Post by Richard on Jan 4, 2017 17:29:15 GMT -5
Back at it again………..
Took last week off with a cold and the holidays. So this week while my Sightron is out for repair I put on a scope that has seen many, many thousand muzzle loader shot from my .50’s and .45’s. It is a Burris “Short Mag” 4 – 14 with their hash marks. It already had a set of Burris 1” tactical rings on it and just clamped on the Picatinny rail. With three sighter shots I was in the ball park and ready to test some loads. Other than the last group, all the bullets were 300 gr. either XTP, Swift A-frame or Speer Deep Curl. Also, Re-7 and N-120 were incorporated in the duplex loads. Also “light” duplex for sensitive shoulders, women and kids. The weather was very windy at daybreak but did calm down a bit thought not enough for 300 yard shooting!
To start I got a baseline with 8/66 Clay/H-4198 and the 300 gr. XTP. This combination will usually always produce thee shot groups in and around ½” and did so this morning.
Next up was the 300 gr. Swift A-Frame and the same load. While it did not do too bad, I think that being a “tough” bullet, it may need a wad to help seal and produce better groups………although, 4 of the 5 shots had a 14 fps ES. Maybe it just does not want to shoot super small. It has GOT to be an ideal bullet for deer at reasonable ranges based on its construction……..JMHO.
Moving along to the 300 gr. Speer Deep Curl and the same load. It shot just fair but then I have never gotten this bullet to do what the XTP’s do?
A couple times in the past I got surprised by a very light load (unintentional) When I throw my loads with the Harrell’s measure I have to dump it twice to get 66 gr. (the drum will only allow up to 64 gr. in one dump) . Apparently I have goofed and only pullet the handle once and gotten 33 gr. and noticed with said 8/33 I was only getting around 1800 fps. So this week, I decided to load up a few and see how they do group wise and was pleasantly surprised. Other than the group being off to the right (as were all my other groups) it was pretty much vertically in line with the 2787 fps load? Other than the first shot, the last four averaged 1932 fps with a 44 fps ES. Three (in a row) shots in .307” and all five in 1”. I was impressed???
For the fifth group with the XTP I used 8/66 of Clays and Reloader 7 This load did not shoot too bad but the average velocity was down maybe 50 fps ES not bad at 19 fps.
Next (since I know N-120 is a bit hotter than 4198) with the XTP I went with 8/64 of Clays and VV N-120. It also did not shoot too bad………..Not as good as H-4198 but could be tweaked. ES not bad at 22 fps. But at two grains less than RE-7, it was the same velocity. I think 8/66 of Clays’N-120 would be a solid 2800 fps but for the price of the powder, not worth it?
Keeping with the N-120 I shot four shot group with Kyle’s 275 AccuMax’s and other than the first shot being a little out………….4 in .682 and 3 in .442” it worked pretty well. As I have often found the first shot……….when switching powders, loads, or bullets, the first shot is sometimes out of the group.
Took last week off with a cold and the holidays. So this week while my Sightron is out for repair I put on a scope that has seen many, many thousand muzzle loader shot from my .50’s and .45’s. It is a Burris “Short Mag” 4 – 14 with their hash marks. It already had a set of Burris 1” tactical rings on it and just clamped on the Picatinny rail. With three sighter shots I was in the ball park and ready to test some loads. Other than the last group, all the bullets were 300 gr. either XTP, Swift A-frame or Speer Deep Curl. Also, Re-7 and N-120 were incorporated in the duplex loads. Also “light” duplex for sensitive shoulders, women and kids. The weather was very windy at daybreak but did calm down a bit thought not enough for 300 yard shooting!
To start I got a baseline with 8/66 Clay/H-4198 and the 300 gr. XTP. This combination will usually always produce thee shot groups in and around ½” and did so this morning.
Next up was the 300 gr. Swift A-Frame and the same load. While it did not do too bad, I think that being a “tough” bullet, it may need a wad to help seal and produce better groups………although, 4 of the 5 shots had a 14 fps ES. Maybe it just does not want to shoot super small. It has GOT to be an ideal bullet for deer at reasonable ranges based on its construction……..JMHO.
Moving along to the 300 gr. Speer Deep Curl and the same load. It shot just fair but then I have never gotten this bullet to do what the XTP’s do?
A couple times in the past I got surprised by a very light load (unintentional) When I throw my loads with the Harrell’s measure I have to dump it twice to get 66 gr. (the drum will only allow up to 64 gr. in one dump) . Apparently I have goofed and only pullet the handle once and gotten 33 gr. and noticed with said 8/33 I was only getting around 1800 fps. So this week, I decided to load up a few and see how they do group wise and was pleasantly surprised. Other than the group being off to the right (as were all my other groups) it was pretty much vertically in line with the 2787 fps load? Other than the first shot, the last four averaged 1932 fps with a 44 fps ES. Three (in a row) shots in .307” and all five in 1”. I was impressed???
For the fifth group with the XTP I used 8/66 of Clays and Reloader 7 This load did not shoot too bad but the average velocity was down maybe 50 fps ES not bad at 19 fps.
Next (since I know N-120 is a bit hotter than 4198) with the XTP I went with 8/64 of Clays and VV N-120. It also did not shoot too bad………..Not as good as H-4198 but could be tweaked. ES not bad at 22 fps. But at two grains less than RE-7, it was the same velocity. I think 8/66 of Clays’N-120 would be a solid 2800 fps but for the price of the powder, not worth it?
Keeping with the N-120 I shot four shot group with Kyle’s 275 AccuMax’s and other than the first shot being a little out………….4 in .682 and 3 in .442” it worked pretty well. As I have often found the first shot……….when switching powders, loads, or bullets, the first shot is sometimes out of the group.
