Shot my BP Barrel!

[iisabigone]

Well guys I finally shot my encore 50 x209 barrel some last week.

On wednesday I set up a 16 x 16 target at 25 yards.  With 250 grain xtp knight high pressure sabot and 100 grains of 777 ffg benched the gun and shot the first shot. It was 1 inche high and 3 inches right. I made a scope adjustment swabbed the bore and reloaded. Next shot was 1 inch right about even with one inch bullseye.

Swabbed the bore reloaded and moved the target to 50 and shot a three shot group measuring 3/4" three inches to the right of the bull.  Made scope adjustment and shot another three shot group measuring 1" 1" high of the bullseye. I called it quits for the day and was pretty pleased for the first session.

Sunday morning I put up a new target up at 100 yds and loaded a 240 grain dead center with 100 grains of777 ffg.  First shot on a cold barrel was 3 and 1/2 inches high of the 1' bull.  Swabbed barrel reloaded and second shot was 1/2 inch to the left of the first. Swabbed barrel reloaded and third shot 1/2 inch higher than the first two shots but in between the first two. Life is good here in Virginia! I was all smiles.

I tore the encore down cleaned it real well and fired a couple caps to dry the barrel and breach plug.  I put up a new target and loaded another round on a clean barrel and made a sight adjustment to bring the group down a touch.

First shot was 2" above the bull.  Swabbed the barrel reloaded and fired another round.  However, I felt myself drift a little to the left when I pulled the trigger.  Second shot was 1" to the left of the first, but I felt like I drifted it.  I swabbed and reloaded. Third shot I was dead on the bull and cut the first shot hole.  I was feeling real good at this point.  Center to center was around an inch with one pulled shot I called.

I then shot a three shot goup with the 250 grain xtp the knight high pressure sabot and 100 gr of 777 ffg that measured around an 1 1/2".

I then shot a group with the 245 gr aerotip powerbelts. First shot was 4" high of the bull.  second shot was 2" above the first. Third shot did not hit the paper and I was dead on when I pulled the trigger.  maybe she dont like the powerbelts. I dont know, I dont have a lot of experience shooting them maybe I loaded them wrong or something.

The dead centers and xtps are dong real well thus far. So I know these may be a good loads for next fall but I still have a lot of time to work things out.

I had some dramatic kills last year with the 250 grain shockwave out of my omega and Im going to try them next week.  I have heard they load hard in the encore and I wanted to try the dead centers first because they load easier.

I will let you guys know how they do.

                                                      iisabigone

[Redhawk1]

Sounds like you got a good shooter there.  

[iisabigone]

Redhawk I shot the 200 and 250 shockwaves sabot on sunday.  The first shot with the shockwave 250 and 100 777ffg was right with the POI where the 240 dead center was last week, right where I wanted above the bull.  I then swabbed the barrel and reloaded and the next round hit 4 inches to the right and 4 inches high. I swabbed reloaded and shot a third round and it hit 2 inches high 3 inches to the left. Around a 8 inch group. I was dissapointed.

I tore down the gun and noticed the dreaded crud ring was evident, even after swabbing with the spit patch.

I cleaned and brushed the barrel out that removed the crudring and loaded a 200 shockwave with 100 grains of 777ffg and fired a shot at a new target at 100 yards. Bullet hits 4 inches directly above the bull. Swab reload and fire the next shot which hits 3in right and 6 inches high from the first shot. I then spit patch and reload.  Third shot misses the target completly.

I tore the gun back down and the crud ring was evident.

I was hopeing the shockwaves would shoot good since I had such goood luck with them out of my onega.

Im thinking now of what my options are.  
 1. Stick with the deadcenters and xtps that shot so fine last week.
 2. Try some pyro pellets with the shockwaves.
 3. Invest in 25acp conversion to help do away with crudring.
 4. change my spit swabbing technique or solution to a more efficient means of removing the crud.

Im going to try the deadcenters and xtps again this weekend to make sure they are still shooting good and something hasnt changed with the rifle.

Im thinking the encore just might not like the sabots or the crude ring and sobot combination that is used in the shockwave isnt compatible.

Anyhows I got  alot of time to work up loads before the season gets here.

                                          iisabigone

[mjshell]

I had David White modify a breach plug to accept 25 acp.  Using cci 400 primers it has significantly reduced the crud ring build up.  However, I still use a spit patch between loadings.  In addition I removed the extractor because I can remove the brass with my fingers (no more worry of loosing that little screw)  My groups are more consistant.

Remington is selling a black powder primer, however I haven't tried it yet.