WOLF 44 mag ammo

[glockky]

WOLF 44 mag ammo bullets tumbling

Today me and my buddy went to sight in my marlin 44 mag that I had just put a scope on. He had some Wolf gold 44 mag 240gr jhp ammo that when shot in his anaconda the brass had to be driven out so he didnt shoot it anymore in it. I thought heck I will shoot it in the marlin shouldnt hurt it. So I went to sight it in and i couldnt hit anything consistently, even at 25 yds. I then moved the target in to about 12 yards where it still wouldnt shoot a group and we noticed about every 3rd or 4th round was keyholing. I then switched to federal ammo and some of my reloads and they shoot great and we got it dialed in. But my question is what could have caused a rifle to keyhole at 12 yds? I pulled one of the bullets and it measured .429 and it didnt look to have any problems. Anyone else ever ran into this?

 

[glockky]

guess not lol

 

[Justin123]

The only time I had keyholing and loads the wouldn't print past 7 yards it was a result of the wrong powder charge for that particular bullet weight.

 

[glockky]

I was thinking it was that or some kind of a jacket deformation. I know when shooting plated bullets if you shoot them too fast and the plating breaks down they tend to tumble.

 

[KansasPaul]

I would guess the issue lies somewhere in the match between bullet shape (ie length) and the combination of barrel twist/powder/bullet composition. Shooting a non-jacketed bullet with a slow burning powder in a fast twist would likely cause some tumbling effect.

--- I'm no expert, just my hypothesis. Personally I would stick with the handloads and try to sell the unused boxes of Russian ammo. What bothers me is that the brass wouldn't eject from your buddy's Colt. If you saved any of the spent Wolf brass I would look for pressure signs.

Blessings

Paul

 

[beeenbag]

I am "the buddy" and I can testify the brass wasn't just a little sticky, we had to put a screw diver in the brass and beat it out. I have never before seen ammo perform this terrible, in both the rifle and the pistol.