Some good stuff……………

Barnes and Pittman’s doing well…………………………………………….

We shot yesterday as rain was predicted for today. Weather was 67 degrees at 7:00 in the a.m. with a very light breeze---don’t think it was much of an accuracy factor. Sunny to cloudy skies.

As usual, I like to foul the clean Brux .45 barrel with at least five “whatever” shots. BTW, the only powder combination I shot today was: 5-66 Clays/H-4198 and the only primer used was the Winchester 209 which…………upon firing some 33 shots, NEVER stuck or leaked AT ALL!!!! If I opened the bolt real quick, they even fell right off so CCI and FED. can “kiss my grits!” Also, some swear by single powder loads—mine likes duplex loads!

Today I used a 227 gr. SST that I had hollowed the base and used no wad. While shots #1 and 2 determined the size of the five shot group (.850”), shot 2, 3 & 4 grouped in .255”



OK, so Richard has not been shooting any Barnes TEZ’s lately? Not because they had not shot bad in the past, but I gave them a rest and was playing with altering generic bullets and also working with Kyle’s AccuMax’s. So, I start off with the 290 TEZ, mind you, I have not shot these bullets in probably 9 months. They have been toted around sized in my box (up to Kentucky) just waiting for an opportunity to get back to shooting them. Since I have been shooting he cup and core bullets without any wad, I thought I will do the same with the Barnes…………..NOT! First of all, the very first bullet down the bore was so loose, it would have fallen out if turned the rifle upside down!.......hence the lower velocity. Had that been a single powder, in my gun? I can assure you there would have been no ignition! A plus for a duplex load! For the rest of the shots I added a slight knurl and you can see the velocity stabilized with a 27 fps ES still the group only 2”



So, I decided to add a .060” veggie wad……….WOW! Velocity jumped up by 30 fps, ES went down to 17 fps and the three shot group funneled down to .515” A big PLUS for wads with the TEZ/





Since it shot well at 100 yards, lets see what it could do at 200? I added 1 ½ MOA to the 8x32 NF and shot a .497” three shot group. Not sure why the ES increased? But I did put more knurl on the bullets? Maybe I should have kept them looser? In any event, the 55 fps ES did not mess up the group.



Along the same lines now, I took the load out to 300 yards. With 4 MOA elevation (needs to be 4 ½ MOA for future testing) Couldn’t explain why #2 went out of the group as it was the same velocity as #3? ES for the five shots was 26 fps. So, three shots in a row gave 1.570”, best four shots at 1.715” and #2 (the spoiler) made it 3.275 for five. Needless to say, I was very happy with the 290 TEZ’s as I knew they shot well in the past but had never shot them with the 5/66 duplex.



Back to 100 yards this time with the 250 TEZ with no wad! Bad news………First shot way high and right second shot off the target board……….END OF TEST!

So now add a wad and the first two shots pretty close together but the third out to the left……..elevation good ES at 16 fps. Sometimes a bullet will do that for totally unknown reasons? Beats the tar out of me? If every load and bullet shot bug holes we would get bored! Stuff like that keeps us thinking and testing.



Now to the Kyle Pittman 300 gr. AccuMax with out any wad. Left the scope at 4 MOA as that was where I had it set for Kentucky. I fired one shot at the adjacent steel target and felt it was pretty close to where it should be then three on paper. OK, so it was a little high and right but damn, .575”!!! All I saw when I pulled the trigger on the third shot was that one hole just looking a little blacker. With the caliper at home it measured just .490” outside to outside.



By and large with cup and core bullets, I have not seen a really big difference in using or not using a wad. On this date and with the Barnes TEZ solid copper bullets, the difference was like night and day. The reasoning? They are hard to obdurate or get fat. For me, they also would not shoot period, with a single powder load. Maybe knurled up a bit and then full formed, they would work but so far, full forming has not shown me “jack chit!”



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