results.
5) So far I have had best results with full bore slugs and round balls. Since I like full bore slugs I will make another mould for full bore TC hollow base.
Before I give up on slugs sized for shotcups I will try some different plastic shotcups and better support for the slugs along with filling the hollow base.
So far the best hollow base slug performance I have gotten is with the Rapine 730550 which gave me 2" groups at 50 yards ~ not too shabby. I have also gotten similar accuracy with AQ's, Brenneke, and Gualandi DGS slugs but no other home cast Foster style I have tried has performed as well.
The search continues.
In hind sight, it was a good day at the range. I learned something, it was a nice sunny day to be outside, I was shooting (always a good thing), my daughter came out with me and shot my .22 and .50 cal. Hawken (even better shooting with family), and last but not least. I remembered extra padding so my shoulder isn't all bruised!
Hopefully I will be back at it with better results in a week or two.
Longbow