sabotloader

Bronko - that is what I had already done on paper - now it is just a repetitive process for me. But once again I know I could get better accuracy by reducing the powder load, recoil, harmonic vibrations in the barrel, but again I am not interested in the MOST accurate - I am after an accurate load with powder load & energy that I want to shoot. If it is not accurate enough with my chosen rifle and load then I would probably change bullets to one that could achieve my accuracy standards. But as Grouse has indicated I have long ago shot for accuracy and have found the bullets that satisfy my needs. Again probably not the most accurate load but accurate enough to do what I need done for hunting. If I were making money shooting paper - things would be a lot different. And the process finding the right projectile and powder load would go in a different direction.

Knurling: The most difficult process is the proper amount if knurling for loading. Too much and it is difficult to load to little and it will slip up the barrel. It is really easy to tell when you load the bullet what you are going to get. And you might be surprised how little grip you really need in the bore. All you need is enough to grip the lands - it really does not have to fill the grooves. The only thing that really effects or changes accuracy is if the bullet is to loose with no grip... You have a wide, a very wide range, margin in which the bullet will retain accuracy.

A German Lutz Moller developed the theory of a 'bore rider' bullet.
Lehigh Dave explained it to me once and he made it make sense but I can not really repeat what he said...

If you look at his bullet the only thing that contacts the bore are the rings around the bullet and they do not necessarily fill the grooves.



This is a picture of a Black Powder breech loader bullet built for an 1864 Burnside Carbine... It was a brass bullet built on the same principle - a bore rider

bronko22000

Now I see. None of this was brought to light in your original post. (What I have been trying to do is to shoot a full bore conical other than a pure lead concial. With the advent of the 50 caliber pistols, there are some really nice 50 cal. bullets on the market. Of course these are not designed for a ML so some work on the bullets is needed. What I have been trying to do is to create a knurling on the bullet that increases the diameter of the bullet from .500 to .5015-.502.)
Your subsequent posts showed targets with nice groups but never stated that they were from your new knurling process. Do you think the same would hold true for jacketed bullets too of .50 cal.

sabotloader

Ya, I really do... Speer makes a .500x300 grain deep curl and it is an excellent bullet for a production bullet and the best part is you normally find them even though they are a Deep Curl - no a great demand for 50 cal pistol bullet.

Anyway, expense wise and for testing and easy way to go. If you go this route pick up a box and just drop one down your bore. If it drops to the bottom with a big thud it is going to take a heavy knurling probably with 'general purpose' files. If it goes down slowly but goes all the way down then you will only need a couple of mil files to get the lift you need. Because the 50x300 is such a short stubby bullet the stabilize very easily in a 1-28 twist. I think you are shooting a newer CVA and they normally have a tight bore - so it should be an easy knurling job. Make sure you have a short starter just in case...

You will need a wad - shot card or a MMP Sub base to help hold the gas behind the bullet.

It is fun to experiment with this...