It has been a long time... too long and time to make up for it!
I'll start with "Any day at the range is a good day." and "The worst day at the range is better than the best day at work." to lead in...
That maybe gives you a hint. Things didn't go too well but it was a decent day for a change and not a lot of snow. We've gotten a sudden warming trend and snow is melting fast. We've got about 5' of snow beside the driveway but only maybe a foot left on the grass.
Anyway, I took out my single shot Cooey with a variety of slugs though I only shot 4 different slugs today:
Yeah, there's only three in the pic because the 4th is a 0.678" RB... its a sphere.
On the left we have a Lee 7/8 oz. slug, in the middle is my home made 525 gr. TC HB slug that gets 2 wraps of printer paper to make it a snug fit into a shotcup, then on the right is my home made full bore 565 gr. HB slug modeled after turbo's design except no grooves, this one was knurled up then sized back to 0.001" under bore diameter.
Results were dismal... well, maybe not dismal but not good.
All shooting was at 50 yards.
The Lee 7/8 oz. slug was sized to remove most of the taper then got one wrap of printer paper and into a shotcup. Accuracy was poor at 50 yards. I shot 10 and most were in about an 8" group but several bad fliers out of a 10 shot group so not good.
The 525 gr. TC slug was the one I thought would be the winner because I have shot a slightly different variation of it and it has done very well but this time it was truly dismal! Not one on the paper at 50 yards! I couldn't believe it. These were all filled with hot melt glue so there shouldn't have been any skirt deformation issues.
The 565 gr. full bore slug was a disappointment too. These cast at 0.729" with wheelweights but unfortunately the gun has a 0.733" bore so undersize (I measured wrong). To solve that I made a hammer sizer so knurled the slugs up then sized back to a hair under bore diameter. I've had mediocre accuracy with this slug before, but as cast, so I figured having it almost bore size would do it. Nope! Oddly I had a just about a perfectly horizontal line across the target within about an inch vertically but spread horizontally across the paper... right across the paper! These were filled with hot melt glue so again there shouldn't have been any skirt deformation.
Last but not least was the good 'ol 0.678" RB. It was the winner but the group was nothing to brag about... I am embarrassed to post it. I did get a cluster of shots together but as with the Lee slugs, some fliers. The RB did give the best overall group though.
I won't put all the blame on the slugs as the shooter is rusty and I was shooting off my elbows on the bench because I didn't have a good rest. That may explain some of the larger than expected groups but I think the slugs and/or loading procedures need work too (and likely slug designs). Also, my roll crimps were not very consistent. For some reason I was having trouble getting good crimps so that likely had some effect... but not enough to cause all the 525 gr. slugs to miss the paper!
I think I'll drop the 525 gr. slug as it must have been tumbling to shoot so poorly. The full bore slug will get tested again with a different wad column.
I thought I had loaded some as cast Lee's too but did not. I had sized the ones I took to remove some of the taper, as they have a lot of taper, then used one wrap of paper to get a nice fit in the shotcup and bore. I had thought that would be a good thing but it looks like I was mistaken! I'll try as cast next time.
I recovered quite a number of wads that I'll look at closely to see if anything shows up there. No slugs were recovered today.
Bad as accuracy was, it was still good to get to the range and burn some powder. I think I will try for next weekend too. Got some catching up to do. I've got more slugs loaded and lots cast and waiting to be loaded. Hopefully I'll have some targets I'm not embarrassed to post next time!
Longbow