Fun and Testing at the Range

[Rcmaveric]

Some successes and some failures. It was 50% humidity and the weather channel said it felt like 99*F out there. My single coat tumble lubes failed and my Simple lube i use for 9MM Luger failed me. Sad because I have a couple thousand 9mm bullets lubed with that. Time to fire up the casting pot and make some more. Surprised that a single coat of 45/45/10 failed in my .357 Mag but worked in my 380 Auto, but two coats worked great in my plinker 30-30 rounds and 6.5 Grendel Fire formers. The SL-68B held up and the Bens Red got messy (lube star on the muzzle and normally tight groups opend).

I know these shots are at 50 yards and my normal standard is 100. The wife cant hit a paper plate at 100 yards. I also had my plinkers for the Grendel to fire form brass. Kind of dismal accuracy in Grendels fire forming loads but i wasn't shooting for groups but just to make brass and practice trigger pull, but they made me some new brass with out wrecking it. Did get through a test batch of 30-30 and think I got a window to play with and tune.

The 260 Rem has been a problem child of mine for, well, a year. So with that load i will take it. I know it will exponential at 100 yards, but that still minute of a deer and the best groups of the year. NOE has a creedmore bullet design I want to get my hands on. Havent been able to get the RCBS SIL 6.5 bullets to shoot and those Grendel bullets are as good as i can get until i find a better fit. The RX7 loads i had tuned with NOE bullets sadly weren't repeatable, but those 2400 loads were. Back to the drawing board. I am happy with up to 2.5 MOA group at 100 yards as long as its repeatable and consistent with 1 MOA being preferred. Anything tighter than MOA is just showing off and bragging rights. Any tips from someone who has been successful with that cartridge i would love to hear about your quest to achieve it.

My pistol work is lacking. Need to practice that more. Most if it I blame on grip. I don't plan on hand gun hunting but i would like a palm sized group or smaller at 25 yards. I keep telling my self to do some load work ups and see what happens. Darn Flyers. Normally i do a palm sized group at 25 yards with the 9mm, but the heat kind of made everything finicky

Tweleve gauge buck shot tests was fun and made me hopefull. I need to get my hands on some buffer. Cheap recycler in me doesn't want to buy the real stuff but i don't feel experienced enough to play with COW. Specially when it feels i like needed gills to breath today.

The Lee 1oz slugs with the alliant data backed off 2 grains was punishing and missed the targets at 25 yards. My gun only has beads but i figured i would atleast hit the paper. Felt like getting hit by a mack truck. Even busted a knuckle on the slide. I find it odd that a 1 1/4 oz load used 34g max Blue dot but their slug data has 49g max of blue Dot for a 1oz slug. Glad i didn't use 49g. I think it would be better at around 35g ranges. I wanna say it appeared the wad or something flew apart after the muzzle.







Took notes and pictures. Time to hit the drawing board to evaluate. Then adapt, overcome and achieve. And---uh--- clean my guns. <.<.

 

[Rcmaveric]

I don't know why it double posted pictures like that. They aren't in the edit or preview.

 

[fiver]

buffer will tighten up that buck shot load.
your clay's load is only going about 1150 fps, maybe a titch less. 17.7 should take it up to around 1200 fps.
my guess is it isn't the load or the speed I'm thinking your doing a little damage to the pellets in the choke.
the buffer will let them smoosh about a bit helping avoid that.

one thing I would try before changing the gun club load is to add a felt under the pellets, and if you have a changeable choke run a couple through each choke size.
buckshot loads are tunable to a shot gun just like metallic loading is, you just have to walk through the steps.
the felt will help cushion the pellets, it will also help buffer it from the powders pressure wave and slightly lower your pressure.

my Buckshot loads are worked up with Unique, have a felt in the base, and wads that don't have the inner support to the petals.
all of the pellets stay on a 6" plate at 20-25 yds., at 35 most are on a man sized cut out, at 36 they start zinging off.
at 25-30 yards they will penetrate a car door or go through a freezer/dryer and exit 100%, that's where I done my load testing..

 

[Ian]

You'd probably be better off to skip the 45-45-10 overcoat when using any of the SL61-71 series lubes. SL-68B doesn't need any help in hot weather, that's what its parent formula was designed for and it has just the right balance of stuff to lubricate in extreme heat without losing control of the oils and making a slippery mess inside the barrel.

 

[Rcmaveric]

My buck shot is cast from Range scraps and water dropped from the mold. I figured they were a little soft it could cause a problem. Trying to find a decent hunting load. Deers like dance around you in the fields and woods at about 25 to 50 yards around here. I am determined to harvest a deer with cast even if its cast buck shot. I got the punches, just need to get some felt. I punch out nitro cards and spacers.

I started the TL over coats while following ben. I just liked how it makes a tougher shell over the lube. Kind of like M&M's. Also doesn't make a mess of my hands handling the lubed bullets. There was a thought that it could be a problem. I do want to try the SL-71. I have all the ingredients except for the high temp paraffin.

 

[fiver]

your shot is a little harder than store bought stuff is.
my biggest problem was the diameter.
my mold comes in closer to 322 so stacking 3 in a row was problematic and 2 in a row made crimping and such a royal pain.
I really had to play with the wads and the alternate stacking methods to get things to work.
it didn't take me long to discover the short distance I could keep a pattern together using normal methods.

so for some tighter patterns at longer distances I cheat and use steel shot wads and loads.
those wads are designed for bigger shot at normal weights, and they will hold on to the shot a little longer before the petals pop open.
you can even manipulate the petals by buying un-slit wads and cutting them yourself.
it's also easier to gain speed because most of the loads are designed for around 1400 fps.