tumbling bullets.......

snooker

snooker

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No, not that kind of tumbling.
My 303 Lee Enfield likes my 170gr. cast boolits leaving at 1575 fps using 13.5gr. of AL 2400. It gives me honest two to two & half in. groups @ 50 yds. My 60 year old eyes can't do any better. I've wanted to try "The Load"; you know, 13gr of red dot. Well, I loaded up 30 rounds----shot 10 (@ 50) walked up, I'm not even on an 18" square paper. Moved to 25 yards -- offhand, and 12 to 14" group and every bullet is tumbled. Perfect sillohette of my cast projectiles. Some up, some down, some east & some west. Had a few of my original loads and they are as they should be. I know red dot is alot faster, but this has me at a loss as to whats happening. Everything is the same except the switch in powder. I'm glad I didn't try to chrono them first, I'd probably be looking for a new chrony! Anyone care to hazard a guess as to whats going on?
Anyone need a pound of red dot?
 
I have encountered a similar problem in loading 9mm with lead bullets. Titegroup caused the bullets to keyhole, but the same bullets shot just fine with Universal Clays, which is slower. I can't explain, but I would also be interested in knowing why this is so.
 
Either your barrel is leaded to the point the rifling isn't working, or the bullets aren't sealing in the bore, I believe its called obturating, and gases are escaping.

The second problem will quickly lead to the first as I found out pushing hard cast lead too fast with bullsey in 9mm.
 
I just had a similar problem in my .44 magnum 92 winny. I was loading Hard cast with clays to about 1400 fps. I changed to Titegroup and a slightly softer bullet at the same speed. I was paterning, that's right patterning about 9' at 100 yards, no word of a lie. My regular group offhand is an honest 6" to 8", I'm guessing shallow ifling, hotter flame and a slightly softer bullet caused the core to strip out and rattle down the barrel.Skokie.
 
A little work and load development, can get you near jacketed velocities with acceptable accuracy. Its labour intensive, but possible.

I have a 200 Grain #311299,0.310"dia cast bullet load that hammers them into 2.5-3" at 200 yards. And at 2425 feet per second!

Very little leading to boot!

Try researching the cast boolet web site. they have provided me with emense amounts of quality info and loading practices!

Good luck and confidently push forward to learn the tricks of the CAST BULLET loading/shooting hobby!
 
if you want good accuracy with the lee enfield slug your bore and get a mold made .001 to .002 over size

one that has next to no round may be around .310-.312 and on that has been shot alot is going to be from .310 to .320 (.320 is worst case on a gun that should almost be smooth bore)

dont take your slug from the muzzle take it from the chamber side to a few inchs up
 
I think your bullet fit is probably OK considering that bullet shoots well in the same rifle using 2400 powder.

Your new red dot load probably isn't producing enough velocity to stabilize that bullet. If the velocity is lower then so is the spin rate imparted to the bullet. In this case you haven't got the bullet spinning fast enough yet to reach the stability threshold and it is tumbling. You can't get a faster rate of twist in your barrel, but you can make the bullet spin faster by increasing velocity as you have already proven with the 2400 load. You need more speed or a different bullet that will stabilize. Regardless - the recipe you have now isn't going to work. If I were you I'd go back to the 2400 load since you know it's a good one.
 
Last edited:
jethunter said:
I think your bullet fit is probably OK considering that bullet shoots well in the same rifle using 2400 powder.

Your new red dot load probably isn't producing enough velocity to stabilize that bullet. If the velocity is lower then so is the spin rate imparted to the bullet. In this case you haven't got the bullet spinning fast enough yet to reach the stability threshold and it is tumbling. You can't get a faster rate of twist in your barrel, but you can make the bullet spin faster by increasing velocity as you have already proven with the 2400 load. You need more speed or a different bullet that will stabilize. Regardless - the recipe you have now isn't going to work. If I were you I'd go back to the 2400 load since you know it's a good one.
Click to expand...

Bingo.
 
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