Is it ok to shoot GS Custom FN solids in a double? I have heard that shooting Barnes monolithic solids will damage a double rifle barrel. But the rings on a GS solid allow it to give and reduce the pressure, so I wonder if it is ok to shoot them in a double rifle.
Posts: 18352 | Location: Salt Lake City, Utah USA | Registered: 20 April 2002
I have been shooting them in Sweet Thang (450-400-3") WJ Jefferys for about a year now as the POI is the same as the 400 gr. Woodleih softs and solids, which is a pretty good indicator and I have seen no pressure signs at all....I can actually load about 3 grs. more powder with the GS FN than I can with the Woodleighs, but it will shoot a little high if I do, so I just shoot them with the same load at a hair less than 2150 FPS..The GS FN is all I shoot these days in Sweet Thang...
Here is a test we did with an HV bullet and the same would hold true for FNs as well. Even a hard cast lead bullet is more difficult and this should not be done with any smooth sided bullet unless you know how to deal with a stuck bullet. http://www.zibycom.com/members/002245268/Site2/hvbore.html
Please comment on shooting Monolithic Solids (Barnes, A2, etc.) out of a double rifle! Will it damage the barrel? AA does not think so in his reloading manual. What about regular Hornady and Woodleih solid?
Regardless of what AA says, a lot of people are against shooting the Barnes monolithic solids in a vintage double on the basis that the steel of the double is soft and the hard bullet will damage it.
I wonder if it is possible that a monolithic would damage the solder between the barrels of a double?
Posts: 18352 | Location: Salt Lake City, Utah USA | Registered: 20 April 2002
Where there is smoke there is fire, thats why I don't shoot Barnes...
I do shoot the GS solids exclusively in my old English double and get less pressure than with Woodleighs and better accuracy with nearly the same powder charge of RL-15 or IMR-4831..It must be the driving bands with roughly 50% less contact as the same charge get about 25 ot 50 FPS less with the GS solids.
I suspect one could shoot Barnes monolithics in any of the new modern steel doubles like the Searcy, Chapius, Merkle or that other funny one with the screwed up safty system.
I like the Barnes super solids, but I do not shoot them in my doubles. I have, however, thought about chucking the Monolithics in my hobby lathe to cut the grouves in the bareing surface like the GS FN solids. I see no reason it wouldn't work just fine!
------------------ ..Mac >>>===(x)===> also DUGABOY1 DUGABOY DESIGNS Collector/trader of fine double rifles, and African wildlife art
Posts: 14634 | Location: TEXAS | Registered: 08 June 2000
Vasa, The Hornady solids and softs are a great bullets in the old doubles, right up there with the Woodleighs which are the standard by which all double rifle bullets are judged.
Mac, there is more to this groove business than meets the eye..I suggest you talk to Gerard at GS Custom and MIke Brady at Northfork.
quote:Originally posted by Atkinson: Mac, there is more to this groove business than meets the eye..I suggest you talk to Gerard at GS Custom and MIke Brady at Northfork.
You are probably right Ray, but I think there would be a reduction in chamber pressure, as well as less stress on the barrel when the rifleing engraves the bullet, yet retaining gasses. Is Northfork going to be at the Dallas show?
------------------ ..Mac >>>===(x)===> also DUGABOY1 DUGABOY DESIGNS Collector/trader of fine double rifles, and African wildlife art
Posts: 14634 | Location: TEXAS | Registered: 08 June 2000
500grs, is this a new or vintage double? I can't comment on the newer guns, but I would certainly never use the barnes solids in a vintage gun. The argument for the Woodleighs with the lead core is that the lead "gives" as it enters the rifling. Barnes bullets wont. I doubt that GS will either.
I am currently loading for a black powder double rifle and have found Gramme Wright's book on loading the double rifle to be of great help. Lots of modern express loads as well. The topic of "hard" bullets and undersized barrels is touched upon. It makes a great read.
Greg, Have a look at http://www.zibycom.com/members/002245268/Site2/hvbore.html and try that with a copper jacketed lead bullet. For undersize barrels, we simply need your exact barrel diameter and your order. No extra charge for special runs of an existing bullet at your barrel size and we keep your data on record for future supplies.
My appologies Gerard! I assumed way too much when "GS" bullets were mentioned. I incorrectly thought that the reference was to a US-made bullet with the initials G.S. that are constructed with a heavy jacket and a tungsten core. My mistake!
Greg, No sweat, I have had worse. A PH phoned me once, ranting about how my useless bullets spoiled a blesbuck hunt for his client. After a couple of questions, he mentioned that the bullet only retained 42% weight. I asked how sure he was that it was one of ours, as he did not reload the ammo himself. He said he was positive because the bullet was stamped GS on the base. The penny only dropped when I pointed out that we make monometal bullets and not lead core bullets.
Barnes monolithic solids have always worked fine in my rifles. I would venture to say that they should work fine out of any of the modern made doubles. The last elephant and two buff. were shot with Gerard's FN solids. To say they worked well is an understatment. And this statement come from a person that doesn't think much of solids, and that remark comes from experience in the field.
Thanks 500grains and Butch Searcy. Good to know. My next double will be a Searcy, 500 NE. Now that I have a Merkel in 470 NE, it will make the wait for a made-to-order Searcy bearable. Just let me regroup.
------------------ RAB
Posts: 28032 | Location: KY | Registered: 09 December 2001
For undersize barrels, we simply need your exact barrel diameter and your order. No extra charge for special runs of an existing bullet at your barrel size and we keep your data on record for future supplies.
My mistake! 
?