BruceB
06-23-2006, 05:27 PM
The rifle is a Cogswell & Harrison-built standard Mauser '98, 3-leaf express sights, 21" straight-taper barrel. It has a Weaver K-1.5X scope mounted, with post reticle. It's still well under nine pounds WITH scope. That Decelerator pad works overtime, lemme tell y'all.
The bullet: 398 grains semi-roundnose, straight wheelweight alloy, water-quenched from the mould, casts at .421", sized at .419", Hornady .44 gaschecks, Felix lube in all grooves.
Cases: Remington .375 UltraMags, sized and fireformed to become .404 Jeffery brass. Works great at a fraction of the cost of .404 brass. CCI 200s supplied the spark.
On the previous thread about "biting the bullet", I detailed the first loads, which used XMP5744 powder.
Today, I fired a series of loads with 2400 at the lighter end, and with H4895 on the higher-powered end. Accuracy was not all that great, but not all that bad, either. I may mount a higher-powered glass just for load development, and one event gave me some pause today with this 1.5-power scope. Somewhere in the middle of all the shooting, I noticed that the crosswire had MOVED UP to become absolutely flush with the top of the post, whereas it's normally in a position where the post projects noticeably above the crosswire. Where to aim, and with what???? A few shots later and it was back in normal position, where it remained for the rest of the outing. This MAY have had some effect on a group or two, but I don't know for sure.
2400 loads, WITH and WITHOUT dacron:
26.0 2400, NO FILLER: 1314 average, 36 extreme spread, 15 standard deviation, 1.1"/5rds/50 yards
26.0 2400 WITH DACRON: 1338 fps, 17 es, 0.6"/4rds/50.....one hangfire gave only 1244 fps and dropped well out of the group, so I disregarded it. The .416 Rigby also gave me some hangfires with 2400 until the stuff started burning better with heavier loads. Note that this hangfire occurred with a dacron tuft in the case....that surprised me a bit.
28.0 2400, NO FILLER: 1374 av, 45 es, 15 sd, 2.0"/5/50
28.0 2400 WITH DACRON: 1421 av, 44 es, 17 sd, 1.4"/5/50
30.0 2400 NO FILLER: lost readings, 1.5"/5/50
30.0 2400 WITH DACRON: 1461 av, 34 es, 14 sd, 1.1"/5/50
32.0 2400, NO FILLER: 1499 av, 41 es, 14 sd, 0.9"/5/50
The H4895 series:
ALL loads used dacron except the very last one with 60.0 grains of 4895.
50.0 H4895: 1686 av, 71 es, 26 sd, 1.1"/5/50
52.0 H4895: 1753 av, 95 es, 37 sd, 1.7"/5/50
54.0 H4895: 1823 av, 34 es, 12 sd, 1.8"/4/50 with a low uncalled flyer.
56.0 H4895: 1855 av, 30 es, 14 sd, 1.1"/5/50
58.0 H4895: 1939 av, 23 es, 9 sd, 2"/5/50
60.0 H4895: 1991 av, 17 es, 7 sd, 1.2"/5/50
60.0 H4895 NO FILLER: 1958 av, 54 es, 21 sd, 2.0"/5/50.....compare with 60.0 with dacron immediately above.
I felt myself to be on very safe ground with these loads, particularly in the case of 4895. I have loaded MUCH heavier charges of H4895 than those above, with both Barnes Original 400-grain jacketed bullets and their 400-grain X-Bullets, both at .423" diameter (in my .4185" bore!!!!) At the 60.0 charge level, the primers were just barely starting to show any flattening at all...before that, they were all very rounded in contour after firing. My brass should last forever at these pressure levels.
I think the dacron is showing its benefits to a degree, although not with the startling results I've seen in other combos.
Lots more to come. I'm sure enjoying getting this old rifle out for some exercise with a proper cast boolit, and I'm even remembering to keep my tongue where it belongs without any painful reminders from the rifle...
The bullet: 398 grains semi-roundnose, straight wheelweight alloy, water-quenched from the mould, casts at .421", sized at .419", Hornady .44 gaschecks, Felix lube in all grooves.
Cases: Remington .375 UltraMags, sized and fireformed to become .404 Jeffery brass. Works great at a fraction of the cost of .404 brass. CCI 200s supplied the spark.
On the previous thread about "biting the bullet", I detailed the first loads, which used XMP5744 powder.
Today, I fired a series of loads with 2400 at the lighter end, and with H4895 on the higher-powered end. Accuracy was not all that great, but not all that bad, either. I may mount a higher-powered glass just for load development, and one event gave me some pause today with this 1.5-power scope. Somewhere in the middle of all the shooting, I noticed that the crosswire had MOVED UP to become absolutely flush with the top of the post, whereas it's normally in a position where the post projects noticeably above the crosswire. Where to aim, and with what???? A few shots later and it was back in normal position, where it remained for the rest of the outing. This MAY have had some effect on a group or two, but I don't know for sure.
2400 loads, WITH and WITHOUT dacron:
26.0 2400, NO FILLER: 1314 average, 36 extreme spread, 15 standard deviation, 1.1"/5rds/50 yards
26.0 2400 WITH DACRON: 1338 fps, 17 es, 0.6"/4rds/50.....one hangfire gave only 1244 fps and dropped well out of the group, so I disregarded it. The .416 Rigby also gave me some hangfires with 2400 until the stuff started burning better with heavier loads. Note that this hangfire occurred with a dacron tuft in the case....that surprised me a bit.
28.0 2400, NO FILLER: 1374 av, 45 es, 15 sd, 2.0"/5/50
28.0 2400 WITH DACRON: 1421 av, 44 es, 17 sd, 1.4"/5/50
30.0 2400 NO FILLER: lost readings, 1.5"/5/50
30.0 2400 WITH DACRON: 1461 av, 34 es, 14 sd, 1.1"/5/50
32.0 2400, NO FILLER: 1499 av, 41 es, 14 sd, 0.9"/5/50
The H4895 series:
ALL loads used dacron except the very last one with 60.0 grains of 4895.
50.0 H4895: 1686 av, 71 es, 26 sd, 1.1"/5/50
52.0 H4895: 1753 av, 95 es, 37 sd, 1.7"/5/50
54.0 H4895: 1823 av, 34 es, 12 sd, 1.8"/4/50 with a low uncalled flyer.
56.0 H4895: 1855 av, 30 es, 14 sd, 1.1"/5/50
58.0 H4895: 1939 av, 23 es, 9 sd, 2"/5/50
60.0 H4895: 1991 av, 17 es, 7 sd, 1.2"/5/50
60.0 H4895 NO FILLER: 1958 av, 54 es, 21 sd, 2.0"/5/50.....compare with 60.0 with dacron immediately above.
I felt myself to be on very safe ground with these loads, particularly in the case of 4895. I have loaded MUCH heavier charges of H4895 than those above, with both Barnes Original 400-grain jacketed bullets and their 400-grain X-Bullets, both at .423" diameter (in my .4185" bore!!!!) At the 60.0 charge level, the primers were just barely starting to show any flattening at all...before that, they were all very rounded in contour after firing. My brass should last forever at these pressure levels.
I think the dacron is showing its benefits to a degree, although not with the startling results I've seen in other combos.
Lots more to come. I'm sure enjoying getting this old rifle out for some exercise with a proper cast boolit, and I'm even remembering to keep my tongue where it belongs without any painful reminders from the rifle...