Just some April 19th. results...

[Richard]

Today was a beautiful day at the range except for some left to right wind. A couple of wind flags helped......some
I tried those Leheight's that I had tipped a couple of weeks ago? Tried with two different loads and them suckers just do not want to shoot.......even at 2400 fps
For target #1 I tried a low dose, 40 gr. of SR4759, along with a 180 gr. Speer Gold Dot bullet smooth blue Harvester sabot. This is the only sabot I shoot unless otherwise specified. At 2387 fps, it should be a good light recoiling load for the ladies and juniors.
#2 was a new duplex I had not shot before. 20 gr. of N-120 under 55 gr. of N-133 with a 200 gr. Nosler HP. While accuracy was not bad, the velocity was all over the place.
#3 was a Triplex I had not tried before but knew it would be relatively low in velocity......10/20/30 of N-110/N-120/H-322 along with a 200 gr. SST. Av. vel. = 2680 with a ES of 37 and pretty good accuracy.
#4 was the same load shot at 300 yards. This time five shots averaged 2696 fps with a ES of 20. The left to right wind caused some horizontal stringing. Actually 4 of the five shots had a EX of only 6 fps Shots one two and three went 2.3" with shot #4 opening the group up to almost 6"
Did not shoot as much ML as I wanted as I had some load developing to do with the target rifle.
Richard

[12ptdroptine]

Richard you never cease to amaze me. Your report's are unequaled. Your skill as a shooter and an ambasador to our sport are very appreciated. For all you do to help us who cant get to the range (like I should) I commend and Thank You
Drop

[GMB54-120]

Richard, give those Montana Gold 180gr HPs i sent a try too. I can get those really cheap in large bulk amounts. They may do as well as the GoldDots which are really hard to get sometimes. Im a big fan of reduced loads for fun shooting and for recoil sensitive shooters.

Thanks again for your reports, they are always a pleasure to read.

[rangeball]

Apr 19, 2011 16:34:51 GMT -5 Richard said:

I tried those Leheight's that I had tipped a couple of weeks ago? Tried with two different loads and them suckers just do not want to shoot.......even at 2400 fps

Richard, did you mill the base of these flat? Why do you think they won't shoot well with smokeless? Do you think the brass is too hard to get any reliable obturation? Any chance you blew sabots with them?

[Richard]

Drop..........thanks............I enjoy putting together posts that hopefully everyone can understand and relate to. No fluff, just real facts which show good loads/bad loads and those in between. As you can tell, I also like to show clear photographs so there is no question as to what is going on. Each shot is documented so readers can relate the shot velocity to where it impacted. I could easily invert numbers on shots to make them look better than they are, but that is not what I am about. Just honest facts the way I shoot them.
gmb........yes, I will try those Montana bullets......just did not have enough time to shoot all I wanted. ( gmb supplied a lot of these bullets I have tested in the past two weeks - thanks)
As far as the Leheight's Range............I just don't know? The boattail is not that severe and I would think the .060 x .400 cal wad should have negated any effect of the boat tail??? One shot hit 12" from the point of impact of my regular loads? One recorded a velocity of 500 fps? Every time I have played with them, they do not work for me. And yes, I did machine one off flat but never got to shoot it and probably will not I will leave them to the BP shooters.
Richard

[edge]

Pretty good results. If you give any horizontal movement due to the wind the results are very impressive.

edge.

[ET]

Richard

As always enjoy following your weekly shoots.

Sorry to hear your bullet mod endeavor didn’t pan out.
Do you think the lead made it too nose heavy?



Ed

[Richard]

Thanks Edge..................
ET.............could be nose heavy But still does not explain the one low velocity shot which must have drilled the sabot. It is a shame since they are really fine looking bullets and probably very balanced.
Richard

[Jon]

Just a question. would the Lehigh bullets work as a full form used sabotless or is the brass too hard to push through a die?
Jon

[Richard]

Jon........they would have to be .45 cal. These that I have are .40. Also, they have that little boat tail which is not conducive to sealing the bore. They would need to be made completely flat base. And, I just think they would be too hard and not provide any obturation Yes, maybe if sized with rifling impressed they might work
Richard

[grouse]

Apr 21, 2011 23:47:54 GMT -5 Jon said:

Just a question. would the Lehigh bullets work as a full form used sabotless or is the brass too hard to push through a die?
Jon

Lehigh made a few different sabotless bullets. All were very accurate if they fit the bore. The BP guns seem to have very inconsistent bore's. If made for a specific barrel they work really well.

[grouse]

As far as the Lehigh's and smokeless? Light bullets normally have not shot well in 50cal muzzleloaders with smokeless powders. I'm assuming the gun being used in the targets above is a 45cal ML. Even those groups above aren't that great at all for a custom gun. But plenty good for Deer hunting.

I guy at my local range tested the 200grn Lehigh in a DD 45 and so did Dave himself. Daved didn't get great results either. But all groups were 1.25 to 1.75 at 100yds. Not great but okay. The other guy was 1.50 to 1.75 at 100yds and velocity was right at 2650. They did not use tips. The tip changes the stabilization and the length of the bullet. Does the length of the bullet match your twist rate???

I will say the 200grn bullet shoots lights out in several different 1/24 twist barrels with BH209. And your also talking 2500fps.

Richard, you stated one of those bullets went thru the chrono at 500 fps??? That's pretty scary man. Sounds like a sabot to me. If not, you need to figure out what happened. If you had powder in the gun, it was not the bullet.

[Richard]

Yes, this is a 26" .45 PN 1 - 22" and yes, there was powder. It just seemed like it drilled the sabot. The "bang" was there!
Richard

[grouse]

Apr 23, 2011 20:37:34 GMT -5 Richard said:

Yes, this is a 26" .45 PN 1 - 22" and yes, there was powder. It just seemed like it drilled the sabot. The "bang" was there!
Richard

I know you do some crazy stuff, but 500 fps??? ;D Even the sabot should be going faster then that. I have drilled the sabots before, and did not lose velocity. I lost accuracy to my knowledge only.

[Chris Champion]

I couldn't get the 200g Lehigh to shoot without blowing sabots in my 45 Pacnor. Grouse sent me a box of 20 and I think I shot about a dozen of them before giving up. I also shot the 185g and they shot OK at 100yds, (1.75" or so), but did not hold a candle to the 200g SST or 195g Barnes. As its been said before the design of this bullet just does not lend itself to smokeless muzzleloading. Some of the BP guys love them though and have turned in some impressive results.

[grouse]

Apr 27, 2011 17:40:11 GMT -5 Chris Champion said:

I couldn't get the 200g Lehigh to shoot without blowing sabots in my 45 Pacnor. Grouse sent me a box of 20 and I think I shot about a dozen of them before giving up. I also shot the 185g and they shot OK at 100yds, (1.75" or so), but did not hold a candle to the 200g SST or 195g Barnes. As its been said before the design of this bullet just does not lend itself to smokeless muzzleloading. Some of the BP guys love them though and have turned in some impressive results.

Your right about what your saying, but only in the 45. The savage with smokeless shoots them lights out. I will get you some with a flat base and send them to you.

[Jon]

I'm looking forward to hearing how those work. I'm sitting on a couple hundred 185 and 200.
Jon