Well boys, I'm a happy man. More than a year ago, I purchased a beautiful little Winchester Model 53 .25-20. This sweet little rifle was made in the first year of the model, in 1924 and was in nice, all original condition. Here's a photo:
I had purchased a RCBS mould .25-85-CM which dropped a plain base, 85 grain bullet. I tried a range of velocities from 1,100 fps up to 1,800 fps. The bullets gave severe leading at all velocities and wobbled in flight, making oval holes in paper. I imagine if I had worked at different alloys, I would have found a good one. I suspect this particular alloy was too hard, since the sides of the bullet tended to spall in the bore, even when slugging the bore.
I eventually bought a box of Hornady 60 grain JFP bullets, which worked fine, but I hate paying big bucks for jacketed bullets. About a month ago, a fellow sent me a bag of Lyman 457420 GC bullets to check out, sized to .258. They weighted 74 grains. I figured I'd try 2400, so loaded up 6 rounds with 7 grains of Alliant 2400 and headed out to the toboggan hill out in the back yard. I was shooting from about half way down, sitting on a picnic table, with the gun resting on a folded up jacket on a pile of boards stacked on the picnic table. The hill and the table were all sloped about 25 degrees, so keeping the sights level on the target tacked to the stump at the bottom of the hill was a bit tricky. The stump was exactly 30 yards away, and there was a brisk 20 mph wind blowing crosswise to me, and it was cold enough to make my eyes water, which made the whole exercise more challenging. I fired off the 6 rounds and was not impressed. The shooting conditions were less than ideal, but they were not bad enough to justify the size of the group. Here's the target:
I didn't chrono this load, but according to the loading chart I used, it should have been around 1,576 fps. I didn't want to go higher, and lower loads gave me no better groups, so I switched to Unique and loaded up 5 rounds with 5 grains of Unique. Again, out the door to the toboggan hill and I squeezed them off. Here is the target:
This was much better. Considering the less-than-ideal shooting conditions, I'm sure this load could do even better off a bench. However, this load is for offhand shooting at Groundhogs at ranges usually less than 50 yards. I'm happy, and I got a keeper load. I then loaded up five more rounds and chrony'd them. I did not measure each charge and know that my powder measure is only good to plus or minus 0.2 grains of Unique at that setting, so the extreme spread and S.D. is probably higher than if I'd weighed each charge. Here are the results:
1,596 fps
1,572 fps
1,549 fps
1,536 fps
1,681 fps
Average: 1,587 fps
E.S.: 145 fps
S.D.: 57 fps
I'm now going to order 1,000 of these bullets.
________________________________________________________________________________
Kirk: An old geezer who loves ancient levers, classic side by sides, old sixguns, the smell of
freshly turned earth, Ringnecked Pheasants rising out of cornfields in the fall, old farms with
cedar rail fences, antique John Deere tractors sprinkled with autumn leaves, wood smoke, a
crackling fireplace on a snowy evening, pristine wilderness lakes, the smell of cedars and a
magnificent Whitetail buck framed in the semi-buckhorn sights of a 100-year old Winchester.
I had purchased a RCBS mould .25-85-CM which dropped a plain base, 85 grain bullet. I tried a range of velocities from 1,100 fps up to 1,800 fps. The bullets gave severe leading at all velocities and wobbled in flight, making oval holes in paper. I imagine if I had worked at different alloys, I would have found a good one. I suspect this particular alloy was too hard, since the sides of the bullet tended to spall in the bore, even when slugging the bore.
I eventually bought a box of Hornady 60 grain JFP bullets, which worked fine, but I hate paying big bucks for jacketed bullets. About a month ago, a fellow sent me a bag of Lyman 457420 GC bullets to check out, sized to .258. They weighted 74 grains. I figured I'd try 2400, so loaded up 6 rounds with 7 grains of Alliant 2400 and headed out to the toboggan hill out in the back yard. I was shooting from about half way down, sitting on a picnic table, with the gun resting on a folded up jacket on a pile of boards stacked on the picnic table. The hill and the table were all sloped about 25 degrees, so keeping the sights level on the target tacked to the stump at the bottom of the hill was a bit tricky. The stump was exactly 30 yards away, and there was a brisk 20 mph wind blowing crosswise to me, and it was cold enough to make my eyes water, which made the whole exercise more challenging. I fired off the 6 rounds and was not impressed. The shooting conditions were less than ideal, but they were not bad enough to justify the size of the group. Here's the target:
I didn't chrono this load, but according to the loading chart I used, it should have been around 1,576 fps. I didn't want to go higher, and lower loads gave me no better groups, so I switched to Unique and loaded up 5 rounds with 5 grains of Unique. Again, out the door to the toboggan hill and I squeezed them off. Here is the target:
This was much better. Considering the less-than-ideal shooting conditions, I'm sure this load could do even better off a bench. However, this load is for offhand shooting at Groundhogs at ranges usually less than 50 yards. I'm happy, and I got a keeper load. I then loaded up five more rounds and chrony'd them. I did not measure each charge and know that my powder measure is only good to plus or minus 0.2 grains of Unique at that setting, so the extreme spread and S.D. is probably higher than if I'd weighed each charge. Here are the results:
1,596 fps
1,572 fps
1,549 fps
1,536 fps
1,681 fps
Average: 1,587 fps
E.S.: 145 fps
S.D.: 57 fps
I'm now going to order 1,000 of these bullets.
________________________________________________________________________________
Kirk: An old geezer who loves ancient levers, classic side by sides, old sixguns, the smell of
freshly turned earth, Ringnecked Pheasants rising out of cornfields in the fall, old farms with
cedar rail fences, antique John Deere tractors sprinkled with autumn leaves, wood smoke, a
crackling fireplace on a snowy evening, pristine wilderness lakes, the smell of cedars and a
magnificent Whitetail buck framed in the semi-buckhorn sights of a 100-year old Winchester.
