oldracer
07-10-2010, 01:52 PM
As I noted earlier I had my first casts turn out wrinkled boolits with the Lee 6 cavity 148 DEWC mold and the advice for a hot plate was spot on with the next batches looking pretty darn close to perfect. So I wanted to see if the wrinkles would actually make any difference and also compare them to the ones I have been using from Missouri Bullet Co. What I did was weigh the casts and bought boolits, load 25 of each into 357 cases with the same powder load and primers at the same session on the reloading bench. I then measured accuracy, velocity with my birthday present chrono and noted things like leading and smoking. The results were a bit of a surprise to me when I looked at everything.
Gun was a S&W model 327 TRR8 custom center 8 shot.
Missouri Bullet Co> weight avg = 150gr, solid lube in 2 bands, 3.4gr W231 powder and W small pistol primers. Avg velocity = 734fps. Leading was spread around the forcing cone and some on the face of the cylinder and a little in the barrel and pronounced clouds of smoke from the lube. At 25 yds resting by hand on a bench all shots were in a 5 inch circle.
Gun was throughly cleaned.
Cast w/wrinkles> weight avg = 152gr, Lee liquid lube allowed to dry, 3.4gr W231 powder and W small pistol primers. Avg velocity was 710fps. Leading was less pronounced than before, none on the cylinder and slight in the barrel and very little smoke. At 25 yds resting on a bench by hand all shots same as above, slightly tighter possibly.
Gun was throughly cleaned.
Cast perfect looking> weight avg = 152gr, Lee liquid lube allowed to dry, 3.4gr W231 powder and W small pistol primers. Avg velocity was 712fps. Leading was less pronounced than 1st set, none on the cylinder and slight in the barrel and very little smoke. At 25 yds resting on a bench by hand all shots same as above, slightly tighter possibly.
So what do those with much more experience think about the test and any ideas? I did recast the wrinkled boolits and now have several thousand very nice ones!
Gun was a S&W model 327 TRR8 custom center 8 shot.
Missouri Bullet Co> weight avg = 150gr, solid lube in 2 bands, 3.4gr W231 powder and W small pistol primers. Avg velocity = 734fps. Leading was spread around the forcing cone and some on the face of the cylinder and a little in the barrel and pronounced clouds of smoke from the lube. At 25 yds resting by hand on a bench all shots were in a 5 inch circle.
Gun was throughly cleaned.
Cast w/wrinkles> weight avg = 152gr, Lee liquid lube allowed to dry, 3.4gr W231 powder and W small pistol primers. Avg velocity was 710fps. Leading was less pronounced than before, none on the cylinder and slight in the barrel and very little smoke. At 25 yds resting on a bench by hand all shots same as above, slightly tighter possibly.
Gun was throughly cleaned.
Cast perfect looking> weight avg = 152gr, Lee liquid lube allowed to dry, 3.4gr W231 powder and W small pistol primers. Avg velocity was 712fps. Leading was less pronounced than 1st set, none on the cylinder and slight in the barrel and very little smoke. At 25 yds resting on a bench by hand all shots same as above, slightly tighter possibly.
So what do those with much more experience think about the test and any ideas? I did recast the wrinkled boolits and now have several thousand very nice ones!