happy7
06-08-2009, 11:51 PM
Does anyone have experience shooting cast through the XDM??? I know leading is a tired subject. Probably eventually I can figure it out with the help of the archives here, but if anyone can save me some primers at this point, I would appreciate it.
I got a new 40 xdm in February. Does that mean I bought into the Obamamania? I hope the answer is no, but I probably did. I ordered a Lee 175 TC mold for it straight away from F&M and when it still hadn't come 10 days ago, I cancelled the order and got it from another vendor who had it in stock.
Anyway, to the question/problem. I cast up a pile of bullets for it and loaded up 15with 3.8 grains of clays. They shot 860 average of 5 over the chrono. Then I shot 10 at a target at 30 yards. only three bullets hit a 20" by 20" target. I had grouped about two inches with the gun with some factory stuff bought during the interminable wait for the mold. I took the gun home and examined it and found leading in the first third of the barrel, although not as much as I expected after that terrible accuracy.
Bullets were cast from WW and shot the day after they were cast.
Sized .401 and lubed with speed green.
Sized bullets do measure .401 to 401.5
Bullets loaded and pulled measure only slightly under .401
Barrel slug measures .40025 or so. I mean a quarter of a hash past .400 on the micrometer.
The rifling on the xdm barrel is ballard, but is not real deep. Could it be that the bullets are stripping through the rifling? Do I need to try a slower powder? Do I need a harder alloy to grab the rifling better? A different powder is going to be my first experiment if no one else can give me a better idea.
I got a new 40 xdm in February. Does that mean I bought into the Obamamania? I hope the answer is no, but I probably did. I ordered a Lee 175 TC mold for it straight away from F&M and when it still hadn't come 10 days ago, I cancelled the order and got it from another vendor who had it in stock.
Anyway, to the question/problem. I cast up a pile of bullets for it and loaded up 15with 3.8 grains of clays. They shot 860 average of 5 over the chrono. Then I shot 10 at a target at 30 yards. only three bullets hit a 20" by 20" target. I had grouped about two inches with the gun with some factory stuff bought during the interminable wait for the mold. I took the gun home and examined it and found leading in the first third of the barrel, although not as much as I expected after that terrible accuracy.
Bullets were cast from WW and shot the day after they were cast.
Sized .401 and lubed with speed green.
Sized bullets do measure .401 to 401.5
Bullets loaded and pulled measure only slightly under .401
Barrel slug measures .40025 or so. I mean a quarter of a hash past .400 on the micrometer.
The rifling on the xdm barrel is ballard, but is not real deep. Could it be that the bullets are stripping through the rifling? Do I need to try a slower powder? Do I need a harder alloy to grab the rifling better? A different powder is going to be my first experiment if no one else can give me a better idea.