The New Nipple Fix
11-19-2018 | 12:20 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Boone & Crockett
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 10,918
Likes: 1
From: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
The New Nipple Fix
Shooting my .45 caliber Green Mountain barreled Renegade last month left me perplexed. I was shooting Ed Mehlig's 350 grain .452 lead hollow points and getting fairly poor 100 yard five-shot groups with a flyer or two in every group. That's just not right! This gun has always given me really good groups with Ed's big 350 and 465 grain bullets.
I want to include that gun in my weapon rotation for the next two months of deer season, and needed to fix the poor grouping. Having shot something close to 200 of Ed's bullets out of the gun over the last year I figured the nipple may be eroded pretty badly. I was right.
Yesterday I installed a new nipple and shot a test target with the big 465's. Here's the result with two shots each at 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 yards (even though I was not shooting my best).
I want to include that gun in my weapon rotation for the next two months of deer season, and needed to fix the poor grouping. Having shot something close to 200 of Ed's bullets out of the gun over the last year I figured the nipple may be eroded pretty badly. I was right.
Yesterday I installed a new nipple and shot a test target with the big 465's. Here's the result with two shots each at 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 yards (even though I was not shooting my best).
Last edited by Semisane; 11-19-2018 at 12:23 PM.
11-19-2018 | 05:02 PM
#3
Thread Starter
Boone & Crockett
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 10,918
Likes: 1
From: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
Absolutely. There's no doubt in my mind. I've had this happen before where accuracy dropped off due to erosion of the nipple flash hole. It occurs a lot faster when shooting hot loads and/or heavy bullets. I have AMPCO nipples in all of my caplocks and replaced the old one with a new one.
11-19-2018 | 06:53 PM
#6
Thread Starter
Boone & Crockett
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 10,918
Likes: 1
From: River Ridge, LA (Suburb of New Orleans)
Yeah Jake, two shots do not constitute a "group". I like five-shot groups for load testing.
I didn't shoot a third one on that target because I know the gun will shoot three-inch five shot groups at 150 yards with that load. Sometimes better, but never worse unless due to shooter error (or a worn nipple
).
What I didn't recall was the trajectory when set up for hunting. I have "a number" of sidelocks and use them interchangeably throughout our three month deer season - sometimes using one gun for a morning hunt and a different one in the evening. The purpose of this range session was to determine the trajectory with the scope setting I was using.
Once I do that, I record the trajectory on a tag taped to the gun's stock for quick reference while hunting.
I didn't shoot a third one on that target because I know the gun will shoot three-inch five shot groups at 150 yards with that load. Sometimes better, but never worse unless due to shooter error (or a worn nipple
).What I didn't recall was the trajectory when set up for hunting. I have "a number" of sidelocks and use them interchangeably throughout our three month deer season - sometimes using one gun for a morning hunt and a different one in the evening. The purpose of this range session was to determine the trajectory with the scope setting I was using.
Once I do that, I record the trajectory on a tag taped to the gun's stock for quick reference while hunting.
Last edited by Semisane; 11-19-2018 at 06:55 PM.
