Bullet toss up
Lately I've been shooting the crap out of my .45 cal T/C Hawken/GM LRH barrel. I'm shooting 370 gr paper patched bullets sized to .447" and Ed's 350 gr HP conicals. Both are shooting fantastic with cloverleaf 3 shot groups more often then not. But in talking to Ed he told me that his bullets are cast at .458" and sized down to .452". So I thought why not shoot some of my 405 gr .458" bullets that I cast and size down to .451" then paper patch for my .45-70! I have a batched lubed up and ready to shoot. Will post the results ASAP.
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Yesterday I tried shooting my resized 405 gr bullets and they shot horribly. A 4" group at 50 yards. I don't know what could have made them shoot so badly as I had high hopes for them. I'm sort of thinking that it may have been the bullet lube (Lyman). I pan lubed the bullets and there was some excess on the bullets and the coating was uneven. As I type this I'm thinking that I should have ran them through the sizer again....dummy.
Do you guys think that could have been the cause? |
Naw. sounds like it could be the different bullet weight.
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A lot of things could have affected your grouping and yes uneven lube can cause poor groups. Usually not that big of a difference but some. But it could very well be that that particular barrel doesn't like that particular weight or overall shape of that 405 you cast. It could also be the hardness of the lead as well. Maybe Ed's are a touch harder or softer which will create a big difference in how the bullet obturates. You know how picky some rifles can be about their dinner.
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1 Attachment(s)
Originally Posted by hunters_life
(Post 4346362)
A lot of things could have affected your grouping and yes uneven lube can cause poor groups. Usually not that big of a difference but some. But it could very well be that that particular barrel doesn't like that particular weight or overall shape of that 405 you cast. It could also be the hardness of the lead as well. Maybe Ed's are a touch harder or softer which will create a big difference in how the bullet obturates. You know how picky some rifles can be about their dinner.
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Wow....could be why the difference. I found that the Sharps twist is 1:18" . That's a good deal faster then the 1:30 of the Hawken.
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Yup. Big difference. Those 370's may just be about as big/long as you can get through that particular barrel with any really repeatable accuracy. Paper patching is something I got into a good many years ago but didn't really stay with it long enough to consider myself well educated in the art. And an art it is from what little I experienced. Dad got into it a lot deeper than I ever did with a couple of his old sharps paper cartridge rifles. Both of those went to Mr. Simmons since none of us had any real experience with them other than the basics and he and the old man always fiddled around with them.
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Originally Posted by hunters_life
(Post 4346378)
Paper patching is something I got into a good many years ago but didn't really stay with it long enough to consider myself well educated in the art.
The rifling on the Sharps is deep with sharp corners (no pun intended) on the lands and groves. When I would brush the bore after letting solvent set in there for a few mins I would run a tight patch down and you could see all the small flecks of lead on the patches. It would take an hour to get it all out. |
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