CVA Buckslayers

Pglasgow · 07-29-2006, 12:27 PM

Well I shot them up. Things didn't go the way I hoped in that velocities were not consistent enough to encourage me to chrony at 25 yards for the B.C. calculation. The impression I have of them, is that they hate the 1:28 Sidekick barrel. They would probably have done better on a squibbed barrel, but I swabbed between each shot. The buckslayer load easier than BB ballets and all crownedwith light thumbpressure.Started with 80 grains Pyro P. Velocities were 1629, 1600, 1406, 1557, 1501, 1475. All over the map. The prints were all over the target too. About a 5" pattern at 50 yards. Went straight to Black Powder, 80 grains 3f.

They clocked 1537, 1476, 1499, 1349, 1431, 1456. Again, velocities were all over and they printed 3 1/2 inches. Better than with Pyro, but not good. That was yesterday afternoon late. It was hot and those crazy buffalo knats were driving me batty, flying into my nose. If I breathed in through my mouth, I'd nearly choke on them insidious little creatures. I decided to go home and come back this morning with the hawken.

Which is what I did. I had four 270 ballets left. So I decided to check the sighting with them. Put the target at 30 yards and began walking the POI toward the bull. The four shots chronied 1515, 1550, 1548, 1548. Now I know the 4th shot was the same as the 3rd because the chrony kept flashing "Dup". I would say 1550 is definitely a good number to put in your ballistics program when shooting 80 grains 3f Goex with the 270 ballet in your 1:48 15/16 X 28" Hawken.

Started shooting the buckslayers. Chronied 1384, 1426, and1403. They were printing pretty good at 30 yards right near the bull. I stuck thepatch and had to pop it out. I just kept running in wet patches. Then I wire brushed the bore. The fouling doesn't stick to the stainless of the Sidekick as persistently as it does in the hawken barrel. Cleaned the barrel real good and chronied 5 more at 1499, 1501, 1498, 1470, 1495. Cleaning things back up really helped to stabilize the velocities. I think 1500 is a good estimate of muzzle velocity for 80 grains and the deerslayer in the hawken. Those 5 printed around the bull. Probably 1.5" at 30 yards.

I was enjoying the hawken so much, I decided to leave the Sidekick in the truck. One gun cleaning is enough!

. So put on a new target and moved it back to 50 yards. Now out of buckslayers and ballets, I loaded 80 grains and the 385 GP. Cronied 1334, 1340, 1333, 1307, 1334. They printed about 2.5" wide and 3.5" tall at 50 yards.

Never had to clean out the hotshot nipple. Every shot fired flawlessly. Was nice to get the hawken out. I'm going to have to take it more often. I plan to do some sight tweaking in the future with it to see if I can shrinkthose groups any.

Cayugad, I hope this helps some. I think if I get more of the buckslayers, they are only going to be shot in the hawken. Just why the Sidekick doesn't like them, I don't know for sure. They are pretty loose and when coupled with the fast twist and larger charge than I had been using with the ballets, it just refused to shoot them well, kinda coughed them out. At least we got some good data for the 1:48 twist hawken barrels.

Happy Hunting, Phil

thunderhawk54 · 07-29-2006, 05:38 PM

Cant get them to shoot too in my 1:38 thunderhawk.. *sigh* having great trouble getting any of the conicals to shoot but not giving up yet..

Triple Se7en · 07-29-2006, 07:53 PM

I had no 100 yard luck with them two years ago with fast twists. That twist seems to like the lightweights 240-270swith gas checks and the monster conicalshaving no gas checks & needing fiber wads (460-490s).

That's my best mileage with conicals I've either tested or read multiple replies on.

Pglasgow · 07-29-2006, 09:08 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: thunderhawk54

Cant get them to shoot too in my 1:38 thunderhawk.. *sigh* having great trouble getting any of the conicals to shoot but not giving up yet..

I know that Triple Se7en had no luck with the 385 Great Plains bullets, but, they shoot fantastic in the Sidekick with 75 grains 3f Goex. I can certainly hunt to 100 yards where it delivers over a 1000 ft-lbs energy. And if it were scoped, further than that. I would think that the 1:38 twist of your barrel would be ideal for the bullet. But ultimately your rifle will tell you if it hasn't already whether the bullet is ideal for your bore.

There is absolutely no standard bore and many makes are not consistent gun to gun. I have found that different packs of the same projectile can be noticeably different in loading. I think a bullet can be designed in any grain weight from ballet to 500 grains to work with my Sidekick's 1:28 twist. Its just there aren't any bullets designed to work specifically with my rifle. I find the 385GP's the closest fit and best performer so far.

I will probably give some Bullshops a try some time, but I must confess, I don't savor the idea of having to squibb my barrel. I love the idea of shooting shot after shot with out swabbing or an easy loading second shot when hunting, but I want to know my load is going to have a fairly tight velocity distribution. Maybe I'll get that when I try them but I don't expect to when shooting a fouled barrel. I am also concerned with the abrasion of card wads and erosion from blowby if they are not used with them. But these big bullshops are producing good results and excellent groups and are something I hope to try later.

Happy Hunting, Phil

Triple Se7en · 07-29-2006, 10:02 PM

I should stress that my tests with 13 different conicals in a 1-28" twist was not a failure if you shot 75 yards or under using conicals from 240 gr to 410 gr -- using my Omega with strictly 777 powder.

I had 4-5 that did well at that 75 distance. I had none but the 270 gr. HP Ballet that was serviceable for hunting at 100 yards & beyond. But all those conicals were prior to my interest in shooting monster No Excuses & BullShop Bullets. I'll have a result on those bullets by the end of September - or sooner -- depending on the warm weather duration.

Pglasgow · 07-29-2006, 10:46 PM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: Triple Se7en

I should stress that my tests with 13 different conicals in a 1-28" twist was not a failure if you shot 75 yards or under using conicals from 240 gr to 410 gr -- using my Omega with strictly 777 powder.

I had 4-5 that did well at that 75 distance. I had none but the 270 gr. HP Ballet that was serviceable for hunting at 100 yards & beyond.

Maybe the failure is in the Omega not the twist.

I mostly hear people complaining about their Omega when it comes to conicals. Put a scope on my Sidekick, I think it could sub-MOA with the 385 GP. Seems it was Randy Wakeman sub-MOA'd some powerbelts with the rifle. Did you do that with your Omega? No. Because the Omega sucks with conicals. Try cutting off your QLA or better, buy arifle with a bore which is favorable to conicals. Performance may improve with Bullshops in the Omega, butitwill never be as good as it could be with a better built bore, like a White's.

Happy Hunting, Phil

thunderhawk54 · 07-30-2006, 05:39 AM

Quote:

ORIGINAL: Triple Se7en

I should stress that my tests with 13 different conicals in a 1-28" twist was not a failure if you shot 75 yards or under using conicals from 240 gr to 410 gr -- using my Omega with strictly 777 powder.

I had 4-5 that did well at that 75 distance. I had none but the 270 gr. HP Ballet that was serviceable for hunting at 100 yards & beyond. But all those conicals were prior to my interest in shooting monster No Excuses & BullShop Bullets. I'll have a result on those bullets by the end of September - or sooner -- depending on the warm weather duration.

So far the 310 grain ballet seems to shoot a group instead of a pattern and yesterday i bought some powerbelts to try.. keep your fingers crossed

other then that you are absolutely right about the low weight in the 1:38 twist.. the 240 grain sabots shoot nice little groups but the 300 grain XTP shoot over a foot !!! at50 yards with several bullets keyholing!

i never thought about wads though.. i'll keep that in mind for further testing