The .45 GM/Renegade - Big Lead/Five Shots/150 Yards
 

After a lengthy range session with the H&A Minuteman on Saturday, my thoughts on Sunday morning were for another long session, but this time with Ed Mehlig's big 465 grain bullets in the .45 Renegade.





I knew the last time I shot that gun I had it sighted in for 150 yards with those bullets. So after hauling the gun and gear out to the shooting bench, I put a target on the 150 yard frame and took a shot.

OUCH!!! I'm not in the least recoil shy. And though that load in the Renegade does have some stout recoil it has never bothered me before. But as it turns out, that long session on Saturday left my shoulder a little tender.

It was at once pretty clear there would be no long session today. I toughed it out for five shots and was quite happy to quit after the fifth one. I wish I had packed along some light recoiling .40/200 grain XTP's so I could continue shooting, but they were back home. So it was five shots, then clean the gun and head home.

Here's the target.

That is a great group for 150 yards. 90 grains of powder with that big lead would be stout. But that would be any dead big game animal at that distance. Nice shooting.

Dave, it doesn't show up well on the scanned target. But those bullets are not quite stable at that range. They have a tiny bit of wobble. Each hole has a small crescent mark on one side showing the bullet was not straight on when it hit the paper. I'm wondering if upping the charge to 95 grains would stabilize them.


If you like that 150 yard group, you will love what I get at that distance with Ed's .451/350 grain hollow points.



The shorter bullets are perfectly stable with an 85 grain charge.

Wow, those 350 gr really group well at 150 yds.

They sure do. Though I would prefer them to be flat points.

That hollow point is perfect for a harder alloy. But I see no need for a hollow point in a soft lead bullet. I'll have to check - did Ron shoot any of these in his water jug tests?

EDIT: Ron did test this bullet. I found his report and hereby withdraw any concerns about the hollow point. :biggrin:

See his results here: http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/blac...llowpoint.html
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The way those 350s shoot there is no reason to punish your shoulder with the 465s. Very nice.

I guess you're right Bronko. But what about Zombie Dinosaurs?

The 330gr Gould HP cast in pure lead and correctly sized is a great bullet for the 1-30 twist ML rifles.

Lyman used to offer the same bullet without the HP. Mold #457192 instead of #457122. They have been gone for a long time (1970s) but pop up occasionally on ebay.

IMO somewhere around 405gr is gunna be the max a 1-30 can handle without pushing the bullet too fast. They might be fine at shorter ranges but as you saw they can start to "wobble" as the range increases.

Semi...

What are those bullets lubed with? Just curious...

BPS

I don't know BPS. We'll need to wait for Ed to chime in and tell us.