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I posted this on another forum and am just too pooped to rewrite it here, so it is a copy/paste.
hombre
Saturday 5/23/15: Finally made it to the range. I took only the Wolf BP gun. Not a good day as it turned out. Could only get mediocre groups. But, I was using different bullets, and I also used Blackhorn 209 this time. Wolfie didn't particularly like the loads I fed it. Blackhorn and then later, Pyrodex Select @ 90 gr with a .452/252 gr swc in a sabot. Neither loads were what I would take after deer.
I had some other bullets labeled as .452/255 grain but I suspected they were heavier. I was right. I weighed some at home later....452/340 gr. I forgot to label the bottle correctly after swapping some bullets from the bottle. Anyway, I never upped the powder and all these loads are safe at 90gr. And as luck would have it, I went from a shotgun group with 3 initial test loads, down to a 3" group with the 340s, on the first try. Now I have a place to start using these lead bullets. For some reason the .451/265gr JHP bullets I used when I first sighted the rifle did very well. But these lead jobs basically suck unless they are heavies. Makes sense; before I went to the range I looked at the CVA site and found the twist rate is 1"/28". Pretty fast for the light weight bullets I was using. Heavier bullets will work better with a fast twist. I will have to pour some more of those 340s. I only had 10 on hand. But I am glad I found the info. Makes me anxious to go giterdun agin.
But now it is time for this old man to rest...that 6 lb smokepole kicks like a P/O'd mule. 40 shots did me in. May have to increase the dosage for the heavies. I think I will wear the shooting vest next time, and take an extra towel just in case.
hombre
Saturday 5/23/15: Finally made it to the range. I took only the Wolf BP gun. Not a good day as it turned out. Could only get mediocre groups. But, I was using different bullets, and I also used Blackhorn 209 this time. Wolfie didn't particularly like the loads I fed it. Blackhorn and then later, Pyrodex Select @ 90 gr with a .452/252 gr swc in a sabot. Neither loads were what I would take after deer.
I had some other bullets labeled as .452/255 grain but I suspected they were heavier. I was right. I weighed some at home later....452/340 gr. I forgot to label the bottle correctly after swapping some bullets from the bottle. Anyway, I never upped the powder and all these loads are safe at 90gr. And as luck would have it, I went from a shotgun group with 3 initial test loads, down to a 3" group with the 340s, on the first try. Now I have a place to start using these lead bullets. For some reason the .451/265gr JHP bullets I used when I first sighted the rifle did very well. But these lead jobs basically suck unless they are heavies. Makes sense; before I went to the range I looked at the CVA site and found the twist rate is 1"/28". Pretty fast for the light weight bullets I was using. Heavier bullets will work better with a fast twist. I will have to pour some more of those 340s. I only had 10 on hand. But I am glad I found the info. Makes me anxious to go giterdun agin.
But now it is time for this old man to rest...that 6 lb smokepole kicks like a P/O'd mule. 40 shots did me in. May have to increase the dosage for the heavies. I think I will wear the shooting vest next time, and take an extra towel just in case.