Obturation
Member
Hey all,
Hope everyone's doing well.
I've had a bit of an on going saga with my recently purchased ruger 77/357, made a few posts about it and started a thread a month or so ago about replacing a (possibly) damaged optic on this carbine (rifle,whatever).
The first time I took it out it shot well with my 180 grain MBC hi-tek coated bullets and mediocre with my preferred 158 swc over 14.0 grains of 2400. I planned to work on the 158 grain load some to find a sweet spot for rifle & revolver.
About a month ago I took 100 eds of my regular 158 swc (over 2400) to the range. Groups were comical, very large- about 10" @ 50 yards, unacceptable. Way worse than the previous loads tested and the only thing I could figure was that the inexpensive bushnell 3-9 scope got bumped or dinged or killed by recoil. I wasn't sure. So before I got too crazy I assembled some jacketed rounds, 14.0 and 14.5 grains of 2400 & 16.4 grains of h110 under a 158 grain xtp . took those to the range this morning and turns out the scope is fine. Darn it, happy & disappointed at the same time.
Only thing I can figure is that the cast bullets are being over driven, couldn't be anything else (that I can figure). The best performance was from the 14.5 grains of 2400 (with the 158 xtp bullet), it made a 2" group at 100 yards- that's with me shooting, pretty darn good- I'm not a long range shooter, 100 yards is about it for me & my interests . I've heard that's about all I can hope for from this rifle anyway and that's just fine for my use.
My question is:
I'm sure I could download the swc load until it shoots in the rifle and revolver but that leaves the revolver under powered. Would a gas check solve this issue? - I suspect not because there was no leading in the barrel, clean as a whistle. Same thought I had about pc/hi-tek coated bullets (I do have some coated 158 grain swc on order , but haven't arrived to test this) but I'm not counting on this to resolve the issue. Possibly the answer is to find an appropriate powder, I'm not worried about trying to pull every bit of velocity from the rifle but I want at least 1200 fps from a 6" barreled revolver with the same load.
I've shot thousands of cast bullets over the years but have never had a pistol caliber rifle before where this has been an issue.
I like jacketed bullets but prefer cast, especially with revolver rounds.
I have a lot of components and a reasonable selection of powders, any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks
Hope everyone's doing well.
I've had a bit of an on going saga with my recently purchased ruger 77/357, made a few posts about it and started a thread a month or so ago about replacing a (possibly) damaged optic on this carbine (rifle,whatever).
The first time I took it out it shot well with my 180 grain MBC hi-tek coated bullets and mediocre with my preferred 158 swc over 14.0 grains of 2400. I planned to work on the 158 grain load some to find a sweet spot for rifle & revolver.
About a month ago I took 100 eds of my regular 158 swc (over 2400) to the range. Groups were comical, very large- about 10" @ 50 yards, unacceptable. Way worse than the previous loads tested and the only thing I could figure was that the inexpensive bushnell 3-9 scope got bumped or dinged or killed by recoil. I wasn't sure. So before I got too crazy I assembled some jacketed rounds, 14.0 and 14.5 grains of 2400 & 16.4 grains of h110 under a 158 grain xtp . took those to the range this morning and turns out the scope is fine. Darn it, happy & disappointed at the same time.
Only thing I can figure is that the cast bullets are being over driven, couldn't be anything else (that I can figure). The best performance was from the 14.5 grains of 2400 (with the 158 xtp bullet), it made a 2" group at 100 yards- that's with me shooting, pretty darn good- I'm not a long range shooter, 100 yards is about it for me & my interests . I've heard that's about all I can hope for from this rifle anyway and that's just fine for my use.
My question is:
I'm sure I could download the swc load until it shoots in the rifle and revolver but that leaves the revolver under powered. Would a gas check solve this issue? - I suspect not because there was no leading in the barrel, clean as a whistle. Same thought I had about pc/hi-tek coated bullets (I do have some coated 158 grain swc on order , but haven't arrived to test this) but I'm not counting on this to resolve the issue. Possibly the answer is to find an appropriate powder, I'm not worried about trying to pull every bit of velocity from the rifle but I want at least 1200 fps from a 6" barreled revolver with the same load.
I've shot thousands of cast bullets over the years but have never had a pistol caliber rifle before where this has been an issue.
I like jacketed bullets but prefer cast, especially with revolver rounds.
I have a lot of components and a reasonable selection of powders, any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks