Bent Ramrod
03-21-2009, 11:11 PM
I cast up a bunch of the Catshooter .32 Keith boolits from the Group Buy Mould I received the other week. Every cavity worked well, although, since I ladle cast, it took two ladles to get the complete set done each time. Don't have a bottom-pour furnace.
Most boolits fell out of the mould within 30 seconds after opening. Their dropping out appeared to have more to do with reaching a given temperature after the pour than anything else. The No 3 position from the far end was generally the last to drop, and some tapping was required on the handle hinge. I suppose this is logical since the center would retain heat the longest. I had never used a six cavity mould before, but Rick's handles made it a breeze. I like that cam arrangement on the sprue cutter; my one example of a Lee two cavity mould is kind of hard to knock the sprue off of. In a short time I had a large pile of boolits ready to size.
They weighed 99 gr each without lube when cast from range scrap composed of previously cast boolits. I sized and lubed them to .313" mainly because for some reason my .314" size die appeared to have vanished. The boolits were .315" or so in diameter cast out of this alloy.
I loaded up a box of .32-20 shells with Small Pistol primers and a charge of 5.2 gr SR-4756, which has generally done well with such numbers as Ideal 3118 and 311316 in my revolvers. The shells were crimped into the crimp groove with a C-H crimp die. Distance was 25 yards; groups were 5 shots.
My modified 5-1/2" Bisley revolver with the tight throated cylinder shot 3-3/4" and 3-1/2". Switching to the more open throated cylinder, it did 3-1/4" (4 in 1-1/2") and 2-7/8" (4 in 1-7/8").
Three groups in the 5" Army Special were 3-1/4" (4 in 2"), 1-7/8" and 2-5/8" (4 in 1-5/8").
The Cimarron Arms 7-1/2" SA clone did a three shot group of 7/8" and a 2 shot of 3/8", with the five shots in 3-7/8," followed by a 3" group. I think I flip that long barrel up when I shoot sometimes.
I then reloaded the shells with Bullseye and Unique in increments of half a grain from min to somewhat short of max according to a few loading manuals I looked at. These were tried in the Cimarron at 25 yards, 5 shots per increment.
With Bullseye, any load between 2.5 and 4 grains put at least 4 out of 5 into 2-1/2" or slightly under. With Unique, anything between 3.5 and 5 grains would put at least 4 out of 5 into 1-1/2" to 2-5/8". The last load of 5 grains gave a 2" group with three shots in 3/8".
My bench pistol shooting (and my offhand pistol shooting, for that matter) isn't the greatest, but it appears this boolit has a lot of potential. Best of all, it shot to very near POA in the Cimarron. There's nothing that says "harmonic confluence" to me like a fixed sight SA that shoots to POA.
The cleaning session afterwards showed a slight amount of lead in the grooves ahead of the forcing cone. I may have sized these boolits too much for the Cimarron. The .314" die made a magical reappearance after I had all the boolits sized. Maybe next time I'll run them through a .316" die and just lube them without sizing and see what happens.
Anyway, the Keith boolit appears to work very well. Cut clean holes in the paper. I was hoping to do some chronographing today but it was too windy to set up. I'll try the boolits in rifles when I get a chance.
This design ought to be perfect for the .32 Long/Magnum/.327 series. If there's ever another Group Buy of this design with a bigger nose and a weight of 115-gr, count me in.:mrgreen: Thanks, Catshooter for getting this to us.
Most boolits fell out of the mould within 30 seconds after opening. Their dropping out appeared to have more to do with reaching a given temperature after the pour than anything else. The No 3 position from the far end was generally the last to drop, and some tapping was required on the handle hinge. I suppose this is logical since the center would retain heat the longest. I had never used a six cavity mould before, but Rick's handles made it a breeze. I like that cam arrangement on the sprue cutter; my one example of a Lee two cavity mould is kind of hard to knock the sprue off of. In a short time I had a large pile of boolits ready to size.
They weighed 99 gr each without lube when cast from range scrap composed of previously cast boolits. I sized and lubed them to .313" mainly because for some reason my .314" size die appeared to have vanished. The boolits were .315" or so in diameter cast out of this alloy.
I loaded up a box of .32-20 shells with Small Pistol primers and a charge of 5.2 gr SR-4756, which has generally done well with such numbers as Ideal 3118 and 311316 in my revolvers. The shells were crimped into the crimp groove with a C-H crimp die. Distance was 25 yards; groups were 5 shots.
My modified 5-1/2" Bisley revolver with the tight throated cylinder shot 3-3/4" and 3-1/2". Switching to the more open throated cylinder, it did 3-1/4" (4 in 1-1/2") and 2-7/8" (4 in 1-7/8").
Three groups in the 5" Army Special were 3-1/4" (4 in 2"), 1-7/8" and 2-5/8" (4 in 1-5/8").
The Cimarron Arms 7-1/2" SA clone did a three shot group of 7/8" and a 2 shot of 3/8", with the five shots in 3-7/8," followed by a 3" group. I think I flip that long barrel up when I shoot sometimes.
I then reloaded the shells with Bullseye and Unique in increments of half a grain from min to somewhat short of max according to a few loading manuals I looked at. These were tried in the Cimarron at 25 yards, 5 shots per increment.
With Bullseye, any load between 2.5 and 4 grains put at least 4 out of 5 into 2-1/2" or slightly under. With Unique, anything between 3.5 and 5 grains would put at least 4 out of 5 into 1-1/2" to 2-5/8". The last load of 5 grains gave a 2" group with three shots in 3/8".
My bench pistol shooting (and my offhand pistol shooting, for that matter) isn't the greatest, but it appears this boolit has a lot of potential. Best of all, it shot to very near POA in the Cimarron. There's nothing that says "harmonic confluence" to me like a fixed sight SA that shoots to POA.
The cleaning session afterwards showed a slight amount of lead in the grooves ahead of the forcing cone. I may have sized these boolits too much for the Cimarron. The .314" die made a magical reappearance after I had all the boolits sized. Maybe next time I'll run them through a .316" die and just lube them without sizing and see what happens.
Anyway, the Keith boolit appears to work very well. Cut clean holes in the paper. I was hoping to do some chronographing today but it was too windy to set up. I'll try the boolits in rifles when I get a chance.
This design ought to be perfect for the .32 Long/Magnum/.327 series. If there's ever another Group Buy of this design with a bigger nose and a weight of 115-gr, count me in.:mrgreen: Thanks, Catshooter for getting this to us.