Northman999
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Southern Yukon
Ben Hunchak cast me some custom 340gr hard cast WFN gas checked for my 92 Puma in 454 casull.
I have not yet had the opportunity to use them on game, unfortunately.
As I mentioned in my thread on these bullets, binding may be an issue, but not an insurmountable one.
"Here's what I know.
With 300gr XTP-mag's, the rifle will feed -
COL 1.805" and a bullet nose length of .445" just fine (That's actually out farther than the crimp groove, but I experimented just to get maximum COL and maximum nose length for bullets for this rifle figured out.)
With the 340gr cast - the cartridges bind moderately at -
COL 1.765" and a nose length of .400"
With the 340gr cast - the cartridges feed fine at -
COL 1.750" and a nose length of .385"
What happens with the binding is the nose of the cartridge enters the chamber on an upward angle as it is being fed in, and "sticks" fairly fimly against the upper wall of the chamber. A good shove on the lever does feed it; or trimming the brass a bit shorter (for shorter COL) and the bullet clears the wall of the chamber completely.
I'm thinking the Rossi just doesn't like a WFN as much as more of a hollowpoint, but I may be wrong. You have much more experience with these sorts of things than I do. I think the angle that the cartridges are fed into the chamber on the model 92's is a steeper angle than the model 1895's, and that's why they seem to prefer a finer nose - a nose with a finer point would more easily navigate the steep feed angle than a flatter nose. I certainly don't see trimming my brass 0.010" - 0.012" as being any sort of problem. It's just good to know what this rifle likes and what it doesn't.
EDIT - I've also tried just plain seating the bullet deeper to 1.750" (regardless of where the crimp groove is) and crimping there. This seems to work fine and is the easiest way to do it. Also my brass lasts longer as it is not trimmed overly much. The bullets DO NOT get pushed back into the casing from recoil, as I pack any free space in my .454 cartridges with cream of wheat as I have found this gives me more velocity and much less shot-to-shot variation in velocity."
I do think however, that bullets heavier than 340gr will be of reduced usefullness, as they will have to be seated so deep into the case that they will really eat into case capacity. With Ben Hunchak's 340's this is not the case, as I still need to throw in some cream of wheat on top of a full load of either H110 or Lil'Gun in order to get full compression of the powder, which I find gives increased performance.
In regards to the OP - I have five kinds of bullets available to me right now for my .454 and my bear defence loads are Ben's 340gr cast over a full load of H110.
I have not yet had the opportunity to use them on game, unfortunately.
As I mentioned in my thread on these bullets, binding may be an issue, but not an insurmountable one.
"Here's what I know.
With 300gr XTP-mag's, the rifle will feed -
COL 1.805" and a bullet nose length of .445" just fine (That's actually out farther than the crimp groove, but I experimented just to get maximum COL and maximum nose length for bullets for this rifle figured out.)
With the 340gr cast - the cartridges bind moderately at -
COL 1.765" and a nose length of .400"
With the 340gr cast - the cartridges feed fine at -
COL 1.750" and a nose length of .385"
What happens with the binding is the nose of the cartridge enters the chamber on an upward angle as it is being fed in, and "sticks" fairly fimly against the upper wall of the chamber. A good shove on the lever does feed it; or trimming the brass a bit shorter (for shorter COL) and the bullet clears the wall of the chamber completely.
I'm thinking the Rossi just doesn't like a WFN as much as more of a hollowpoint, but I may be wrong. You have much more experience with these sorts of things than I do. I think the angle that the cartridges are fed into the chamber on the model 92's is a steeper angle than the model 1895's, and that's why they seem to prefer a finer nose - a nose with a finer point would more easily navigate the steep feed angle than a flatter nose. I certainly don't see trimming my brass 0.010" - 0.012" as being any sort of problem. It's just good to know what this rifle likes and what it doesn't.
EDIT - I've also tried just plain seating the bullet deeper to 1.750" (regardless of where the crimp groove is) and crimping there. This seems to work fine and is the easiest way to do it. Also my brass lasts longer as it is not trimmed overly much. The bullets DO NOT get pushed back into the casing from recoil, as I pack any free space in my .454 cartridges with cream of wheat as I have found this gives me more velocity and much less shot-to-shot variation in velocity."
I do think however, that bullets heavier than 340gr will be of reduced usefullness, as they will have to be seated so deep into the case that they will really eat into case capacity. With Ben Hunchak's 340's this is not the case, as I still need to throw in some cream of wheat on top of a full load of either H110 or Lil'Gun in order to get full compression of the powder, which I find gives increased performance.
In regards to the OP - I have five kinds of bullets available to me right now for my .454 and my bear defence loads are Ben's 340gr cast over a full load of H110.
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. Too bad I am sure it was very informative.
