Reworked Marlin 1894

[Brad]

Got out and shot the Marlin today. The work on the forearm seems to have helped. Groups are far more round and lack any drift to the right as the barrel heats.

I wanted to see how primers affected groups and velocity. I loaded 20 ea with CCI 300, CCI 350, Tula LP, Fed 150, and Fed 155
All loads in Starline brass, a Lee 434640 sized .433 lubed with BR, and 21.5 gr of H110.

I fired a single 10 shot group at 50 yards from a rest with each primer. Results were interesting.

 

[Brad]

Targets are in the order fired.
Top to bottom they are CCI 300, CCI 350, Tula, Fed 150, and Fed 155

The two low, left shots on first target were used to adjust scope as it was removed during the work done on the rifle. Group sizes can be seen written on the targets.

 

[Brad]

The telling information was from the chronograph. Average velocities are as follows.
CCI 300 1594
CCI 350 1626
Tula. 1588
Fed 150. 1574
Fed 155. 1553

The SD for each primer ranged from 11.8 to 7.7 with the CCI 300 the worst and CCI 350 the best. The Tula was second best yet had the worst group.

I think the "softer" primers that gave lower velocities need maybe another .5 gr of powder. I think that getting th velocity of loads above 1600 fps makes the rifle shoot best with this bullet. It looks like 1625 fps is good but 1550 isn't bad either. Right in the middle isn't as good.

I will get out next week and reshoot using the remaining 10 with each primer. Should be 30 degrees warmer, will be interesting to see how temp plays a role.

 

[Ian]

I would have lost money on that one, but for some reason I was thinking you were going to load 2400 instead of 296.

Looks like you got the wander out of it with your bedding work, good job! One day you might actually begin to get comfortable shopping at auto parts stores if you keep this sort of thing up.

 

[Brad]

I think the Fed 150 will be much better when I increase the charge a little. I was shocked to see the Fed 155 shoot better than the 150 at a lower velocity.

I haven't tried 2400 with this bullet. H110 is just so good in 44 mag with heavier bullets that I can't see changing. It also lets me save the 2400 for use in other rifles with cast.

And the parts store will always be an odd place for me. I am getting better but I still don't feel like I belong? Oddly I have a 26 year old female tech at work who is the opposite. She grew up around car guys, father and brothers. We had a truck at the drive thru the other day stall. She said it was probably the starter and they needed a screwdriver to get it started. A few seconds later they got a screwdriver and had it started.

 

[waco]

Brad. Could you post a pic of that bullet please? I want to see what it looks like. Thanks.

 

[Brad]

Drops at .434+
So far it is working well in the rifle. Still need to try some in the revolver.

 

[waco]

NICE!

 

[9.3X62AL]

Round flat-noses of "standard" weight-for-caliber are fine general purpose bullets, esp. for levergun/wheelgun combos.

 

[gman]

Would that alloy be 50/50 heat treated?

 

[Brad]

Close to 50/50 heat treated. Those are enriched range scrap. Close as I can tell it is close to 50/50. I water dropped these. They are runnng close to 20 BHn. Not much expansion in the berm at 60 yards.

 

[Ian]

With a meplat like that and the velocity you're getting, there is no need for expansion.

 

[9.3X62AL]

"I WANT IT ALL--AND I WANT IT NOW!"

Ahem......my hunting loads get BruceB Softpoints seated.

 

[Brad]

A BruceB soft point would certainly work well in this bullet. Even if 1/2 the nose was softer lead it would make a difference. Past experience, and a bad one, tell me that letting the bullet get shorter than it is around destroys penetration.

 

[9.3X62AL]

Full agreement, Brad. My donor slugs usually weigh 30%-35% of the bullet's as-cast weight. I am far more interested in the depth of the hole than in its width, but some expansion is nice.

 

[Creeker]

NICE!

Nice indeed.

 

[KHornet]

Good primer test!

 

[Brad]

Quickload indicates that I can go up another .5gr safely.
Not sure I want to with all the primers or not. Have the cases cleaned, sized, and re-primed. Now to ponder on the loads....

 

[Pistolero]

Am I correct in saying that the CCI350 and Fed155, both magnum primers, did
noticeably tighter "central groups" than the others? Primarily making sure I have
the primer-to-target ID correct. Very interesting to look at the velocities, too.

CCI mag primers produced the highest velocities and Fed mag primers produced
the lowest velocity, yet both produced the most pleasing groups........at least to
my eye, with the CCI300 a close third, how weird is THAT!

Bill

 

[Pistolero]

OK, now you have to repeat the whole exercise a second time to see if the results
are repeatable. Hope the budget, both fiscal and temporal, will stand
the pressure.