Mixed day at the range ...errrr farm

[singleshotbuff]

Gentlemen,

Had some decent weather here in Ohio today, so I stopped by the farm after work to do a bit of shooting with my M44 carbine. Mixed results :roll: .

The cast load I tried (first in this rifle) was a 120gr plain base RN (Lee design I believe) that I got in trade from someone here on the board, unsized at .314". WLR primers, 12.0grs Unique and a case full of dacron. Velocity was good, averaging 1666 f.p.s. and good extreme spread. Accuracy was not so good, able to miss an 8.5 X 11" paper target a couple of times out of five shots, leaning over the bed of my truck. At 35 yards :shock: . I definately need to work on this one. Maybe I'm pushing them too fast for a plain base even with the wadding? I might slow them down and try again, or maybe try red dot. Going to clean the barrel thoroughly first.

Next up was some milsurp yellow tip ammo, corrosive of course. 183gr bullet, average velocity of 2405 f.p.s., also good extreme spreads. Also hit right to the sights at 35 yards. Great plinking ammo, other than the cleaning, and I even managed to miss a groundhog with it. 3 times :Fire: .

Oh well, it was just nice to get out and relieve some stress outside with a rifle in my hands.

SSB

[redneckdan]

I experienced similar accuracy problems with my mauser. I loaded 15 grains of red dot under a 170 lee gascheck boolit, without the gascheck. I missed a piece of paper at 25 yds. I droped to 5 grains and use filler, i now can hit quarters at 25 yds.



Gentlemen,

Had some decent weather here in Ohio today, so I stopped by the farm after work to do a bit of shooting with my M44 carbine. Mixed results :roll: .

The cast load I tried (first in this rifle) was a 120gr plain base RN (Lee design I believe) that I got in trade from someone here on the board, unsized at .314". WLR primers, 12.0grs Unique and a case full of dacron. Velocity was good, averaging 1666 f.p.s. and good extreme spread. Accuracy was not so good, able to miss an 8.5 X 11" paper target a couple of times out of five shots, leaning over the bed of my truck. At 35 yards :shock: . I definately need to work on this one. Maybe I'm pushing them too fast for a plain base even with the wadding? I might slow them down and try again, or maybe try red dot. Going to clean the barrel thoroughly first.

Next up was some milsurp yellow tip ammo, corrosive of course. 183gr bullet, average velocity of 2405 f.p.s., also good extreme spreads. Also hit right to the sights at 35 yards. Great plinking ammo, other than the cleaning, and I even managed to miss a groundhog with it. 3 times :Fire: .

Oh well, it was just nice to get out and relieve some stress outside with a rifle in my hands.

SSB

[Buckshot]

............singleshotbuff, yeah I'd say that that 12.0 grs of Unique under a non GC'd 120gr slug would be a tad much. With PB slugs you wanna keep'em to about 1200 fps. That charge of Unique in a 45-70 with a 300gr slug is a good target load.

..................Buckshot

[singleshotbuff]

Buckshot,

I think I'm going to try about 8-9grs of Unique. Do you think that'll put me in the right ballpark?

I'm kinda losing hope in this gun as a cast shooter anyway. After spending the weekend getting all the old copper out of the barrel, it's pretty pitted. Doesn't look good for lead, but I guess I'll never know until I try it.

SSB