About the only place I dare shoot these days is at the farm and even there I have to shoot in the Garbanzo field as the wheat is to tall and is already beginning to dry out. The Garbanzo is almost to tall also.

Anyway, I got the bullet package in the mail the other day containing the Lehigh CF bullets - both the 40x185s and the new 40x215's. Grouse has already shot both bullets with good success from a 1-20 twist Knight so I decided to take a 1-30 DISC Extreme. I was really confident the 185's would shoot great from the 1-30. Then just for the heck of it, I through a couple 215's in my pocket - should have taken more! But, I was sure they would tumble from a 1-30 twist.

The goal was really to shoot a comparison test between the Bloodline 185's and the new CF 185's. Weather for me was a concerning factor - when I got to the farm the temp was 74* and in the short time I was there it was up to 83. Way to hot for a warm barrel and MMP tan sabots. For me the Tans are a great sabot and work extremely well anywhere from 60* to sub zero temps. But you gotta do what you gotta do and I needed to shoot.

This is a group pictures show the setup for the shoot.



The first pic upper left - shows how OCD I am - I always load a sabot with one petal facing the ram rod... but with these new CF bullets I find myself placing the bullet in the sabot with a petal on petal configuration.

The bottom left shows the different bullets I had with me this morning that I wanted to shoot with the two 185's being the topic of interest. The new 215 on the right has really peeked my interest. It is a real rifle bullet that even looks like it could be a center fire rifle bullet. Lehigh has closed up the hollow point somewhat and you would think that might make it more aero dynamic. As soon as Tom collects his 100 yard velocities we will know a lot more... In fact more about this bullet later.

When I go on site and set up - I did shoot 3 primers to clear the breech plug. Then I loaded up 110 grains of T7-2f and placed the indexed bullet in the crown - pushed it home. Dropped a primer in the bolt and at this point I did something different than I normally do. I shot the target with the first round - it did turn out to be out of the group a little bit but not bad. The next three shots were awesome! After shooting those 4 bullets one right after another with a Windex patch between shots I switched to the Bloodline 185's. The group did open up a little bit but I blame a lot of that on the warmer barrel-warmer temps. After completing the first group of shots. I want to repeat the test so I started again using the base of the BH bottle as point of aim and began shooting the second set of bullets. It was very difficult to really pick up the POA spot so I was not really to surprised when the groups opened up. But even then with all the negatives I was able to hold both groups under 2" at 100. And ya the barrel was warm.

Here is the target...



This last part of the post should be considered completely preliminary information.

For me the most interesting thing that occurred were the last couple of shots of the day. I loaded up the two 40x215 gr. Lehigh's and shoot them. I was sure they would tumble - in fact I know they would tumble (fail to stabilize). So I just picked an open area on the target and touched the trigger. Looking through the scope the hole did not look bad at all - so loaded up the next one and shot it at a lower spot on the target. You can find both holes on the target and the are not tumblers. Plan on going out again in the morning and shoot a group with the 1-30. If this works it could be one of the best 40 cal. bullets Lehigh Dave has ever made. Just think if this bullet could be shot from a 1-30 1-28 how many people would have a use for it...

Worst part none of this will be for sure even if they work tomorrow - Hopefully Tom who has some and SShooter might try the same shoot.

Hard To believe the 215 would shoot out of a 1:30 but stranger things have happened . I am Planning on shooting them out of the 1:20 today maybe i will take along a 1:30 just for the heck of it . I sure like the looks of the bullet .

I am very interested in the 215 , the size of the hollow point changes the length. Since the 200 stabilizes quite well with 100 or even 90 grains the 215 has potential and I feel it would be a better hunting bullet.
Question: is the hollow point on the 215 the same size and depth as the one on the 200?

Lee I am not a really good picture taker but this migh help show what SShooter and I are talking about

Nice report. The 215's weren't tumbling at that point, but the holes from them are a little more egg shaped than the rest. I guess more testing will tell.

Interesting hollow point on that, maybe that helps with the flight?

I am thinking along the same lines... I know when Dave reshaped the bullet by decreasing the length, adding weight forward, and possibly altering the nose - he may have created a super bullet.

I also have to say I never saw any of the first run 215's to know if this nose is different than the first ones.

Headed to the farm here in a bit - should be an interesting trip. Mathematically these should not shoot from a 1-30

mike

Stability Input Data Caliber: 0.400 in Bullet Weight: 215.0 gr Bullet Length: 1.000 in Plastic Tip Length: 0.000 in
Muzzle Velocity: 2300.0 ft/s Barrel Twist: 28.0 in
Temperature: 59.0 °F Pressure: 29.92 in Hg Output Data Stability: 1.063

Using a 1-28 at 2300fps the bullet is on the very bottom edge of stability.

JBM says no go at this speed in a 1-30

Stability Input Data Caliber: 0.400 in Bullet Weight: 215.0 gr Bullet Length: 1.000 in Plastic Tip Length: 0.000 in
Muzzle Velocity: 2300.0 ft/s Barrel Twist: 30.0 in
Temperature: 59.0 °F Pressure: 29.92 in Hg Output Data Stability: 0.926


http://kwk.us/twist.html says a 1-24 is needed using the same data

The good news is.....

The new 245gr .452 CF should stabilize in my ULA at 2150fps according to JBM.

Yes it's a lot different.

Lehigh even notes on the website with the 215 to use a fast twist barrel. But velocity can fix a lot