Boz330
03-08-2010, 09:37 AM
Well we had a great first weekend of March, mid 50s Saturday and low 60s Sunday.
I got some work done around the farm on Sat. not as much as I wanted to but I was happy to just be outside all day and not freezing my butt off.
Sunday was Milsurp day. Started with the Carcano carbine. I had pretty good results group wise with 9gr of Trail Boss so I went with 10gr, no luck 7" group and the holes were really oblong. Second load was 14 gr of 5744 and this showed some promise at 3.5" X 2.25" and I'm going to try increasing that load. Still oblong holes though. Third load was 8700 but only fired 2 rounds and had a problem with the gun. One hole was perfectly round and the other hit sideways. This thing still baffles me but I may try cutting down the mold as one other member did and see if a shorter boolit is the answer.
Next up was the K-31 with the new NOE group buy 180gr boolit. The group for 11 rounds was 5"H X2.125W, but 8 of the 11 rounds were in a 2.25"H X 1.125"W group.
The powder was my go to 4759 X 20gr. I didn't keep track of which shots were the flyers but there were a couple different OAL rounds from testing for the gun. These loads were thrown together on the fly because I wanted to try out the new boolit but it looks extremely promising.
Last and surely not least was the SMLE. This rifle has a very worn throat and has given me fits in the past until I got a CBE oversize mold for it. I tried 10 different loads but will only hit the good ones. One powder threw every single boolit sideways. 18gr of 2400 gave me a 2.75"W X1.25"H group. 20gr of 5744 gave me a 1.75"H X3"W group with a flyer out to 5.5". 20gr of 4759 gave me 2.25"W X 1.75"H group so overall I was extremely happy with the day. These groups were all 5 rounds and all groups were shot at 100yds.
Man it was nice to get outside all day long for 2 days in a row. Winter really makes you appreciate the spring, although it can still be nasty during March and April.
Bob
I got some work done around the farm on Sat. not as much as I wanted to but I was happy to just be outside all day and not freezing my butt off.
Sunday was Milsurp day. Started with the Carcano carbine. I had pretty good results group wise with 9gr of Trail Boss so I went with 10gr, no luck 7" group and the holes were really oblong. Second load was 14 gr of 5744 and this showed some promise at 3.5" X 2.25" and I'm going to try increasing that load. Still oblong holes though. Third load was 8700 but only fired 2 rounds and had a problem with the gun. One hole was perfectly round and the other hit sideways. This thing still baffles me but I may try cutting down the mold as one other member did and see if a shorter boolit is the answer.
Next up was the K-31 with the new NOE group buy 180gr boolit. The group for 11 rounds was 5"H X2.125W, but 8 of the 11 rounds were in a 2.25"H X 1.125"W group.
The powder was my go to 4759 X 20gr. I didn't keep track of which shots were the flyers but there were a couple different OAL rounds from testing for the gun. These loads were thrown together on the fly because I wanted to try out the new boolit but it looks extremely promising.
Last and surely not least was the SMLE. This rifle has a very worn throat and has given me fits in the past until I got a CBE oversize mold for it. I tried 10 different loads but will only hit the good ones. One powder threw every single boolit sideways. 18gr of 2400 gave me a 2.75"W X1.25"H group. 20gr of 5744 gave me a 1.75"H X3"W group with a flyer out to 5.5". 20gr of 4759 gave me 2.25"W X 1.75"H group so overall I was extremely happy with the day. These groups were all 5 rounds and all groups were shot at 100yds.
Man it was nice to get outside all day long for 2 days in a row. Winter really makes you appreciate the spring, although it can still be nasty during March and April.
Bob