[aussie rich]

Hi Guys

First of all…


WARNING THESE LOADS WERE DEVELOPED AND TESTED FOR MY RIFLE ONLY. DO NOT USE THIS INFORMATION IN YOUR OWN RIFLE WITHOUT FOLLOWING SAFE RELOADING PRACTICES.

Now that is finished with…

Just a quick follow up with my load development with the Ranch Dog .460/350 plain base and Trail Boss. I decided on the 13.5g load to minimize both velocity and powder use, and hopefully be sub-sonic.

Also on the advice of an experienced MO member (thanks Rowdy!!), I dispensed with any sort of crimp at all, and just had minimal neck tension. I only size a couple of mm when I re-size a case anyway so I didn’t have to change the settings on my dies too much. I know I shouldn’t change too many variables at once, but I experimented with seating the bullet out a bit as well. Seating the bullet with the top of the case level with the crimp groove gave me an OAL 2.50. After some experimentation I concluded that I could seat that particular bullet at 2.595 and it would feed and eject no problems at all. From what I can measure using a piece of 8mm dowel down the barrel with an empty chamber and again with a bullet jammed into the rifling, I think that at 2.600 the bullet would be touching the rifling, so just to give me a bit of a safety margin, I loaded at 2.590. I also managed to borrow the range chrony so to get some solid velocity data.

So here it goes…

Marlin 1985 22inch serial no 91xxxxx, stamped North Haven CT (but interestingly NO JM markings...)
Williams FP-336 rear sight, Lyman 17A front sight with Lee Shaver inserts
Ranch Dog .460-350 plain base, air cooled wheel weights with a dash of pewter (my casting has got much better!!!!)
Sprayed with Inox (a better version of wd40), push sized .460 in a Lee Sizer
Lubed with 2 x light coats of 70/30 Lee Liquid Alox and White Spirit (I think you guys call it mineral spirit), 2 days between coats.
Starline cases, Trimmed to length with a Lee trimmer, and neck sized only (see pics)
Remington 9 ½ primers
13.5 grains ADI Trail Boss (weighed not metered)
Cartridge OAL 2.590

A few observations from the range..

Accuracy was not disappointing, less than an inch at 50m and just over an inch at 100, and NO FLIERS!! (thanks again Rowdy!!!) sorry no pics of pretty groups, I took 50 of these rounds out to figure out sight setting for 50 and 100 meters as I am shooting my first comp with this rifle in 2 weeks, (SSAA Lever Action) and there shots all over the paper, but I know in what order so all is good.

The velocity readings were an eye opener, the first five shots, 1090,1089,1090,1091 and 1089 !!!! This Trail Boss is consistent stuff!

The Lube mix and bullet diameter works, no visible leading after 50 rounds

50 rounds off the bench…recoil was not a problem though I use a slip on Limbsaver : ;D

Just out of interests sake, the change in the rear sight between 50 and 100 m. I don’t think that the white marks in the side of the Williams rear sight are that precise, so I used a digital micrometer to measure between the base and the top of the sight. 50m was 0.188, and 100 was 0.235 (35 clicks using a screwdriver and the internal micrometer adjustment on the Williams)

And again just for interests sake I have never full length re-sized my cases, I still using the 50 I started with and have used each one 12 times now. I don’t know exactly how much I do re size, but I have backed off the die quite a bit, I even had to adjust the decapping rod down so I could actually push the primers out, lucky my dies can adjust like this. But even with this little sizing they will fall into the chamber under gravity and I can extract with a fingernail. Hope fully the pics I took will show up what I am trying to say a bit better. In the pics that is the shell holder at its highest point and also that is the screwed in position of the re-sizing die.

I was so happy with the results of these projectiles, I got home and cast and lubed a couple more, a bottom pour lead pot and a even just a 3 cavity mold can pump them out!! ;D ;D ;D

Sorry about the long post, but Marlin Owners is such a great site, full of really nice people, so I would like to contribute as much as I can to the body of knowledge of these fantastic rifles and the great cartridge they are wrapped around.

Regards and tight groups

Rich

 

[stainless]

Hello aussie rich,

no regret about your "long post". I also appreciate the good info from you and all the other good guys on MO.
Congrats on your success.

Would you mind to tell about the trajectory.
If you shoot 50 m zero and not changeing the adjustment how many inches or cm is the difference at 100 m.

Thanks for your effort.

Greets
stainless

 

[aussie rich]

Hi Stainless

That load zero at 50 m is 6 inches low at 100m

regards

Rich

 

[stainless]

Thanks aussie rich, not too bad for a slow "walking" bullet.

Do you think of an other aplication than target work?

I think if zeroed at 70 or 80 m it should work up to 100 m and has plenty of penetration for pests and small game. 8)

 

[aussie rich]

Hi Stainless

While I don’t hunt myself, not since I was a young bloke, (nothing against it, I just have no opportunity to…sigh) I always tend to think about the possible other applications of the target loads I put together.

I just ran this load through a freeware ballistics program I found on the net ‘Point Blank Ballistics’ I don’t know how accurate it is but it sounds about right to me

350g BC.286 at 1100 fps
100 yard velocity just over 1000 fps with 800 ft pounds of energy
Zero at 100 yards, three inches high 50 yards, three inches low 110 yards
Zero at 80 yards, two inches high at 40 yards and 2 inches low at 100 yards (that sounds like a good 100 yard rabbit load trajectory to me) ;D

Now when it come to what you can use it on…

In the publication From Ingot to Target: A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners, Glen E. Fry and Robert L. Applegate, (page 169) they talk about cast hunting loads for handguns and they mention a .45 Colt, 325g cast projectile with a 73% meplat at 1235 fps punching a hole through a 500 pound boar for a one shot kill. These guys also quote a reference from John Taffins ‘Single Action Sixguns’, where he had used a custom .44 Special to launch 429421 hollow point projectiles at 1200fps, (I believe approx 235 grains?) and he had taken a 550 and a 650 pound boar with a double tap each, and each case one of the shots stayed in the animal, and the other was a through and through. In both cases the range of the shot is not discussed, nor is it mentioned what backup (if any) these guys had when they where hunting these animals.

Now the above data is only a rough guide of similar bullet weight and velocity (and a bit of hollow point action) and I’m not suggesting that my reduced load would be my first choice for chasing animals that have bigger bodies and teeth than me, not at all, the above mentioned cases were in the hands of highly experienced experts, however I do think that smaller game/varmints would have a right to be scared if this chunk of lead was heading there way.


Regards and good hunting

Rich

 

[stainless]

Hi Aussie Rich,

thanks for your answer and your effort finding a practical application.
I like your 80 - 40 - 100 yard two inch high and low quick-rabbit-ending-solution. ;D

Hunting is a great thing, but tin can dancing up to 100 yards could be a heck of fun...
This is one of the possible jobs besides hunting smaller game.

Regards

stainless

 

[SgtDog0311]

Well Rich,

You posted this back in July and somebody's still enjoying it on the last day of 2012. I was poking around about a plain base bullet and happened on it. I don't even have your bullet or any trail boss and still enjoyed it!

Also, I'm impressed! Just over an inch at 100yds is something I'd be very happy about myself . I'd blame it all on the eyes but I imagine there is more to it than that.

Thanks for the post friend,
John

 

[msharley]

Hey Rich,

Great work! The chronograph tells the story, a single digit extreme spread! With slow moving projectiles, consistency is everything.

A 350gr cast bullet at 1100fps, is a power factor of 385 (350x1100=385), more than adequate for most game at close range.

Again, outstanding work.

Happy New Year,

Mark