Maven
Well-Known Member
Ever have a rifle you wanted to sell, to make room in your gun safe for example? Well, that was what I was going to do 2 years ago with my all matching, as issued M-96 Swedish Mauser, but the deal fell through even though I sold off everything related to it: brass, molds, dies, etc. Several weeks ago I got the idea to put that rifle back in service with, gulp, jacketed bullets and ordered dies, brass & bullets. Then Al Nelson (NOE) announced a July 4th mold sale, so I took a look. As luck would have it, he had 1 6.5mm "Kurtz" aluminum 2 cavity mold left, but 1 cavity was plain base, while the other was for GC's...which I didn't want (hard to find 6.5mm GC's + they're pricey). When I ordered, I asked Al to make both cavities plain base. Fast forward to late last week: Got the mold, heat cycled it as per instructions, and cast with it: Extremely pleased with the results. Btw, I was fortunate enough to have a new Lyman .266" H & I (sizing) die lying around, but it needed to be lapped out to .267" to suit the gun, which I did via Buckshot's method (maybe still in Castpics?).
Today I went to the 50 yd. range and tested the new, sized to .267" NOE/Kurtz plain base CB's using what I thought might be suitable loads, namely 6gr. - 9gr. of Alliant Unique (10 loads of each charge for a total of 40 + 2 fouling shots). Why 50 yd.? Because at that distance, I can see the target well with the as issued sights and because I'm fairly certain that aiming errors are fewest. Also, for the 25 yrs. I've owned the rifle, better than 90% of the shooting was at that range.
I'm happy to say there was a trend in that the rifle shot better when the powder charge was raised from 6gr. to 8gr. Unique, with the latter leaving only a slight wash of lead in the bore. Unfortunately, that wasn't so with the 9gr. charge, which was almost as accurate as 8grs., in spite of the bore leading. I'll retest these in the coming weeks and maybe fine tune them by going to 7.5gr. and then 8.5gr. Unique. I've attached pics of the two most accurate loads.
I should add that all charges were thrown using fixed rotors in a Lyman pistol powder measure, and rounded up slightly. Also, this was the first time in ~1 year that I did any bench shooting as I've been trying to improve my offhand skill for various black powder events I participate in. (I still suck at offhand shooting, btw.)
Today I went to the 50 yd. range and tested the new, sized to .267" NOE/Kurtz plain base CB's using what I thought might be suitable loads, namely 6gr. - 9gr. of Alliant Unique (10 loads of each charge for a total of 40 + 2 fouling shots). Why 50 yd.? Because at that distance, I can see the target well with the as issued sights and because I'm fairly certain that aiming errors are fewest. Also, for the 25 yrs. I've owned the rifle, better than 90% of the shooting was at that range.
I'm happy to say there was a trend in that the rifle shot better when the powder charge was raised from 6gr. to 8gr. Unique, with the latter leaving only a slight wash of lead in the bore. Unfortunately, that wasn't so with the 9gr. charge, which was almost as accurate as 8grs., in spite of the bore leading. I'll retest these in the coming weeks and maybe fine tune them by going to 7.5gr. and then 8.5gr. Unique. I've attached pics of the two most accurate loads.
I should add that all charges were thrown using fixed rotors in a Lyman pistol powder measure, and rounded up slightly. Also, this was the first time in ~1 year that I did any bench shooting as I've been trying to improve my offhand skill for various black powder events I participate in. (I still suck at offhand shooting, btw.)