Lyman 515141 in .50 Calibre '63
Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2004 11:15 am
Went to the range yesterday with some beautiful bullets cast from the Lyman 515141 mould, as cast and pan lubed. This is the way I've been shooting bullets cast from a Lee mould.
I breech seated the bullets with a short starter and inserted a combustible paper cartridge containing a measured but not weighed 55 grs of Goex cartridge powder. This is a known accuracy load with the Lee bullet.
The paper cartridge gets slight compression with the short starter to avoid any shearing and the base punctured with an awl to insure ignition.
This isn't strictly necessary with a single thickness of paper, but I have had hangfires with folded over bases.
50 yard groups were larger than what I get with the Lee bullet at 3 1/4". The Lee bullet groups at around 2".
At 100 yards, groups were only slightly larger at 3 1/4" and printed 5" higher than the Lee groups.
All groups were "boiler room of bear", my intended use of the rifle.
I also did some comparative shooting with cartridges that consisted of the Lee bullet and .54 calibre Pyrodex pellets. It produces an excellent hunting round that can withstand fairly rough handling as it is solid.
It pains me to admit this, but the Pyrodex loads have become my "control load", the standard by which I judge other loads. Before leaving the range I fired a three shot group at 50 yards, the distance I expect to shoot a bear. It measures an extreme spread of 1 1/4" with two shots overlapping!
Once I get some more Pyrodex pellets, I will fire them with the Lyman bullet.
I always give my rifle a cursory cleaning before leaving the range. While so engaged, a mule deer doe appeared at 300 yards and proceeded to graze her way towards me up to the 200 yard mark before disappearing back into the trees.
God shouldn't tempt me this way......
Todd
"We loved a great many things - birds and trees and books and all things beautiful and horses and RIFLES and children and hard work and the joy of life." Theodore Roosevelt
I breech seated the bullets with a short starter and inserted a combustible paper cartridge containing a measured but not weighed 55 grs of Goex cartridge powder. This is a known accuracy load with the Lee bullet.
The paper cartridge gets slight compression with the short starter to avoid any shearing and the base punctured with an awl to insure ignition.
This isn't strictly necessary with a single thickness of paper, but I have had hangfires with folded over bases.
50 yard groups were larger than what I get with the Lee bullet at 3 1/4". The Lee bullet groups at around 2".
At 100 yards, groups were only slightly larger at 3 1/4" and printed 5" higher than the Lee groups.
All groups were "boiler room of bear", my intended use of the rifle.
I also did some comparative shooting with cartridges that consisted of the Lee bullet and .54 calibre Pyrodex pellets. It produces an excellent hunting round that can withstand fairly rough handling as it is solid.
It pains me to admit this, but the Pyrodex loads have become my "control load", the standard by which I judge other loads. Before leaving the range I fired a three shot group at 50 yards, the distance I expect to shoot a bear. It measures an extreme spread of 1 1/4" with two shots overlapping!
Once I get some more Pyrodex pellets, I will fire them with the Lyman bullet.
I always give my rifle a cursory cleaning before leaving the range. While so engaged, a mule deer doe appeared at 300 yards and proceeded to graze her way towards me up to the 200 yard mark before disappearing back into the trees.
God shouldn't tempt me this way......
Todd
"We loved a great many things - birds and trees and books and all things beautiful and horses and RIFLES and children and hard work and the joy of life." Theodore Roosevelt