These GSC and S&H bullets are worth more than their weight in gold.

I did two-shot loads for chronograph ballparking, to save on bullets. This is a preliminary for:

1. HV expansion in water at low, medium, and high velocity, to see if it opens reliably. Water is a consistent and good medium for a hollowpoint test.

2. S&H brass 330-grain versus GSC copper 340-grain FN solid penetration in the "Iron Water Buffalo" (plywood and waterbag sandwich).

3. Accuracy testing of all bullet types of GSC (copper HV, FN, and SP), S&H (brass FN), and prof242's B-Max Bullets (sized-down Hornady 300-grainers, Hawk 350-grainers, and various cast lead bullets, including custom moulded .395/400-grainers).

It was 54 degrees F, sunny and calm today.
.395 Tatanka with 1:12" McGowen stainless barrel, 26" length.
Norma .416 Rigby brass, Federal GM215M primer.
Average velocity for "two-shot-only" groups at 100 yard targets:

340-grain GSC HV
95.0 grains of H4350: 2711.0 fps
95.0 grains of H4831SC: 2521.5 fps
95.0 grains of H1000: 2313.0 fps
95.0 grains of H50BMG: 1927.5 fps
50.0 grains of AA5744: 1976.5 fps
40.0 grains of AA5744: 1672.0 fps

330-grain S&H FN
95.0 grains of H4350: 2693.0 fps
95.0 grains of H4831SC: 2506.5 fps
95.0 grains of H1000: 2332.0 fps
95.0 grains of H50BMG: 1986.5 fps
55.0 grains of AA5744: 2110.0 fps
50.0 grains of AA5744: 1950.0 fps

2-shot velocities and 2-shot groups were similar for the two bullets, but with such small sample sizes, more shooting is needed, of course.

Here are the best 2-shot groups from the day, looks like a tie so far:





The bullets:



The brass is necked down to .375 with a .378 Weatherby die (with the base of the die cut off so as not to "scrap a belt" onto the case), inside neck reamed with a .375 cutter on the case trimmer, to get rid of some increased neck thickness and square the case mouths at 2.890" case length. Then the brass is necked up to .395 with an expander button turned down to sub-.395 in a .416 Rigby die.
The brass is then annealed. The bullets are seated with a .416 Rigby die, and a pseudo-crimp put on with a 10mm pistol sizing die. The result is not pretty, until fire-formed. Custom .395 Tatanka dies are on order from Redding.



This scope has 1/4 minute clicks, 3x-9x Leupold centennial model. Hey, it says "2007" on the side of the turret. It was meant for a .395 Tatanka, AKA the "Forty-Ought-Seven."

Keep the party goin' RIP!!

ARRRGGHH again! RIP having all the fun with the .395 caliber. If you hear of the demise of a gunsmith here in Colorado, please look the other way.

I would say well done everyone but I would be stating the obvious...

Congrats all...

RIP...good shooting

now to neck down the 505 Gibbs/408 Chey-Tac to 395 and put those fancy sp's to the test

with the new McGowen actions you could mag feed those sp's on the lapua case

Easy there Boomer! The Doc already has his hands full. Give him time to sort out all these 395's.

quote:

Originally posted by .366torque:
Keep the party goin' RIP!!

.366torque,
Thank you.
Party hat:


Boomstick,
I thought I was the one supposed to be talking to himself on this thread.



I do have a .398 Lapua Mag. that will cycle the SP's through the box, but that pointy nose would be mashed by recoil against the box unless a single stack with shoulder retaining device was worked out. Not necessary. The SP will be a single-shot loader in whatever of the .395 Big Five.

Iron Water Buffalo penetration will have to wait until next weekend.

We now know the gross water capacity of the .395 Tatanka when formed from .416 Rigby brass by Norma:

129.4 grains

That's official.

LoadTech/AccuLoad3 agrees very well with H4350 velocity for charge, with the GSC HV loads:
340-grain bullet
95.0 grains of H4350
predicted: 2725 fps at 54,290 PSI
observed so far: 2711 fps

Predicted:
50,225 PSI to 60,000 PSI
for
90.8 grains to 100.9 grains H4350
for
2665 fps to 2810 fps with 340-grainer
and surely similar for the 330-grain S&H

Recoil is very comfortable with the 26" GSC profile McGowen barrel on a Dakota 76 with an MPI stock.

The .395/340-grain GSC SP could be loaded long with pressures up to 65,000 psi and close to 2900 fps, just for kicks.

Sorry to be so slow about getting the tests done, but I am limited in shooting opportunities.
If only I had an underground 100 yard tunnel like Saeed's basement lair.

prof242,
What does your party hat look like?
You will be needing one soon.
Max of the .395 Ruger Max ... party hat ... .395 shot glass in hand and any hat you want ...

I'm borrowing a digital camera and will post my party hat soon. Its basically an AR hat w/name and I'm putting .395 on it.
Now I do have a Wyoming Bush Pilot hat that I might wear, also. That one should definitely be posted.
Have room reservation, plane tickets, original shot glasses (will try and have .400 BPE glasses for Dallas), so am ready to party.
[now what was that bottle of liquor I'm supposed to bring...think of trolls, Max...OH! Wild Turkey!]
Max

Max,
You animal!
Thanks for that great party attitude. Helps get through the thumb twiddling on gunsmith turnarounds. I'll bring my mug for the beer and the shot glass for the Wild Turkey. Ratzeputz would liven things up nicely too.

Did someone say RATZEPUTZ!?!?!?

Macifej,
How about the field expedient of hollowpointing these brass FN solids. That would make a nice fragmentation grenade for big game!

I could run a short batch of hollow point solids in the next couple days. They will get pretty light though. Around 295 or 300 grains. We set up the toolong for that already. They will be VERY nasty hole makers indeed!

Doing more tree removal RIP??

Well, let's see if Max is interested in a new elk bullet. That would be a great weight for the .395 Ruger Max, or any other .395. We know it will be accurate.

Absolutely, Guys! I think all state laws require expanding bullets to hunt large game. The hollow point would comply with the law plus reduce recoil slightly for elk. I've got a Colorado cow elk tag good for the whole month of December. If the 'smith gets my .395 Max completed within the next two weeks, I'll use it...either with one of these or one of my own sized down bullets.

Just talked with my missing 'smith. He's back from elk guiding and talking about missing hunters...see, two different meanings of the word.
He hopes to have my rifle completed by next week. Just enough time to mount a scope, sight in, and prepare for the hunt. Just in case he's being optimistic, have zeroed my .375H&H and my 7mmRMag.

Max,
Good!
Let's see what S&H can offer in the way of a deal to the .395 Family on this side of the pond.

Have you got your .395 Ruger Max reloading dies yet?

It will be easy enough to make a .393"-ish expander button yourself (how much under .395" for a good bullet grip when seating?), to use in another die, meantime, to come up with some shootable ammo.

I thought Hornady was going to be speedier on the .395 Ruger Max dies than Redding on the .395 Tatanka dies.

I have ordered both and am still waiting.

I have ordered 400/.395NE dies for both of us from CH4D, and the chamber reamer from Dave Manson, and an LBT .396/400-grain boolit mould. That sums up the waited-for items on my end.

How many of these hypothetical "Elk Grenade" bullets do you guys want??

quote:

Originally posted by Macifej:
I could run a short batch of hollow point solids in the next couple days. They will get pretty light though. Around 295 or 300 grains. We set up the toolong for that already. They will be VERY nasty hole makers indeed!

Doing more tree removal RIP??

Mac,
What constitutes a "short batch" for two "little guys" to share?

I suppose you could even make it a boat-tail-hollow-point and wherever the weight ends up with the current length bullet would be fine?

Make the hollowpoint deep enough and wide enough to blow off the nose petals and leave a nose heavy cylinder to finish the penetration?

Brass might even be an advantage in this regard.
Your brass is dense.

The .395/330-grain S&H Brass FN is 1.375"-1.376" long on all that I measured: +/- .0005" is not bad. There is not even a little nub at the center of the base. Actually your bullet tolerances are smaller than I am able to measure.

The .395/340-grain GSC Copper FN is about 1.398" long and uniform enough.

I'm sure you could come up with a brass BTHP. Grooved is fine, but bearing surface could be reduced by the boattail and maybe "mo'phatta" grooves as you say.

I might get that bullet over 3000 fps in the .395 Tatanka for tree removal purposes.

We'll just have to make sure it fits the throat and box of a .395 Ruger Max. It could even be longer than the current S&H FN as long as we get the nose and crimping location right for the .395 Ruger Max.

Some input from Max is needed.

RIP - Incoming PM

Having this bullet weigh in at the 300 grain point should be entirely adequate. Length compared to the GSC hollow-point spitzer bullet should be no problem for our twist rate since your material is denser and we're starting out with a flat nose.
Whether a boat-tail is necessary could be argued. A slight rounding of the base in order to facilitate loading in the case probably would be more than sufficient.
Now RIP , you know by blowing off the petals we'll be receiving criticism from the weight-retention proponents (just kidding).
Concur that the hollowpoint should be deep enough to ensure expansion, but leaving the heavy cylinder to continue penetration ala Nosler Partition.
QUESTION: Would there be a problem with scoring the nose to ensure petal development? I would think this would help our expansion concerns for things smaller than Ele, Buff, Giraffe, etc.
Q 2: Mo'phatta? By this do you mean wider grooves than ribs to lower bearing surface? Concur if this is what was meant.
I also don't think there will be a problem with this bullet fitting the box of my Ruger MKII. I can always put a longer box on it.

Easily done! Drawing to you in a few minutes.

If you go to three or five-shot grops you might actually have something measurable, instead of one big hole.

Nice going!

Charles,
Thanks for not making fun of me for being stingy with the bullets. Still breaking in the barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Charles,
Thanks for not making fun of me for being stingy with the bullets. Still breaking in the barrel.

When I saw they were two-shot groups, even before I read the text, I figured that you needed to conserve. I'd have to say that it looks quite good so far.

quote:

Originally posted by Charles_Helm:

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Charles,
Thanks for not making fun of me for being stingy with the bullets. Still breaking in the barrel.

When I saw they were two-shot groups, even before I read the text, I figured that you needed to conserve. I'd have to say that it looks quite good so far.

Don't let em kid ya Charles! That's a .395" H&H Royal Double RIP shot those groups with!

Mac,
If I shot two bullets into the same hole at 100 yards with a double rifle, I would be condemned for having a rifle with faulty regulation or loads too fast for the regulation. Must be parallel to infinity with two holes only as far apart as the centers of the double muzzles. Otherwise the "double rifle gays" go ballistic.

quote:

"double rifle gays"

I never could understand why anyone would want one of those "regulated in a blacksmith shop" things!