Cyclone...have you fired those bullets?
Yes.
Did you notice any change in accuracy?
I was way too giddy and shot w/o a rest - but I will shoot some groups for accuracy soon.
I feel a test is needed. Can you run -let's say - 3 groups of each and test the accuracy against the original ones?
That would be good - soon.
One more .... how's the grease/wax doing in the reshaping process? Any problems with leading the bbl?
I've yet to do wax - now if someone would arrange for me to get that Cooey 39 I've patiently put on my wish list... 
Okay, so what HAVE I done? Oh, how I ask myself that question far too often. Anyhow, I tried each of the CCI CB Long's I mentioned in my previous post, all on what shall no doubt arise in a pseudo-lawsuit against me: the CB Board o' Truth.
First up - a look at the board:
Note the many .177 pellet markings that have scarred the Board in the past (this board is also my pellet-rifle backstop). The Board is about 2 cm thick, and will almost always prevent a CCI CB Long from penetrating its width. A
regular CCI CB Long, that is.
Anyhow, here's the make-up of the Board:
It's some kind of sandwich board, still 2 cm thick. It seems like 3/4 of a inch, but that's eyeballing it. Here's some random CB plinking on the Board, with one really odd shot at the bottom:
The CB Long's seem to group well at shorter-ranges. And, to prove I
can hit the broad-side of a barn, here's my test shot for the session - a single, unformed CCI CB Long:
That's headshot-quality from an unformed one. But what are the benefits of a tap of the tool? Keep in mind that this was NOT shooting for accuracy - in fact, I was trying to keep the shots somewhat apart from each other as I was actually testing for penetration this time out, and I did not want any results "benefiting" from the impacts of their previous brethren. Here is the Acu'rzr'ed CB Long, next to the unformed bullseye shot:
Nice grouping, albeit unintentionally so. The two shots were about 1 cm or 1/3 of an inch apart. The entry hole for the Acu'rzr'ed CB Long was a little larger and more pronounced, the impact on the target (the only audible noise when firing these from my Rem 512 boltie) was a little louder, and the smile on my face was perking up. Here's an "up-close" of the Acu'rzr'ed shot to the bottom-right of that bullseye:
But what of the Nastinose CB? Can you really hollowpoint a CB Long, and will it do anything? Let's see:
I don't recall the noise of the impact from this shot, but I do recall thinking that something unusual had happened. If you strain your eyes to look around the entry-point, you'll notice a small, discoloured circle that indicated to me something was amiss. But when I turned the CB Board o' Truth around...
Hehe. And yes, before anyone starts, those
ARE popsicle sticks there in the picture as well (I did mention I use the Board as a backstop for .177 pellets as well). The CB Long bullet is poking out, and the "gash" was about 4 inches or 10 cm long. Recalling that some .22 shooters had reported demolishing a backstop comprised of 2x4's with but a few 30-round magazines of Nastinose, I now understand what they were talking about. All the same, at the time I was slightly taken aback; this round had no more powder than any of its brethren (to the best of my knowledge), and the only thing that had changed was the shape of its top. At the same time, both the regular CB Long round and the Acu'rzr'ed round had failed to penetrate the width of the Board (or even dent the Board's backside). The moral? The next time someone asks you about the benefits of simply re-forming a .22's bullet, tell them that there's something to it...
Oh, right, I still have to show the picture of the Baby Scorp'n:
To tell you the truth, I was expecting significant penetration from this round - but I digress. When this re-shaped CB Long hit the Board, I just heard a loud
"WHAP" - and then the mighty Board actually trembled and then fell forward! There was uneven-ness on the Board's backside, indicating penetration, but the real story here was what the Baby Scorp'n's purpose really is - to dump the round's power into the target, and to provide some penetration as well. I hate it when ill-informed people start spouting off about things like "knockdown power" and "energy transfer", but...had I not seen it with mine own eyes... Right, time to show the Baby Scorp'n shot next to my "Special" CB Long:
Note the hole from the Baby Scorp'n round is blacker than that of the round to its left - it retained its shape and penetrated straight-on through, without sliding upwards/downwards or to the sides. Anyhow, I call the left-most shot my "Special" shot because I thought it would be something to Nastinose a round and then add a touch of Baby Scorp'n to it.
I hereby admit I was wrong in this respect. Let me explain this using some lines from the Family Guy:
Chris: Dad, what's the blowhole for?
Peter: I'll tell you what it's not for. And when I do,
you'll understand why I can never go back to Sea World.
I had made a very stupid mistake (note the "shellacking" I'm giving myself - no need to chime in!) in confusing a Hydra-shok round with the Quickshok round; the latter has a bullet that's essentially been cut into three-or-so pieces and then been swagged back together (to later become shrapnel), while the former has a central post that is designed to wedge in between the targets' innards and the inner walls of the bullet - with the goal of increasing expansion. The Baby Scorp'n produces Hydrashok-like bullets, and it's whole advantage - the central post (unlike Peter's central pos...nvm) - is therefore defeated by Nasti-nose'ing its centre. Oh well - here's the "Special" shot:
It showed mild signs of displacing the backside of the Board, but I guess only the more "squishy" targets would really benefit from this kind of "Special" bullet. This makes me want to mention the other side of the above consideration - just as the Nastinose ruins the Baby Scorp'n formed-rounds, the Baby Scorp'n robs the Nastinose-formed rounds of their destructiveness. This "Special" formed-round sort of reminds me of one description of the 5.56mm "microgun" - 'an implement whose need has not yet arrived, and may never do so'.
The conclusion? Well, here goes:
1) Like the fellow from the Box o'Truth says, shooting is fun! (See, if I put that sentence as my first conclusion instead of my last, it's more of a homage than it is being a copy-cat, or so I tell myself).
2) The "Paco tool" does provide improvements to CB Long's, be it the more-pronounced entry of the Acu'rzr'ed round, the awesome destructiveness of the Nastinose CB Long, or the authoritative "WHAP" of the Baby Scorp'n'ed CB Long.
3) Don't Nastinose and then Baby-Scorp'n, or vice-versa - there seems to be little use in doing so.
4) It's like making things of beauty, only with mallet-whacks (here's one more picture of that lovely, lovely Nastinose CB Long):
Um, right. Accuracy testing to follow...
