georgewxxx
03-21-2010, 07:26 PM
Like most winters, our yard gets good sized snow banks from clearing our driveway. That snow offers a good backstop to shoot and collect boolits to check bore diameter, retained weight, etc. A month ago I fired into the snow two different hollow point boolits just out of curiosity to see how much if any expansion there might be. Not very scientific, but it told me a lot of what I might take deer hunting later this year. Both 30-06 loads were originally intended for prairie dogs, but I always wondered how each would work for something bigger. From these results, either I need to slow them down or look elsewhere for deer fodder.
Both boolits happen to be Hensley & Gibbs numbers. One is their #86, from the hollow point side of a two cavity 30-30 flat nosed design, weighing 161gr from wheel weights at .313. The other is the Ness Glace Proof #38 weighing in at 147gr from the same lead/tin mixture...basically WW= a bit of tin for complete fill. They're both softer than most people think can be pushed at what my chronograph showed last summer. The #86 clocked an average of 2210fps using a primer charge of 3gr of Green Dot and a main charge of 57gr of MR8700 & the #38/Ness with the same exact load averaged 2375fps. At 100yds both will group around 2" or less. The Ness boolit usually gets the smaller groups of the two.
So yesterday & today I'm out in the snow trying to find the any of the 9 rounds I fired. If I remember right the day I shot the temperature was cold, like about zero or so, so I just wanted to bang a few of each and get back to the fireplace. I'm still missing one of the Ness boolits, but I averaged the weight and diameter. Only 2 out of the 8 I found had gas checks still on the bases. Yes, they were Hornady crimp on type, and just why the snow would rip them off I can't say. The #86 retained less than half it's weight ending up an average of 79.3gr expanding to .350. The Ness expanded a bit more to .382 weighing in at 70.2gr and that was less than half also. The gas checks weigh a tad under 3grains. I can tell you that some of the checks lying in the snow were at least 3 to 5 feet from the boolit when found, as were bits of nose portions of the same rounds. The rounds penetrated about 8 to 10 feet of snow. Remember this is fairly hard packed snow pushed into banks by a blade on the front of a pickup.
Those same two boolits may react differently if shot at 30-30 velocities of 2100fps or less. I wasn't working up target rounds, but if I backed down to 1800fps expansion results on snow my be different. The retained 70 to 80 grains still would have exited a deer if it didn't hit too much bone on the way out. I've only killed one deer with a hollow point boolit and that was with a 50/70 Springfield. Where that boolit ended up is a mystery. ....Geo
Both boolits happen to be Hensley & Gibbs numbers. One is their #86, from the hollow point side of a two cavity 30-30 flat nosed design, weighing 161gr from wheel weights at .313. The other is the Ness Glace Proof #38 weighing in at 147gr from the same lead/tin mixture...basically WW= a bit of tin for complete fill. They're both softer than most people think can be pushed at what my chronograph showed last summer. The #86 clocked an average of 2210fps using a primer charge of 3gr of Green Dot and a main charge of 57gr of MR8700 & the #38/Ness with the same exact load averaged 2375fps. At 100yds both will group around 2" or less. The Ness boolit usually gets the smaller groups of the two.
So yesterday & today I'm out in the snow trying to find the any of the 9 rounds I fired. If I remember right the day I shot the temperature was cold, like about zero or so, so I just wanted to bang a few of each and get back to the fireplace. I'm still missing one of the Ness boolits, but I averaged the weight and diameter. Only 2 out of the 8 I found had gas checks still on the bases. Yes, they were Hornady crimp on type, and just why the snow would rip them off I can't say. The #86 retained less than half it's weight ending up an average of 79.3gr expanding to .350. The Ness expanded a bit more to .382 weighing in at 70.2gr and that was less than half also. The gas checks weigh a tad under 3grains. I can tell you that some of the checks lying in the snow were at least 3 to 5 feet from the boolit when found, as were bits of nose portions of the same rounds. The rounds penetrated about 8 to 10 feet of snow. Remember this is fairly hard packed snow pushed into banks by a blade on the front of a pickup.
Those same two boolits may react differently if shot at 30-30 velocities of 2100fps or less. I wasn't working up target rounds, but if I backed down to 1800fps expansion results on snow my be different. The retained 70 to 80 grains still would have exited a deer if it didn't hit too much bone on the way out. I've only killed one deer with a hollow point boolit and that was with a 50/70 Springfield. Where that boolit ended up is a mystery. ....Geo