As for shooting lead projectiles, this is from the best source of Savage info, the dougva.proboards site:
Joined: Jul 2004
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Re: Lead projectiles
« Reply #3 on Dec 23, 2007, 7:44pm »
Pete,, it is not so much as working the bugs out but learning the rifle and the quirks of smokeless MLing plus what works best in your rifle in your situation. Many a person including myself has made the assumption that there could not be that much of a difference shooting smokeless and ends up looking like a total newbie. Have no fear we'll get you thru it. As my dad once said "Learn from the mistakes of others, because you can't afford to make all the mistakes yourself".
As far as lead bullets it seems that while the bullet is tight when you load it, the constant pressure seems to work on the lead and before you know it the bullet is no longer tight. And smokeless loves tight. Another problem with soft lead is that it over or unevenly orbutrates which will give you inconsistency. 41grs of 5744 is not a hot load and IMO about right for lead bullets. By all means try some other bullets, you might run across something you like.
thelefthand
Eight Pointer
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Re: Lead projectiles
Reply #4 on Dec 23, 2007, 8:53pm
I have to offer an appology here. I haven't shot 5744, so I had no idea what velocities you were shooting. It sounds like your speed is fine. I made an assumption and it was wrong and I applogise for the confusion that it has caused. We were all where you are at one point (new). The last thing you need is more confusion. Again, I appologise.
The above posts are right on the money. All metals have a temperature at which the internal stresses are relieved. The temperature for lead is about room temperature, which makes it hard to get a tight consistant fit in the barrel. It may feel consistant when you load the gun, but by the time you've pulled the trigger things may have changed.
In my humble opinion, your best bet is still to try some jacketed bullets to get a good shooting load. There are dozens and dozens of good jacketed bullet available. I have recomended .452 250gr XTP bullets and MMP short black sabots for 2 reasons. First is cost. The load is relatively inexpensive to shoot. Second, this is the bullet and sabot that Savage uses to test fire the rifles before they are shipped. This means that they are consistnatly able to get this bullet and sabot to shoot relativley well. It's also a good hunting load capable of reaching 200yds. There are lots of other bullet and sabot combinations that will shoot equally as well if not a whole lot better (like the .458 combo that rifleman mentioned). Either way, the goal is the same. Get a load that shoots good out of your rifle so that you can start building some confidence in the gun. Then play with other stuff like lead bullets later on. By then you will have a much better understanding of shooting smokeless out of your rifle. You'll also have a much better understanding of what your rifle is capable of.
Just my 2 bits,
Mark
SW
Mossy Horns
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Re: Lead projectiles
Reply #5 on Dec 24, 2007, 9:31am
As previously ststed, lead bullets seem to loosen after being in the barrel for some time as well as the smokeless needing a stiff resistance of bullet movement to allow the powder to develope pressure. Lead won't hold as much pressure as really needed. Duplex will help as it is a crutch to help build pressure faster than a single powder would. I shoot 195 DCs out of my 45 cal and like them but certainly use duplex to help.
Still the point is that this is a high performance MLer which needs a bullet that holds up well with the optimal pressures and bullet speeds - lead just isn't that bullet. It needs to be either a jacketed or all copper bullet. Who shoots lead bullets out of a 243? No one I know of and the same applies here IMO. I like the Precision bullets but feel they don't fare well with optimal smokeless loads. But if you want to try them, I had good luck with 44-45g 5744 with the 240 DCs(40 cal) with a fairly slick barrel in the 10-ML2. The 260s also did well. With a tighter barrel I would start at 40gs.
Good luck.
