Strange Day Good Day

[laowho]

D'oh! Well that's good Kurt. Looks like I came around. Sometimes I take the scenic route. Three it is.

[laowho]

Just read a post from Don over @ Shiloh--says he likes to be just off the lands. So I guess I got what I wanted to hear from Old Jim--the right to experiment. Realize now that I gotta leave off the esoterica of barrel harmonics that may be more applicable to other forms, as Dave says. And that maybe I was overreaching. I got a bullet that worked pretty great @ a given load as compared w/ other loads, so now I'm gonna cast summore of those and try the 2 seating depths. Not gonna throw them either. There's a sweet spot I experienced before, and that's what I'll be chasing. Thanks everyone, Doug

[rdnck]

Doug--You're way over thinking this. In a nutshell, its about the quality of your sight picture--how well you are seeing--and harmonics. Some bullets are better than others in a given barrel, and it is a waste of time trying to make a rifle shoot some bullets. The rifle will tell you what it wants.

As a rule of thumb, a 45 caliber Shiloh will want to shoot with a 457132 Lyman Postell and 69 or 70 grains of 2f. If you are shooting paper patch, you want a bullet 1.3inches long and 70 grains of powder. They don't call them 45-SEVENTYS for nothing. Shoot straight, rdnck.

[desert deuce]

Hi Doug, you are going through the BPCR initiation by fire that a lot of us went through. Some are want to repeat the process for one reason or another. It is all good. Welcome to the fraternity.

You have two bullets as good as you can get for shooting out to 500 meters and once you get the hang of it you can possibly get the 132 to sing at 1,000. But that is way, way down the road.

The great information you are receiving sometimes is daunting and even confusing at times. Nothing wrong with enjoying a scenic tour once in a while.

Here is a bit of experience for you. Get two note books. One 8 1/2 x 11 dedicated to only BPCR loading that "stays" on the loading bench. Another hip pocket sized dedicated to one rifle only for recording loads copied into the range notebook as fired at the range and sight settings at different distances with different loads. Have your name and phone number on the front and back cover so when you loose it you have at least a chance of having it returned. Transfer the range results information in the small range book into your loading bench notebook at the end of the shooting day. Not the end of the shooting week or month.

An entry could look like this in Bench Book:

LOAD #1: 1/1/16, S 1.5, 60 grs weight, Lot 010.213, 1-60 Thou LDPE + 1-30 Thou Ctn, CCI-300, COAL 2.925", comp .105", Fireformed R-P case @ 2.105" not sized, PJ Cdmr, 1-20 Alloy, Pope Lube @ .4585" Saeco Sizer

The results entry for LOAD #1 in the pocket range book could look like this:

LOAD #1: Tucson Rifle Club 1/22/16, 1,105 fps Oehler 35, 15' from screens, ten shots ES-3, SD-01, 10 shots after 3 sighters grouped 0.889" @ 300 yards, wiped two arsenal patches med wet 1-12 NAPA WSO on tipton .45 cal brush, elev 65,group photographed

When you get home record the range information in the bench loading book and don't tell a soul the results. First, you have not replicated the results and second, even if they were there and witnessed the results they would never admit it because nobody would believe them.

Also, if you are over 18 years of age, put the load information on a 3x5 index card in the ammo box immediately after loading a batch of ammo and put in the container with the ammo before you close the lid. Guess why I know this is a good idea?

[Gunlaker]

That is excellent advice Zack. I learned early on to take very careful notes. I often would forget to write down sight setting for various distances on a particular load. Not good.

BTW, thanks for giving away your secret 1/3 moa load

Chris.

[Kurt]

Hey I have shot .889" one hole ragged groups at longer ranges then 300 yards before, but they where just one shot groups.

[desert deuce]

Somehow I ascertained that you and Kurt might be lurking in the ether and chummed the water a bit to see if you would rise to the bait...nothing like Michael Rix's one inch four shot group at 600 yards though, during a match no less.

[laowho]

Doug--You're way over thinking this. In a nutshell, its about the quality of your sight picture--how well you are seeing--and harmonics. Some bullets are better than others in a given barrel, and it is a waste of time trying to make a rifle shoot some bullets. The rifle will tell you what it wants.

As a rule of thumb, a 45 caliber Shiloh will want to shoot with a 457132 Lyman Postell and 69 or 70 grains of 2f. If you are shooting paper patch, you want a bullet 1.3inches long and 70 grains of powder. They don't call them 45-SEVENTYS for nothing. Shoot straight, rdnck.

Hi rdnck, Dunno about the over-thinking part...Over-reachin maybe, if I'm tryin to chase more than 1 tail at a time, but over-thinking? Harmonics reach pretty deep seems to me, and deeper still may be tryin to tease out wh/ parts of it are more and less applicable to BPCR than to other forms. But if you're right about that, then I'll be glad for the respite if this can teach me it, cuz thinkin is sumthin I generally do too much of, so good call.

The 132 I have and have cast--they're next for laddering. Right now I'm still zeroing in on the Saeco 645 that I cast. Best I can tell from previous sessions, it likes 68 gr 1.5F Swiss. That was set back (speakin of harmonics), so now I'm just tinkering w/ movin the bullet forward to full kiss on the lands. Trying to avoid resorting to QuickLoad and the Optimum Barrel Time spread sheet--would rather get my harmonics the old-fashioned way. Learnin to do this w/ a free-floating bullet has improved my loading a bit, too--gettin to know that round and the rifle's innards a bit better. Gotta say, it's pretty satisfyin knowin exactly where I am with everything. Otherwise, "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly." Cheers, Doug

[laowho]

Thx DD/Zack,

Been takin meticulous loading notes in the dedicated NB my wife gave me. Even has all the tips I've received here f/ everyone since joining. Just got the spotting scope so Wednesday's session will be the beginning of studying in earnest. Don't have a chrony but figured that I wouldn't really benefit anyway, given our velocities and lack of powder choices. Otherwise, I have recorded everything you've mentioned, as well as Vernier calibrations to find the load's movement, so feel good about that. I'm also gonna add primer notes--a checkbox at least. Probably useless for our pressures but it'll help me pay better attention. And havin another NB at home is a good idea...not til later do I think of things that relate, but that I didn't see at the range. Cheers, Doug

[Gunlaker]

I'm always looking lurking around somewhere :-) :-). Were Mr. Rix's 4 shots well centered? That's some excellent shooting.

Chris.