A friend owns one of these in very good/like new condition.
He's looking to develop a load that hits to the factory sights.

Anyone here know what load these drillings were regulated to shoot?
With that single sight, it's likely to have been set up for a specific bullet weight/velocity.
I'm interested to hear what y'all have come up with for your Colt/Sauer drillings.


--Tinker

Try Remington 180gr PSP factory ammo. It workes very well in my present Sauer 3000 12ga/30-06 drilling of about the same vintage and worked in one I owned years ago just like it.

I remember reading an article in the American Rifleman about these back when Colt started importing them. I think the article said that the factory test load was the Winchester 180 gr Silvertip. So luv2safari's 180 gr Remington load should do well.

Brazos Jack

I bought one of these drilling's last year. The rifle barrel with Federal 180 grain bullets shoots fine with it's iron pop up sights to 50 yards and within 2" of the shotgun barrel with Brenneke Slugs.

quote:

Originally posted by Brazos Jack:
I remember reading an article in the American Rifleman about these back when Colt started importing them. I think the article said that the factory test load was the Winchester 180 gr Silvertip.
Brazos Jack

The above is correct if I recall correctly. Most Europian drillings chambered for American cartridges were regulated with Winchester ammo. In the case of the 30-06 the round was Winchester 180 gr silvertip. However the Winchester 180 gr silvertip is not the same cartridge today as it was back in the sixties, and seventies. As BrazosJack says the Remington 180 gr factory ammo should work fine. Try that and crono it,in your drilling, them duplicate the ballistics with your hand load, and a 180 gr Nosler Partition, or Swift A-frame. Stay away from the mono-metal bullets, like the x bullets, and monolithic soilds in the thing barrels of double rifles, and combo guns like the drilling. Stay with lead cored bullets!

The German combo and double guns I have seen had the "regulating load" info stamped on the flats under the barrel breech. Is that not on the Sauer Drilling?

I just checked the owners manual and it makes no referance to any load being factory regulated to the rifle barrel. I didn't have a chance to check the barrel stampings but I would guess there is nothing there either.

Thanks guys, this is a really good looking unanimous show for the 180gr rem factory load or early 70's vintage factory silvertips if my friend has some (and it's a fairly good bet that he does) as a starting point.

Also, thanks for the note on monometal solids. I've been advised and educated on this matter.
There won't be any monometal solids going down the bore of this drilling or any other multibarrel rifle in his or my collections.


Thanks again.
I'll pass this on to him in the morning.


--Tinker

A little follow-up here.

A quick look into the ammunition stock at the ranch confirms there are both old vintage Winchester Silvertips and current production Remington 180psp ammunition.
In the load log books and archives there are late60s/early70's factory load to handload conversion recipes too.

We'll do a test/chrono session with these some time next week and see what comes up.

Thanks again for the great responses.


--Tinker