Update
Update: It has been a very busy year and time is something that I don't have very much of these days. However, I have fired about 500 rounds of home loads thru the Baer Wadcutter. I have been using 200 Grain Lead Semi Wadcutter bullets (.452" dia.) along with Bullseye powder and W/W primers & brass. The first 50 rounds I loaded up I was having trouble with the slide going into full battery position. About 1 in 10 rounds actually, so I took off the barrel and checked the fit of every round. The tight ones measured at .472" taper crimp. I started adjusting the taper crimp die and it wasn't until I hit .470" that the loaded rounds would fall in and out effortlessly. Then I loaded up another 50 rounds at .470" taper crimp and ran them thru without 1 glitch. I used 3.8 Gr. of Bullseye with the 200 gr SWC for the break-in period. They Chronograph'd 730 FPS with my Oehler 35P with a std deviation of 5. I then cleaned the gun and started to load 10 rounds at a time each with a 0.1 grain drop in powder until the gun started to fail to function. I got all the way down to 3.1 grains without 1 failure. Then at 3.0 grains all that failed was the last round failed to lock the slide open with both clips. Then I tried 2.9 grains. The same thing happened on the last round of each clip (slide failed to lock in the open position) but also round #3 in the first clip and round #2 in the second clip the gun failed to eject a casing which caused a feeding failure. I was amazed how low a charge I could go before the gun failed to function. I'm sure the accuracy would be pittifull at 50 Yds and not great even at 25 Yds. It's just nice to know the limits. I increased the charge from 3.8 grains up to 4.2 grains which clocked at 801 FPS which in my opinion is far to much and therefore I only shot 5 rounds of that load. It wasn't until I got down to 3.5 grains that I could actually feel the slide working with my shooting hand which was interesting to me. I have never experienced that before with any of my other guns. I am waiting for my new RCBS Pro2000 Auto Index Press to arrive so I can make up a bunch of test rounds which I will then mount the Baer in my Ransom Rest and start testing along with my Oehler 35P. It will be interesting and I will be very maticulous about the test loads in order to duplicate absolute consitency for the tests. I can't promise when I will get around to it but it will be in the next 4 months. I will take pictures and will post my findings in due time. Have a good summer guys!! RBR
