Two New bullets, Three New Loads Tested.....

[deerhuntsheatmeup]

Guys,

I did some load testing with two new bullets and three different loads. The first load was tested on the pig and it was a finger set PJ Creedmore(sent to me by Lee Stone,thanks again Lee) with 87 grains of Goex Cart, Fed 210GM primer, WW brass FF'd, 370 thou comp., bullet lubed with SPG and set with the driving band just engraving the rifling. The testing was done similar to shooting a match and I shot a 15 shot string with a clean barrel from the start. Temp was 90 degrees and the humidity was 76 percent. The load hit the pig 13 out of 15 times with the first shot high and off the hip but the next 13 hits were all over the pig. I was surprised at this as the conditions were not to bad except for the mirage switching quickly. Very little wind. IMHO a little bit of mirage switching at the pig distance should not move the bullet all over the pig, but who knows. I have another very good pig load and will move on.

The second test was done on the rams with the exact same load except the bullet was a PJ Smerker lightened up to 548.5 grns. The frond driving band turned down to bore size (.449 close) and the .458 front band just engraving the rifling. The results were very decent with the exact same counts as were on the pig(1st shot high and 13 hits in a row then last shot low) The group was not real tight but I thought that the load performed very well in the heat with the mirage switching. The elevation held very well throughout the string with some vertical dispersement.

The last load tested was the same Smerker bullet with 2 thou neck tension and 80 grns of ffg goex. The string was not near as good as the finger set loads shot on the previous string and my spotter commented how the load before stayed much more consistant throughout the 15 rounds previous. I do not recall how many hits and misses I had on this string but it was nothing to brag about.

AS a side note, I saw Taz shoot the turkey 19 out of 20 shots with 1 fouler and it was quite a group. He was shooting a new Brooks bullet that I want to try some more. I don't think I will ever be able to see the turkey good enough to shoot that well. I wish I had my dig cam with me so that I could post a picture of the turkey after Taz shot it up. It was quite impressive. to say the least.

I have rambled long enough, Have a good day,

David Barfield