Article #10: Buffers, Fillers, and other "taboo" subjects

[RBHarter]

Symmetry is the key on the base . I'd say your buddy did what he did in a very get lucky way . The nose on the other hand ....... It can suffer some pretty extreme damage and still fly straight . There was a nose damage demonstration video with 22 LR . The guy actually cut half the nose out a dia or so down . Strangely it would shoot groups but the expanding spiral ensured they weren't where you were aiming .
North American Hunting did a video long ago where they mangled noses and bases of Nosler bullets for the demonstration . A notch in a boatail base will ,in their demo, cause it to deflect because of uneven gas escape across the base .

I would imagine that at some point in reduced muzzle pressure , where the gas push drops below 25% of acceleration maybe , base quality may become a nil point .

With all of this it begs the question from the "everything we know is wrong file" . How the heck do we shoot little bitty groups with 22 LR with those swaged healed bullets crimped in cases manufactured on lines producing millions per week with more or less 1840 tech ?

 

[Rick]

Hand Loader did a fairly extensive test of deformed bullet bases several years ago. Could have been by Paul Mathews, don't remember but it concluded that bullet base deformities were more detrimental to accuracy than the same damage to the nose.

 

[Snakeoil]

I imagine many would. Maybe we should repeat it. Adrian was a retired artillery colonel and the man knew his stuff about projectiles flying thru the air. He passed away several years ago. I'd be game to try it. Might make for an interesting diversion some day. And with the availability of cell phones, we could document it. Hmmm...

 

[Rick]

Just looked it up. Hand Loader #88, Nov-Dec 1980 an article by Wayne Blackwell - "How Defects In Cast Bullets Effect Accuracy". Blackwell conclusion was that deformed bases doubled or nearly doubled group size over similar nose defects. Another article not in Hand Loader magazine but in the Wolfe Publishing Bullet Making Annual as a feature article by John Zemanek reached the same conclusions, both articles describe the intentional defects and targets with photos. Both articles pretty convincing and I have strived for the best bullet base I can get in all of my match bullets. Sure can't hurt.​

 

[fiver]

And with the availability of cell phones, we could document it.

we could certainly call each other and discuss it.
I doubt the old Motorola is even gonna be there let alone document anything.

 

[Ian]

Plain base bullets are implied here. RB has the right idea, symmetry is everything...nobody said the base has to be FLAT, only symmetrical. Mann filed bases at up to 45° angle and shot them over a lake, they were accurate/repeatable if clocked the same but printed in different places than did bullets with other angles or perfect flat bases. IIRC he did the same test while filing an angle on the end of the barrel. Side-cutters make for good drama, but not necessarily a ruinous situation. Velocity/pressure at the muzzle are in the don't matter so much category here anyway, probably BPCR?. Don't try the same test with a .30 caliber at 2400 fps.

 

[Snakeoil]

I thought that story might generate a few comments. I knew Adrian well. He is actually the one who got me into shooting BPCR. I did not personally witness the event. But he had related the story to me and it came up again at the club last week. His ashes are buried in the 500 yd berm at the club per his request.

I'm pretty sure he won his class/category at the Nationals at Raton on his first trip out. I tried to find past results on the web with no luck. I suspect he shot in a seniors category, probably shooters over 70 if they have such a classification. He still had the sticker on the stock of his Hepburn from that event. Although he never bragged about it. I actually pried it out of him one day.