The first load was a 300 grain bullet my friend Vittles sent me. He had a whole box he didn't need and wanted me to try them before remelting them down. About 300 of them. A couple of weeks ago, I had a lot of failures to fire from this using the Hodgdon numbers. They spread the H4198 for the Springfield under a 300 grain bullet from 30 to 35.5. For IMR4198, they go 33 to 36. Since the light loads didn't work at all for me before, I started from 34 and went up to 39. The best load for me was as follows:
300 grain LRNFP (Vittles)
37 grains of H4198, avg 1422 fps
Federal Large Rifle
COL: 2.541
Starline Brass Trim 2.085
Notes: Some shots registered above 2000 fps, I think the Chrony was to close. I moved it out and had more consistent results later. Group was about 2.25" @ 50 yards
The max load of 39 grains of H4198 yielded a velocity of 1540, with a standard deviation of just 3!!! However the group was not satisfactory. I might try that again to see if it was just me.
The 350 grain bullet I bought on Midway from BlackDawge. I loaded that from 33 to 38 grains. The best load for me was as follows:
350 grain LRNFP (BlackDawge)
36 grains of H4198, avg. 1340 fps SD 50
Federal Large Rifle
COL 2.52
Starline Brass Trim 2.085
Notes: Several loads had smaller standard deviations, but the groups were tighter a little bit here. Accuracy was about " @ 50 yards. Two groups overlapped, so I edited out the other holes. THats why there is some pixilation.
The 405 grain bullet was also a BlackDawge. I had initially received some that had been cast or sized too narrow, about .455 instead of the advertised .458. I returned them and got two boxes back at the right size. I was low on brass at this point since I had loaded everything else already, so I only shot 34 and 35 grins. Neither was spectacular.
405 grain LRNFP (BlackDawge)
34 grains of H4198, avg. 1339 fps SD 5!!
Federal Large Rifle
COL 2.520
Starline Brass Trim 2.085
Notes: Despite the tight standard deviation, the group was 2.75" @ 50 yards. The tight group next to it was the 438 grain I shot next. Later, I got a great group with the 405 with 777 black powder, so I think I need to try more loads with it.
438 grain LRNFP-GC (Vittles)
30 grains H4198, avg. 1207 fps SD 74
Federal Large Rifle
COL 2.44
Starline Brass Trim 2.085
Notes: The 438 grain bullets Vittles sent me are a funny size. Their crimp groove is preceded by a thing shoulder that gets caught in the rifling if I use it. So I seat the bullets deeper and taper crimp on that last shoulder instead. Maybe it was fluke, I only shot three bullets, but the lowest charge resulted in a 3/4" group at 50 yards!
The largest bullet I shot was a 500 grain, spire point bullet by my friend Vittles. It's a very slick projectile, swaged for uniformity. I shot this from 30 grains up to 34.
500 grain LCSpire (Vittles)
32 grains H4198, avg. 1207 fps SD 8
Federal Large Rifle
COL 2.81
Hornady FTX Brass Trim 2.040
Notes: Later, when I shot with 777, I had trouble putting the rounds in the chamber, because I hadn't trimmed the cases down. The best group for this round was 1" @ 50 yards. I only show to in the picture because I twitched and shanked the third round.
I then tried each round with a load of black powder. The loads were probably on the hot side. I lightly filled the case to the point where I estimated I could compress the 777 1/2" to the bullet seating deapth. The 300 and 350 grain bullets were spectacularly bad loads! Group sizes of more than 2 feet!!!! I think it would be better to use cream of wheat filler for those rounds to keep the speeds under 1400 fps. The best back powder load was the 405 grain BlackDawge. I botched the 500 grain load, or I am sure that would have showed well too.
405 grain LRNFP (BlackDawge)
53 grain (mass) 777FFF, avg. 1472 fps SD 5!!!!
Federal Large Magnum Rifle
COL 2.520
Starline Brass Trim 2.085
Notes: Every 777 BP load yielded a standard deviation under 10. That is amazing, but I guess that shows the variation that having air space in the cartridge could give. Dacron here I come for my smokeless loads.
So, at the end I was so cold, I didn't pack my stuff up, I just put it in the car and hurried home. Clean out was not bad at all, mostly flecks of lead, with only a few larger pieces. I had ended with BP so I had to swab the bore with water patches first, dry it out and then scrub for the powder and lead.
I have a similar setup to test with my Marlin, but I don't know if I can do another 3 hours sitting still in 5 - 10 degree weather. It's supposed to be up to 30 on Tuesday, maybe I'll skip work and do it then.
At this point, the 405, 438 and 500 grain bullets are the best, as expected. I am hoping that the Marlin likes the 438's so that I can get all my lead from Vittles for less money than online. He makes them in batches of 600 or so, so once I am sure I have a good load, I'll buy up a whole run, and then maybe refine the loads by tenths of a grain to find the best.
Is this out of a trapdoor?
