Re: A Steel and Walnut Gun Fondler's Pride & Joy :-)

01 July 2004, 09:27

Rich Jake

My opinion is mine alone, be that good or bad, but I still wonder what some of the bench shooters can do offhand still yet.

Meplat
I just don't understand how you always seem to bring a thread back to this. Obiviously both bench & off hand shooting has there place. Depending on the amount of practice in either type of shooting will determine how well an indiividual shooter does.

Sean
Good Luck with the 357 Mag. I have a factory barrel that I have picked up for silhouette shooting & enjoy shooting it immensely!

01 July 2004, 09:40

Sean VHA #60013

Quote:

Sean, Good Luck with the 357 Mag. I have a factory barrel that I have picked up for silhouette shooting & enjoy shooting it immensely!

Aye, thanks Rich! This barrel is quite interesting and enjoyable, not only because of it's history, but also because it has a Bellm chamber & real throat. The more I shoot it the more impressed with it I am, and the more I look forward to sitting in my stand this year commanding 75-85 yards of field and hollow with my open sighted Bellm 357mag.

Who knows? I may even decide to extend that to 125-130 yards with a good pistol scope

03 July 2004, 04:17

B_Koes

Hey Rich, have you tried your hand at silhouettes again lately? Just curious since I haven't seen you around much lately.

03 July 2004, 04:54

Sean VHA #60013

Quote:

Hey Rich, have you tried your hand at silhouettes again lately? Just curious since I haven't seen you around much lately.

Speaking of Silhouettes, I wish we had such available around here. Were it close enough, Silhouette competition would be very fun. I am glad that the 22 Hornet barrel is doing to well in your hands! What loads & optics are you using with it?

03 July 2004, 10:58

B_Koes

Quote:

Speaking of Silhouettes, I wish we had such available around here. Were it close enough, Silhouette competition would be very fun. I am glad that the 22 Hornet barrel is doing to well in your hands! What loads & optics are you using with it?

My primary load is 7.6gr of WW296 with 55gr Sierra SBT and CCI small rifle primers. It's very tame although that ball powder still develops a healthy bark (around 1750fps). I had some trouble with ringing targets so I bumped it up to 8gr of 296 but I have not tested for accuracy or velocity.

I came across a "boatload" of Hornady 60gr barrier bullets and checked them out for keyholing @ 100yds. I found they stabilize just fine. I loaded up a couple of different types of powders but they seemed pretty erratic except for the Lil' Gun load (9.5gr I believe). However they were waaaay too hot for silhouette use (they also cratered those softer pistol primers which caused hard extraction)... something around 2100fps but they had consistent velocity. I think the SD was either 5 or 8 (can't remember) and the extreme spread was within 25 fps for 5 shots. At some point I'm going to drop the load down to about 8.5gr and try it out again (probably also with both rifle & pistol primers).

As for the optics, I originally used a Weaver KT-15 and I really liked it but I found myself wanting more magnification. Now I'm using Sightron's 24x competition scope which is a nice one. I would recommend either of them...

03 July 2004, 11:44

Rich Jake

Yeah I have shot one match so far. The big guys in the sport have nothing to worry about with me! LOL. I have just switched from a red dot on it to 2.5X . I hope that will improve things a little. I really just need to Prcatice, Practice, Practice.

03 July 2004, 12:42

Me_Plat

If I start shooting IHMSA can I take my benchrest and sandbags with me. I have one that weighs several hundred pound and could possibly get a small crain to lift it out of my pickup.

03 July 2004, 16:59

B_Koes

Quote:

Yeah I have shot one match so far. The big guys in the sport have nothing to worry about with me! LOL. I have just switched from a red dot on it to 2.5X . I hope that will improve things a little. I really just need to Prcatice, Practice, Practice.

I'd suggest a 24x scope, but I'm not even dumb enough to try that one (although some might argue that fact)!

Oh well, if you follow the above recipe you may or may not become a "big guy" in the sport but I hear tell it can help you get to Carnage Hall.

05 July 2004, 15:28

LDHunter

I've been gone (from the 'puter) for almost a week but I must say that it's surprizing that MePlat, or Meat Plate, or whatever identity he's hiding behind today is back.

I thought he finally got the message a long time ago that his type of childish gibberish isn't fit for adult discussions.... <sigh>

I have a good memory and remember some pretty harsh words coming from him in the past here. I choose to ignore him along with the Monkey Boy etal....

Anyway... Sean... I have always wanted to give a good 357 barrel a serious wringing out. I'm waiting with baited breath to hear more of what you discover.

I'll call you in a day or so and get the full story.

$bob$

06 July 2004, 12:49

Rich Jake

Sean
Here is a link with 170 Grain cast keith style bullets shot in a revolver with Lil Gun Powder. This combo sounds like what you might be interested in. handloads.com They are pushing heavy cast bullets at a pretty good clip. I may try them myself as I have both on the reloading bench.

07 July 2004, 08:56

LDHunter

Rich,

I also have had excellent results with Lil' Gun. It's the first powder I ever found that has made me finally give up on H110. This is good news too because the ultra fine grain consistency of H110 has always been an annoyance to me.

The Lil' Gun meters very well and appears to be a "flattened ball" type shape and not as fine as H110.

I also noticed a bit less recoil and muzzle blast and more velocity...

For those of you that don't have Lil' Gun data yet try this link.

http://www.hodgdon.com/data/pistol/357mag.php

$bob$