Testing the 260 WFNGC

[TommyD]

Hi Veral,
I got the mold you made for me - the 260 grain WFN GC with the .454 diameter. I LOVE it.

I cast the bullets with straight wheel weights, water dropped. I sized the bullets in my RCBS LAM II and used the LBT soft blue as lube. The gas check was Hornady. The case was Starline with a CCI 300 primer. I used the charge of H110 recommended by John Linebaugh at the end of his informative article on loading the 45 Colt, "DISSOLVING THE MYTH, DISCOVERING THE POTENTIAL."  (http://www.linebaughcustom.com/Articles/THE45COLTDISSOLVINGTHEMYTH/tabid/201/Default.aspx) My revolver was a Ruger Super Redhawk with a 2x leupold scope in .454. My chronograph indicated average velocity of about 1230 fps.

At 25 yards, 4/5 shots were a lovely cloverleaf. Unfortunately, the 5th shot went a bit wild because my concentration was broken when the burlap sack I was using as a rest caught fire from the flash from the cylinder gap.

At 50 yards I also got a nice 3 shot 1 inch group.

I can't seem to get my browser to load the pictures, so I posted the pics on my web site: http://homepage.mac.com/paradigm1/target/.

I am VERY pleased with the accuracy of this bullet. My ruger SRH has, up to this point, only shot well with bullets that weigh 300 gr or more. I have tried commercial 255 grain bullets from several different manufacturers and found the accuracy disappointing, to say the least. But THIS bullet from LBT really performs. Veral, you have a definite winner here!!

Thanks a million.

Tom Diakun

[Veral]

Thank you for the nice report Tom.

As I believe I've made clear many times in this forum, adaquate bearing length, strong bearing surface and bullet fit to the gun of interest are the keys to getting top accuracy.  For these reasons, it isn't often possible to learn the true potential of a gun by purchasing commercially cast bullets, even of LBT design.  They MUST fit your own gun.

  If you lit the burlap rest you must have been resting the barrel on it, not your wrist, which I've found best for printing small groups.  When resting this way, put all the pressure you like on the bag while sorting out loads, but when a load is found and you want to set the sights for field use, lay just enough pressure on the bag to take the wobble out. This way, the gun will jump exactly as if you were holding freehand, and if it's possible or necessary to take a rest for a long shot in the field, your sights are on for it, so long as you rest the barrel lightly.