some 348 data - BE CAREFUL _ USE at your own risk.
I found an old email I sent to Brush Buster. Maybe this would be helpful.
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Test day was March 5 2004 afternoon about 3 pm to 5:30 pm. Temps about 25-30 F, very light breeze that died by about 4:30.
Bright sunny with high sparse clouds. The chrono screens were set so the instrumental velocity is about 15 feet from the muzzle. I ran 2 fouling shots with 190 gr cast gc bullets through the gun to warm up the barrel and clear out the oil etc.
BTW my gun is the Win 71, 24 in barrel. All testing today 3-5-04 was at 75 yard target, using a new Williams aperture of .05?? whatever the smallest opening is - shot at standard 25 yd slow fire pistol target.
load 1, test order 1
3-5-04 (loaded date) 59 gr H 4831 std not short cut, 250 gc Custom Cast Douda, CCI 200, WW case trimmed to min, Lee crimp 4 rounds only - one bullet shaved a little on loading - didn't have expander die adjusted deep enough.
chron 3-5-04, 4 shots, 2013-2028, 15 es, 2021 avg, 6 SD
3 shots TOUCHING 4th shot spread to 4+ inches. easily able to increase - High accuracy potential if I can keep consistent sight picture. I'll enclose a scan of this test target. Could be good hunting load too. I doubt I could do this regularly but I might try.
load 2, test order 2
3-5-04 (loaded date) 60 gr H 4831 std not short cut, 250 gc Custom Cast Douda, CCI 200, WW case trimmed to min, Lee crimp 4rounds only.
chron 3-5-04, 4 shots, 2035-2095, 60 es, 2061 avg, 25 SD not as consistent as 59 gr,
I think I was flinching badly - horizontal stringing of 8-9 inches but vertical dispersion of only 3 inches and slightly higher than test 1 on target. Work up from 59 by .25 gr if seek more vel.
load 3 test order 3
11-30-03 (loaded date) 59 gr AA 3100, 250 Barnes Original, CCI 200, WW case, Lee crimp, seated to OAL of 2.785", 6 rounds.
chron 3-5-04, 6 shots, 2144-2189, 45 es, 2161 avg, 17 SD
impacted target a good 6-8 inches above 250 gr cast loads in 1 and 2 above. Good accuracy potential, was having trouble with consistent sight picture ( bright snow and sun, black target, some heat mirage on barrel). Group was about 3 inches.
load 4 test order 4
11-30-03 (loaded date) 62 gr AA 3100, 220 Barnes Original, CCI 200, WW case, Lee crimp, seated to cannelure, 3 rounds.
chron 3-5-04, 3 shots, 2270-2321, 51es, 2293 avg, 25 SD
impacted target ~ 2 inches above 250 gr Barnes loads in 3 and 4 above. approx 2.5 group Good accuracy potential, faster than 250 gr less kick, would be nice to have more consistent vel.
load 5 test order 5
11-30-03 (loaded date) 63 gr AA 3100, 220 Barnes Original, CCI 200, WW case, Lee crimp, seated to cannelure, 3 rounds.
chron 3-5-04, 3 shots, 2284-2348, 64 es, 2326 avg, 36 SD
impacted target ~ 2 inches above 250 gr Barnes loads in 3 and 4 above. approx 2.5 group Good accuracy potential, faster than 250 gr less kick, would be nice to have more consistent vel. but last shot had sat in warm chamber a little longer (3-4 min?) than most so may have had some effect there. Need to consult book to see if I can increase - I like loads with a little more consistency. If can't go up, go down a little.
load 6 test order 6
9-5-93 (loaded date) 52 gr IMR 4895, 200 Horn I, CCI 200, WW case, Lee crimp, seated to cannelure, 19 rounds.
chron 3-5-04, 5 shots, 2383-2455, 72 es, 2415 avg, 32 SD again last shot sat in hot bbl for 3-4 min
impacted target ~ 2 inches above 250 gr Barnes loads in 3 and 4 above. approx 3 group Fair to good accuracy potential - much milder to shoot than heavier bullets.
My records show I've played a bit with IMR 4895 since 1990 and was settling on 52-53 gr with the Hornady bullet as an acceptably accurate (3 in or less at 75 yds) caribou round.
Here is some older data:
A.
12-23-90 (loaded date) 53 gr IMR 4895, 200 Horn I, CCI 200, WW case, Lee crimp, seated to cannelure, 3 rounds.
chron 1-12-91 (-20 F brrr), 3 shots, 2378-2442, 64 es, 2402 avg, 33 SD No record of group - probably not great. Too blasted cold for testing - note velocity compared to 3-5-04 test 6. Its likely that in 91 my screens were closer to the muzzle too maybe 8 foot instrumental- I usually had a blast screen to shoot through back then. Subsequent loads have been in the 52 to 52.5 range with groups in warmer days of about 3 inches.
B
10-26-91(loaded date) 52.5 gr IMR 4895, 200 Horn I, CCI 200, WW case, light Lee crimp, seated to cannelure, 5 rounds.
chron 9-4-93 5 shots, 2424 -2460, 36 es, 2441 avg, 18 SD nice Vel, nice consistency, note temp was likely in +40's to +60's or so and note velocity compared to -20 F. No record of group but I see I went to 52 gr IMR 4895 when I reloaded the next day.
C.
Getting late for lots more details but I see I experimented with H 4831 and the 200 Horn, WW cases, CCI 200 primer. I tried 61, 63.5 and 64 gr. Avg vel for 3 shots at 25 F was In same order - 1998, 2104, 2134. I noted that I didn't like the accuracy of 63.5 and 64 gr. Used RCBS die crimp
C 2.
Later tested 5 rounds of 61 gr IMR 4831, 200 Horn, Win 120 primer, Rem case, mild Lee Crimp - @ 30F 2155-2194, 39 es, 2175 avg, 14 sd. fair accuracy but I've never tried IMR 4831 again - wonder why now. Maybe I should look again, but I suspect I was hoarding that powder for my 300 win.
D
Chrono 3 NEW Win factory 200 gr loads on 7-26-92 (likely 50-60+ degrees) 2418-2453, 35 es, 2435 avg, 16 sd
NOTE ALL THESE 3 AND 5 SHOT VELOCITIES ARE MIGHTY SMALL AND STATISTICALLY NOT VERY VALID - but they tell me ball park velocities and consistency. Too expensive to run the full 5 tests of 5 shots each.
E
Chrono 3 Ancient Win factory 150 gr loads on 7-26-92 (likely 50-60+ degrees) 2559-2640, 81 es, 2610 avg, 44 sd
F
As I am getting back in touch with this gun and cartridge I come up with some thoughts, that I think I had when I was first busy with it in the early 90's. For fun shooting with this, a light kicking cast bullet load in the 1650-1800 fps range might be nice. Even the heavy hunting cast loads whack pretty hard. Lighter loads would be much easier on the gun as well. I think that's where Ken Waters was going with his mild cast bullet loads. A 200-220 cast bullet, while having more whomp on the shoulder than a 180-190, might be better on the target and better for light big game with those sub 1800 velocities.
G
Also, the different bullet weights hit way different on the target with one sight setting. So its real tempting to find one bullet weight and one load if you don't like all the work resighting your gun.
H
Cases stretch a lot especially with full power loads. I think I'll try to be more careful to record the number of trims and use new brass for hunting. Another argument for using mild loads if you want to plink with this gun. Also plan to discard brass after 4-5 ?? trims or at least keep a very close eye on the case stretch and potential head separation.
I
A new butt stock with recoil pad would be real nice.
J
Its not too hard to nearly match jacketed velocities with same weight cast bullets, especially in the heavy bullets - and my barrel doesn't seem to be leading up much.
