[marco]

I went to go run my crab pots today and on the way stopped by my uncle's to try out the 180 Federal Castcores I bought the other day. It was kind of an informal test because there are several boxes of these on the shelf at the local gun store and they've been sitting there at a 21.00 price tag per box and I wondered if I would like to buy the rest. I also shot my favorite load first so far, the Federal 158g JSP. I can break clays 10 for 10 with these all day. Our new berm is 90 yds. They did as expected. The next was the 180g Castcores. There was very little recoil, noticeably less than the 158's. I accidently shot the first with my earplugs out and it wasn't bad at all but I put them back in. I shot 2 more times and they both hit the same as before. All 3 shots were very little recoil and noise and they hit about 2 inches lower than the 158's. The impact from the 158's is a good smack in our clay berm with a baseball sized hole. They all penetrated around 6-8 inches. The 180's were not as loud of a smack but they all penetrated 12 to 15 inches. I could actually see the 158's in the clay and dug most of them out. I only dug 1 180 out because it took so long with bare hands to find the darn things. After looking at the recovered bullets and shooting them I think the 180's could use more umph. The 158's feel right on. Here are some pics. Sorry if they aren't the best but it's a cellphone and I was just having fun.

 

[CalvinMD]

Where do you run your pots?? get any goodunz???? I'm in the mood for a good crabcake..maryland style of course!!

 

[Trogon]

Marco, what's the barrel length on your rifle? I had pondered buying a box of the Cast Core to try for accuracy, I have a 1894C with the 18" barrel. Sounds like penetration was decent. Considering the Marlin for deer hunting in Indiana next year and want to try a few different loads.

 

[marco]

Stonecoldy, I think it's 18". It's about the same as my Texan . I don't have a tape with me in the house and it's too late for me to feel like going out to the shop. I started another thread about it for deer, might want to check it out. I'm kinda interested in it as well.

 

[marco]

Oh yeah CalvinMD, they had some gooduns. Rusty belly full and all. 8 males and 7 females, 1's and 2's down here. If I knew there would've been interest I would've taken pics. We put them in with another crawfish boil we had tonight with some shrimp thrown in for good measure. My in-laws have a place right next to the water that they let me put the pots in. I am enjoying the evening because I've got school the next 2 weeks for work. I even did one batch with Old Bay, good stuff!