JDL
03-27-2006, 02:34 PM
I've had a mold for a couple of years now, Lyman 311241, and decided yesterday it was time for some use, to earn it's keep. I've never had much success with plain base boolits but, something was drawing me to give it another shot, pun intended. Well, to make a long story short, it produced some very handsome boolits out of my ww alloy, although I had to remove a burr or 2 to get them out of the mold. I wasn't too far into the session when I realized I wasn't going to be able to wait for these puppies to cure properly before trying out, so I quinched some from the mold to hurry up the process.
I loaded up a handfull of the quinched last night to try out this A.M., consisting of a CCI 300 Large Pistol primer and 6 grains of Hercules Unique in a .30-30 case. Not a bear load (I'm guessing 1000-1200 fps) but, I was betting it would make its' way to the 50 yard target and not bounce off. Hey, I was right for once, they did!
My model 94 has an old steel Lyman 66 rear and a Redfield sourdough front that was my testbed for these new-to-me boolits. Although my allergies were making my eyes water terrible and I could see a halo above my front sight, I shot 3 groups: 1.90",1.10", and 1.65" for an average of 1.55". I know that some of you could do much better and on another day with a scoped rifle I may too, but, under the circumstances, I'm pleased. A quick glance revealed no lead in the bore and a lube star on the muzzle, so I'm thinking I may have been too quick to judge plain base boolits as they outperformed the 311041 at low velocity today. -JDL
I forgot to add that I wasn't shooting off a bench but, using cross-sticks and sitting on the ground.
I loaded up a handfull of the quinched last night to try out this A.M., consisting of a CCI 300 Large Pistol primer and 6 grains of Hercules Unique in a .30-30 case. Not a bear load (I'm guessing 1000-1200 fps) but, I was betting it would make its' way to the 50 yard target and not bounce off. Hey, I was right for once, they did!
My model 94 has an old steel Lyman 66 rear and a Redfield sourdough front that was my testbed for these new-to-me boolits. Although my allergies were making my eyes water terrible and I could see a halo above my front sight, I shot 3 groups: 1.90",1.10", and 1.65" for an average of 1.55". I know that some of you could do much better and on another day with a scoped rifle I may too, but, under the circumstances, I'm pleased. A quick glance revealed no lead in the bore and a lube star on the muzzle, so I'm thinking I may have been too quick to judge plain base boolits as they outperformed the 311041 at low velocity today. -JDL
I forgot to add that I wasn't shooting off a bench but, using cross-sticks and sitting on the ground.