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Post by reaperhunterkuks on Aug 20, 2023 13:44:01 GMT -5
Back from the first trip to the range with my new scout conversion. Started out with 50 grains at 25 yards to get close and then move back to 100. Dialed it in close from there and then started powder testing.  I stopped at 61 greens of IMR 4227. All I can say, is this thing will out shoot me all day long.
That is a 4 shot group at 100 yards. I need to move to clicks to the left, but that is all.
This is not shot from a sled. This is just me sitting on a block of wood with a sweatshirt under the barrel and holding a steady as possible. I can’t imagine what this thing will do from a lead sled.
I will play a little more on another day, but I think this will be where I land. 61 Grains IMR 4227 with a 275 grain fury star tip 2p. No was used.
Thank you to Jeff and all on this page for all the data that I was able to sift through. It made this process very easy for me with my first SML.
Coming from a 50 cal T/C prohunter I am ecstatic to say the least.
Thanks again all.

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Thank you!
Aug 20, 2023 13:45:34 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by reaperhunterkuks on Aug 20, 2023 13:45:34 GMT -5
How the heck do I upload a photo? Lol
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Post by Richard on Aug 20, 2023 15:41:55 GMT -5
Go to Imgbb (just Google those letters) and up load photo.
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Post by mike on Aug 20, 2023 19:20:57 GMT -5
I remember the feeling well, of never again having to shoot my black-powder muzzleloader! Of never again having to clean the nasty black mess from the barrel and action... every five or six shots! Of never again wondering what happened, after the shot, when all sight is eliminated due to a curtain of thick white black-powder smoke. Now being able to confidently take a solid rest with my CVA Apex spml and make a 246 yard tree-stand shot. My best muzzle-loader shooting decision, in 2015, was to have Hankins Precision Rifles build my heavy spml and learning from a lot of very experienced shooters that further engaged my growing shooting interest and prompted me to have Jeff convert a CVA Apex for my treestand use. Enjoy shooting your new gun and marveling at how accurate it is.
Incidentally, I too have begun testing smooth-sized .45 loads of 275 Fury Star-Tip launched with IMR 4227. Other have been shooting 4227 loads for a couple years. I have read on this forum that a Quick-Load calculation showed suspect (dangerous) pressure levels for a break-action above 55 grains, based on shooting a CVA Scout. Then I think another member chimed-in saying the gun should be safe up to over 60,000 psi. I don't remember how many grains of 4227 produces what pressures, sorry. I am no highly experienced shooter and only shoot loads recommended by trusted and very experienced shooters. I certainly might have misunderstood what I was reading, but I thought it might be important to bring this up. I apologize if you are one of the highly experienced shooters and know exactly what you are doing. By the way, I've shot loads of 4227 from 50 grains up to 53.5. 52.5 grains (2,467 fps ave. 12 ES) seemed to shoot most accurately for my gun. When I was shooting IMR 4198, my loads were 58 grains and then 65 grains that produced 2,620 average velocity. I have no muzzle-brake on my gun and the 65 grain 4198 load is stout; I suspect your gun has a brake for you to be able to comfortably shoot 61 grains of much faster burning 4227? Be safe and keep us filled in with your load development efforts.
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Post by reaperhunterkuks on Aug 20, 2023 19:35:39 GMT -5
I remember the feeling well, of never again having to shoot my black-powder muzzleloader! Of never again having to clean the nasty black mess from the barrel and action... every five or six shots! Of never again wondering what happened, after the shot, when all sight is eliminated due to a curtain of thick white black-powder smoke. Now being able to confidently take a solid rest with my CVA Apex spml and make a 246 yard tree-stand shot. My best muzzle-loader shooting decision, in 2015, was to have Hankins Precision Rifles build my heavy spml and learning from a lot of very experienced shooters that further engaged my growing shooting interest and prompted me to have Jeff convert a CVA Apex for my treestand use. Enjoy shooting your new gun and marveling at how accurate it is. Incidentally, I too have begun testing smooth-sized .45 loads of 275 Fury Star-Tip launched with IMR 4227. Other have been shooting 4227 loads for a couple years. I have read on this forum that a Quick-Load calculation showed suspect (dangerous) pressure levels for a break-action above 55 grains, based on shooting a CVA Scout. Then I think another member chimed-in saying the gun should be safe up to over 60,000 psi. I don't remember how many grains of 4227 produces what pressures, sorry. I am no highly experienced shooter and only shoot loads recommended by trusted and very experienced shooters. I certainly might have misunderstood what I was reading, but I thought it might be important to bring this up. I apologize if you are one of the highly experienced shooters and know exactly what you are doing. By the way, I've shot loads of 4227 from 50 grains up to 53.5. 52.5 grains (2,467 fps ave. 12 ES) seemed to shoot most accurately for my gun. When I was shooting IMR 4198, my loads were 58 grains and then 65 grains that produced 2,620 average velocity. I have no muzzle-brake on my gun and the 65 grain 4198 load is stout; I suspect your gun has a brake for you to be able to comfortably shoot 61 grains of much faster burning 4227? Be safe and keep us filled in with your load development efforts. Thanks for the feedback. I did read the same as you on max charge using 4227. I am headed back to the range this week with loads ranging from 50-54 grains. Hopefully I can get similar groups somewhere along the way.
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Post by reaperhunterkuks on Aug 20, 2023 19:53:14 GMT -5
Here is the link to the pic. Still haven’t figured out how to post a pic insa of a link. ibb.co/ZV8BmVS
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Post by james72 on Aug 20, 2023 20:13:49 GMT -5
Go to Imgbb (just Google those letters) and up load photo. As I mentioned in another post 4227 is a faster burning powder than 4198 and will reach peak pressure more quickly. Steve and Kyle (both very experienced in this area) did a QL calculation for me using 54g 4227 and a 278g Accumax bullet. The calculated pressure was around 50,000 psi, and both guys felt this was about the max powder charge you would want to shoot using a 278gr bullet out of a CVA Scout. I quoted Richard on this post hoping maybe some others with more experience in this area will see the post and comment. I know guys are hesitant to recommend loads, but I certainly would hate to see someone get hurt for shooting a load more that the barrel is rated for. Based upon my experience and others who are using 4227 powder, I think you will find the gun shoots very good in the 53-54gr range. You will also need to measure your powder chamber if you are shooting a CVA Scout. Mine measures 53gr with both 4227 and 4198 so that would be the minimum powder charge I can shoot. Yours will probably be close to that plus or minus a couple of grains.
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Post by mike on Aug 21, 2023 9:58:51 GMT -5
Go to Imgbb (just Google those letters) and up load photo. As I mentioned in another post 4227 is a faster burning powder than 4198 and will reach peak pressure more quickly. Steve and Kyle (both very experienced in this area) did a QL calculation for me using 54g 4227 and a 278g Accumax bullet. The calculated pressure was around 50,000 psi, and both guys felt this was about the max powder charge you would want to shoot using a 278gr bullet out of a CVA Scout. I quoted Richard on this post hoping maybe some others with more experience in this area will see the post and comment. I know guys are hesitant to recommend loads, but I certainly would hate to see someone get hurt for shooting a load more that the barrel is rated for. Based upon my experience and others who are using 4227 powder, I think you will find the gun shoots very good in the 53-54gr range. You will also need to measure your powder chamber if you are shooting a CVA Scout. Mine measures 53gr with both 4227 and 4198 so that would be the minimum powder charge I can shoot. Yours will probably be close to that plus or minus a couple of grains. Yes sir, james72, a very good point, indeed, that I was recently educated on by buckeye68. Powder chamber volume of a specific gun is important to consider whenever attempting to develop a new load. Sure don't want to push a bullet into the powder chamber and attempt to fire the gun! It is also important when loading a larger volume load of powder than the chamber was designed for. No problem seating a bullet on the powder in the barrel higher above the powder chamber, but if the powder chamber is not large enough there may be a problem in igniting all the powder and excessive barrel fouling will force the shooter to make frequent bullet sizing changes. I had this problem when I changed my heavy gun load to 328 Pittman's and 105 grains of 4895. The gun shot very accurately, but I had to re-size bullets after every five or six shots due to unusually high amounts of barrel fouling. I never experienced this issue when I was originally shooting 275 Pittmans launched with 78 grains of 4198. I do not want to have the powder chamber machined larger so I'm going to a 303 Pittman launched with 75 grains of 4198. Gonna shoot this load at next weekend's Kentucky Challenge so I'll learn how well it shoots in my rifle. As I continue my march into the ranks of the elderly and become less mentally competent (I laugh, but sadly it's true), combined with having once double loaded my heavy gun (caught it before disaster) and having heard and seen the results of loading errors; this spml game is super fun and technologically engaging, but is as serious as a heart attack and deserves plenty of caution when venturing off a well beaten trail. This is why I only shoot loads that other much more experienced shooters have completely developed.
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