ORIGINAL: cayugad
I decided to play with my Ultra Mag .504 today as well. It was 86 degrees and a slight breese. Rather nice actually. I set the bench at 50 yards and was using the fiber optic sights that came with the rifle.
I originally wanted to see how the 385 grain Buffalo Bullets would shoot out of the White. Well at 50 yards they shot OK. Not great and not bad. Nothing to get excited about. Just OK. They would be grouping well and then all of a sudden a flyer would hit and you'd be 6" out of the main group. I still have not figured that one out yet.
Hey cayugad,
The Sidekick has land diameter of .501, and the Whiteis .504. I got the feeling thatis "too much" play. I would bet that the BB's lower rings barely mate the lands of the Whiteif they do that at all. With the 410s I used a wad which probably reduced alot of blow by. You might get a little betterperformancefrom them with a sub-base or even maybe a wad. One of these days I'm going to "mike" the Buffaloes when I get my hands on a micrometer.
The buffaloes are working in my "tighter than your White bore" butthe groups aren't asgoodas those of hornady's GPs whichhappen to be5 orders more difficult to load. In fact I think the goal of 4" is going to only be at 85 yards for the Buffaloes, but scoped, I am pretty sure the hornady's can sub-MOA at that same range, especially with BP for powder. I've thought about the Bullshops, but I think they would be "way to tight" to get started in my rifle. The hornadys begin easy and get tighter as one approaches the top band. I think B.S. is right. The top band needs to be groove diameter or pretty close to it. Maybe the hornadys would do well for the White, if you have some laying around, you might try them.
For hunting I am thinking of "pre-rifling" some hornadys in my barrel by crowning them, then rodding them out the muzzle. Kind of like B.S.'s swaging of Buffaloes, only I'll be more like resizing the hornadys so that they load easier in the field. Also I like this idea because I can cull any that get deformed going in for use at the range, leaving the most pristine for use while hunting.
The BullShop conicals shot well in your White. All critters had better stay clear of your aim
!
Happy Hunting, Phil