New Zip for an Old Favorite

[Hopalong7]

    Well, it's about time for spring turkey season, so I thought I'd tune up my old 10" Octagon .218Bee barrel w/ 4X Burris(I've been neglecting it for the last couple of years).  I had good success lately with Lil Gun in my Hornets and I'd just run across a deal on some 33gr Speer TNT HP's so I had to give them a try.  Wow!!!   Worked up to 14.0 gr. of Lil Gun(14.0 is max load for 35 and 40 grainer's in Hodgdon's latest annual manual) under the stubby little HP.  Shot it today at 50yd and put the first five inside .450".  The second group was on it's way to being as good until the old man screwed up the last shot.  The chrono showed an average of 2993fps with a sd of 77.  The REM 7 1/2's were flattened very little to none and the empties fell out.  I think my fastest load ever out of this barrel was 13.5gr H4227 under 40gr NBT's running about 2600fps.  I shot a few 35gr V-Max's in it but accuracy wasn't that great so I'd not bothered to chrono them.  I've not had great accuracy from any real light bullet until now(in the Bee or the Hornet), but this one is going to get a little more attention.  I "made do" for many years with Bob Milek's standard load of 13.0gr H4227 and 45gr Sierra or Speer.
    Even though pressure signs were nil, this load has to close to max, so if try it... work up accordingly.   GOOD SHOOTIN', Walt