FNed 358318 and the whelen

[jhalcott]

went to the range today .I wanted to test the fn's in my whelen by shooting into water jugs and see what the bullet looked like . Well 7 gallon jugs later no bullet!!? the 1st 3 jugs were shredded,the next 3 had slits in them. The last jug had a tiny slit near the bottom. All I could find was the gas check at the end of the 3rd jug.Okay! Lets try wet phone books.I soaked 20 inches of phone books in a plastic trash bag for 5 hours.Placed them on the table at 25 yards and shot a round at them. I got 19 inches of penetration ,a 3/4" hole with a large 2-3" wound channel for about 6-8". I then shot an unmodified RN 358318 at the bale. It went out the back,a full 20" of penetration. The wound channel was slightly smaller than the FN the exit hole was about 1/2" where the FN was about 3/4". The Fn weighed 245 as shot ,recovered 195 and the check was gone. The expanded dia was about .4. The Rn was less than 3 inches under the dirt about 8 feet behind the bale. It weighed 250 as shot and 116.7 recovered. The load is 44/varget/WLR.The book says it should be going 2000 to 2050.but the chrono is busted (bad WIRES).This load feels like it is faster than that though. by the way ,they shoot into 1 1/4 inch 5 shot groups at 50 yards, the rn's do better!

[Pop Gun]

Yep. Your figures sound very close to my experiences with 250s in the Whelen.

And meplat size is one of the secrets to increasing penetration if you need it. You sort of sound surprised that either they would expand or that penetration was increased. Can't be sure which it is.

If you get bored, you might try about 45-47 grains of RL15 in with that along with a pistol primer. Might get you another 100 fps if you have a 24" barrel to burn it and accuracy below a inch at 100.

[Bret4207]

That design works great in my 03A3 Whelen too. The 35x250 Bator is flat nosed and results are about the same.

[jhalcott]

Is the RCBS FN design as good as the lyman 351318? I Knew the FN would Give a larger,shorter wound channel. I had shot the 200 grain 358315 THRU jugs of water and dry phone books at 100 yards.The FNed 200 gave the same results=7-8 inches of penetration and explosive impacts on water jugs. I'm considering having Buckshot hollow point this mold (250) but then I'm stuck with a modified mold. Flat nosing is easier than casting softnose bullets ,and I get fewer rejects!

[jhalcott]

Pop gun, expansion was increased BUT penetration with the FN's was DE creased! The bullets start out as a RN, then I chuck them in my battery power drill and spin them as I cut the nose with a Dremel tool. It DOES seem to affect the accuracy .1" for RN's and 1 1/4" for the FN's. What I don't get is why are they losing the checks?They LOOK and feel OK prior to loading but I found 6 of the ones I shot into a sand trap and all had lost the checks.

[Pop Gun]

Pop gun, expansion was increased BUT penetration with the FN's was DE creased!

What I don't get is why are they losing the checks?They LOOK and feel OK prior to loading but I found 6 of the ones I shot into a sand trap and all had lost the checks.

jh,

Yea. That's what I mean. You get more penetration out of the same weight bullet if it has less meplat. That's common sense really, it maintains more velocity until it begins to expand. And because it was more aerodynamic to begin with, it probably had higher velocity when it struck.

I tried experimenting with 311467s years ago. I started losing accuracy at @ 40% meplat. It really fell off about 75%. So today, 60% is my limit pretty much for rifles and about 62%-64% for handguns. Just doesn't appear to be a need for more, especially once you learn how to make soft metal work.

Sure increased wind resistance from a wider meplat decreases accuracy. You played the games as a kid. Drive down the road over 40 MPH and stick your hand out the window. First shape it like a knife in the wind and move it around simulating a bullet oscillating when it first exits a bore before it settles down. Then put your hand straight up so that your palm is facing into the wind and move it a little. It won't take long to see what aerodynamics does to help maintain bullet flight. Then speed up to 60 if you can and see how that makes a difference. Then picture in your mind the force at a bullet's speed.

And as to GCs. All I want is to keep them on until they get to where I sent them. After that, they have done their job as far as I am concerned.

[Bret4207]

The RCBS 200 grainer, in my limited experience, is a good shooter. Results on game will, like any home cast handload, vary by alloy,load and rifle. I tend to stick with near straight WW + a little tin. A 250 gr booilt at 1700+fps is death out to any range I feel I can hit at due to trajectory. FN or HP makes for a better job than the RN of the standard 358318. A faster load with a softer alloy striking the shoulder would still get the job done post haste.

I sometimes wonder if instead of pouring and loading 250 gr booilts for Bambi I shouldn't one day try getting the 358-180FN up to warp speed, say 22-2300 fps, and see how that works. But, being the busy type, I never seem to get around to trying it.

[Mk42gunner]

All this talk of boolits in the whelen have me wondering how a Lyman 358627 would do. I guess I'll have to dust off the mold, get some gas checks and find out one of these days.

Robert

[Bret4207]

Got a whole coffee can of the 358627 just begging to be loaded and shot. Someday...