Semisane

Before I left the range Sunday afternoon I got to wondering how the Swamp Dragon's 1:64 twist barrel would shoot conicals.

I had a good supply of 300 grain Lee REALs and a half dozen 295 grain HP Copper Clad PowerBelts. So I gave them a try.

Started off with 75 grains of GOEX FFFg under the REALs. They were lubed with Crisco and a wad was used between the powder and bullet.

I took three shots at 25 yards and was quite happy.





Naturally, I had to try three shots with the same load at 50 yards.





All I can say to that is .


Would more powder help? I upped the charge to 85 grains and tried three more at 50.





That's a little better. Let's try 95 grains. (It went so well I couldn't stop with three shots.)






Will that hold up with an additional 25 yards??? A fresh target at 75 yards should tell the tale.






Looks like we're back to .

I should have tried another round with a 105 grain charge at 75 yards, but I was running out of time and really wanted to shoot those PowerBelts.

So I replaced the target on the 75 yard frame with a fresh one and shot those six PowerBelts - three with 65 grains and three with 75 grains.





Well, four out of six on paper isn't so bad, is it?



.

1874sharpsshooter

I should call PETA , don't you know you shouldn't feed powerbelts to a swamp dragon?

Semisane

EXCELLENT Sharpsshooter! My first belly laugh of the day.

bronko22000

Hmmmmm. That 50 yd target looked great. But the 75 yd - not so much.
I believe I would continue to feed the dragon balls.

Duffer

So.... it's not able to spin them fast enough due to the twist rate?

or the conicals need more pop behind them in order to get them to grab the rifling better?

.....or other?

Semisane

Don't know Duffer. Sooner or later I'll get around to trying a stiff load of T7 under the REALs to see if it will stabilize them a little farther out there.

Regardless, I can live quite happily with .535 balls and a 125 yard limit.

Duffer

It's an awesome build and throws balls with excellence! If I were you, I might not ever care if it shoots conicals worth a hoot.

....but since I are me, it would bug me until I figured it out.