I do not often do THIS
 

but, when I do it is really expensive - shooting BH that is... :D

I could help myself, I returned to the Farm yesterday evening to do some more shooting. I have had a case + of BH-209 for two years now and other than a bunch of shooting with it when I first bought it - it remains mostly untouched tuck away in a dark storage place. But for some I thought it might be beneficial to try some from my 1/24 with the new Lehigh 40x215 CF which in my world has become to be know as the "Super 40" bullet. It appears that it will do a lot of same things that a lot of the other bullets I have been using will do and seems like, on paper at least it will do it better. EXCEPT meet the rules and regulations established in my state for hunting Elk during ML season - the bullet is to small in diameter and it is not lead. - DANG!

So anyway got to the farm about 7:00 and got set up for a 'fun' shoot. I was suppose to be there just to punch holes in the paper to check for 'yaw' with various amounts of BH. I was not going to worry about group size or any of that. Did not even care that I planned on shooting even the first shot from a CCB (cold clean barrel) into the target.

The plan was to shoot 110 - 90 - 80 grain loads with the 1/24 shooting the long Lehigh 40. I decided somewhat to use BH because at 80 grains it would produce less velocity than 80 grains of T7. At 110 grains the velocity between the 2 powders with a this light bullet are near equal. I was confident that from my 1-24 twist 50 cal rifle that 80 gr. of BH would stabilize the bullet.

All loads ere by VOLUMNE. I started with the 110 grain loads - just to get the barrel heating thing out of the way. BH creates so much more physical heat than does T7 - I figured I would shoot them first verify that no yawing was occurring - then walk out to the target and mark the holes. By the time that was done the barrel should be cooled for the next shots. I did these each time between groups, although at 90 and 80 grains barrel heat did not seem to be an issue at all.

As planned the first shot from the CCB went into the target. No patching - turned to the truck and reloaded the second shot and took the second shot It was up about an 1" plus. I was a little disappointed but the hole looked good from the scope. Load number #2 and took the shot. I knew I hit the target because I heard the 'click' of the bullet going through the target but I could not find it on the target. I was a bit upset but loaded #3 and took the shot. Shot #3 was all my fault when the rifle went off I knew I had drifted left + there was the concern about totally missing the target. When I walked out to mark the target - I got a great surprise - made me pretty dang happy - except there was # 3 out there alone all by itself! DAmn. The good thing the holes looked very good actually the hole in the target board look better than the hole is in the paper.

Went back and started the next shoot @ 90 grains and then on to 80 grains. in the end all the holes appeared to have been clean and the bullet was stabilizing





Now the, if I had know or read Lee's information before I set out on this shoot I would have dropped to 70 grains and tried that also - other than the fact that I was/are running out of bullets. I would suggest that this shows that Lee's number were in the picture. From past powder testing episodes I estimate the 80 gr. loads were driving the bullet at about 1825-1840 fps.

Very interesting test. If you had to guess, at 90 grains, what would be the velocity? Also are you certain at the lower charges that the bullet will or would preform as expected? I ask of course because my Optima loves 90 grains of Black Horn. I think even though its .40 caliber it would be an excellent bullet for deer in the hardwoods and fields around here.

As for #3 in your first group ... don't that just make your day. :D

No #3 sucks! I hate it but I shot it and I gotta show it...

Approximated velocities

90 grains T7 - 1950 fps
90 grains BH - 1875 fps

The bullet is designed to work at 800 FPS and whenever Lehigh gives any numbers he always tries to be on the conservative side. So in real life I would think some where are around 6/700 fps.

Because of the high BC (.330) the bullet retains energy and FPS much longer than any of the other Lehigh - Bloodline bullets...

Shooting a 120 grain charge of BH - the muzzle velocity will 2090 with 2085 #'s of energy and at 225 yards the velocity will 1614 fps and still has 1243 #'s of energy.

Maybe I am just easily bitten - but for a ML bullet it seems dang good to me...

I am hoping early next week to do a medium test where I shoot the bullet through 2 wood 2x6 blocks a gallon milk jug on its side filled with a mixture that approximates the consistency of the vitals and then out through 3 wood 2x6 blocks. I use 80 yards as the test range as most of my deer harvest are probably in that range.

Hey Sabot, your OCD was a bit off, I see you missed the alignment of the petal with the sabot petal by about a millimeter :D

No I didn't! it was very close and and when you push them down in that heavy blue sabot - sometimes in the tight crown they move just a wee bit but it WAS aligned! petal to petal - petal to ram rod. Needs to be that way every time!

I can see the smoke rising from his ears!!!! Simmer down "Sheldon"

Soft kitty, warm kitty............... :s2:

Little Ball Of Furrrr

You guys are really wrong - Sheldon and his crew are NERD's making tons of money in their jobs - I relate more to Penney!

LOL Lordy that girl would kill an old fart like us Sabot!