Just a follow up

[fingers]

Well so far my 72grn ffg goex loaded with out drop tubeing shoots like a house on fire. The same load with a drop tube compresses hard so I'm thinking the end compression is different, ie more crush. Last group I shot was 15 rnds no cleaning but blow tubeing the hell out of it, boy you guys were on the money with that one, nice round group at about 2.5in at 100yrds. I wish I could kick everyone else off the range and do some 200yrd and 300yrd testing, our range is set up so that you have to shoot over everyone else at longer ranges. My drop tubed loads spread out to about 3 and 4 inches with everything else the same.

The mold I bought from NEI seems to work fine. I cast up about 75 rounds the other day. I had some pockets at first but as the mold warmed up the looked very nice, as the mold got real hot I started to get the whiskers someone else mentioned. I haven't had the chance to shoot them yet and that will be the real test. The mold is a dual cavity and one mold throws about 5 or 10 grns heavier than the other. The mold closest to the hinge cast the best...probably some issues with my handles...and out of 50 rnds the were about 545grns +/- 1grn. I wonder if I'll have to play with my load again, my other bullets weighted 535grns.

I seemed to fix the horizontal stringing by resting the rifle just in front of the forearm, and on a smaller platform. Five round groups are nearly touching, 10 rnds open up a bit but still nice for my caliber of shooting.

Thanks for all the help guys. See ya at a match someday. It doesn't look like it will be this year, I just took a job in Equador starting in June so I guess I'll have to learn everything all over again when I get back.

Good shooting all.

[IronSight]

fingers,
Looks like your making progress, 2.5" grp. - no drop tube, 4" grp. drop tube, interesting but i still wouldn't call this conclusive until you duplicate these results with 2 or 3 more sessions at the range.

Just curious, have you also experimented with resting on the barrel and finding the sweet spot before settling in on a forearm rest?

While some rest their rifles on the forearm, most rest on the barrel inches from the bore for stabilization as this helps improve the pivot point of the barrel during recoil. In fact resting on the barrel is sometimes a cure for stringing. But whatever works is the key, again every rifle is different.

Ecuador? not only are jobs leaving the country, but people are now leaving the country for jobs! Hope this isn't your case. I would suggest keeping a detailed log. Wish i had done this years ago.
Good Luck

[fingers]

Last time I was out I shot 50 some rounds some playing with trying to find the sweet spot and some just looking for grouping with drop tube vs no drop. It seemed the further out on the barrel I got the more "muzzle flip" I got, I would have thought that would be the opposite. Have you ever played with the idea of barrel torqueing? I read some where someone was offering a product to clamp the barrel so it won't torque. They also mentioned that most barrels are cut with left (or was it right) hand riflelings to compensate for that. Just another factor to wonder about. With my shooting I don't know that it would matter much. If I could shoot a playing card at 500yrd like yous guys I might worry about the small stuff.

Equador...same company different postition. I work for a helicopter company and they need someone down there for their oil company contract. I've worked as a mechanic and an electrician so they offered me more money than I can refuse, we'll see how it goes.

[squire pickett]

Hi fingers,

Is that NEI mold made of aluminum? If so get in touch with deerhunts and he will clue you in on how to make it work so the bullets come out the same weight.

Regards,
Squire

[squire pickett]

Hi fingers,

Is that NEI mold made of aluminum? If so get in touch with deerhunts and he will clue you in on how to make it work so the bullets come out the same weight.

Regards,
Squire