I just started casting my own 10MM lead bullets. I have the Lee 401-175-TC mold and the Lee 401 sizing die. I am lubing with Lee Alox mixed with a little Mineral Spirits.
I loaded up 50 rounds with 9.5gr of Accurate #7, grabbed my DW CBOB and headed for the gravel pit. Everything went well. Leading was non-existent , but accuracy could have been a little better, maybe #7 wasn't the best choice for this bullet or maybe it's the bullet, or maybe it was just me.
Anyhow, I have a lot of powders on hand, but my range time is getting limited. I could use a couple of powder recommendations for cast bullets in my 10MM's.
Thanks.
Here is the target at 25 yards off a bag.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/steve4102/180grcast95gr7.jpg)
The target is more the problem than your powder selection. Try a smaller dot to aim at..."Aim small, Miss small"
Seriously, holding to the smaller dot will close up the group, but most semiautos have course sights for fast target aquisition not pinpoint shooting.
You have no leading and you have a group. In addition to what Shadow suggested you should consider working up the charge slowly. Next I would load up 5 groups of ten rounds each in .2 grain increments. See if you find a sweet spot.
Now that I am back to a full size keyboard....
I shoot a lot of Unique and Blue Dot with cast bullets. I recently loaded some Longshot to try, but haven't made it to the range yet with those loads. I also have some power pistol to try.
I have also burned a pound of AA#9 with cast.
Overall impressions. Unique burns good and I have good results, but it definitly lacks in delivering significantly better than hot 40 S&W performance. Blue Dot burn well at pressure, but light loads not so much. I really like it's versatility and economy though, so I have burned more of it than anything else in 10mm. AA#9 would be my favorite, but it is just not economical compared to others. I have high hopes that Longshot will give the performance and very clean burn of AA#9 with the economy of Blue Dot.
Lots of guys here load AA#7 with good results. Looks like you have pretty good results too. I tend to agree with Shadow, that the group you see is probably as much the target as anything. I like to shoot at a 1" red dot when testing groups from a rest.
Quote from: The_Shadow on September 09 2012 10:31:35 AM MDT
The target is more the problem than your powder selection. Try a smaller dot to aim at..."Aim small, Miss small"
Seriously, holding to the smaller dot will close up the group, but most semiautos have course sights for fast target aquisition not pinpoint shooting.
I'll try that again, but I don't know how well it will work. My eyes suck and I have to shoot with reading glasses. I use +1.25 power which is a compromise between a clear target and clear front sight. With the +1.25 my front sight is pretty clear, but the target is blurry. If I shoot without correction the target is clear and the front sight is really blurry.
I thought this 2 inch black dot was a good choice, maybe not, I will print up some 1 inch black and red dots and see if I can improve.
Thanks
I haven't seen a clear target without using a scope for years. I just keep the front site sharp and place it in the fuzzy dot right on top of it.
Which is one other item worthy of note. Your target does look like you were using a 6 o'clock hold, but if you weren't, try it.
Quote from: sqlbullet on September 10 2012 07:59:05 AM MDT
I haven't seen a clear target without using a scope for years. I just keep the front site sharp and place it in the fuzzy dot right on top of it.
Which is one other item worthy of note. Your target does look like you were using a 6 o'clock hold, but if you weren't, try it.
+1
Quote from: Steve4102 on September 09 2012 07:12:12 AM MDT
I just started casting my own 10MM lead bullets. I have the Lee 401-175-TC mold and the Lee 401 sizing die. I am lubing with Lee Alox mixed with a little Mineral Spirits.
If you haven't done so, I recommend slugging your barrel, and measuring your bullet diameter after passing through that sizing die. I like the Lee dies, but they aren't always the stated size.
What alloy are you casting with? Wheel weights? Isotope? You shouldn't need a real hard bullet for that load, but if they are too soft, accuracy can suffer.
Overall though, that target doesn't look too bad for a guy with bad eyesight, at 25 yards.
Quote from: sqlbullet on September 10 2012 07:59:05 AM MDT
I haven't seen a clear target without using a scope for years. I just keep the front site sharp and place it in the fuzzy dot right on top of it.
Which is one other item worthy of note. Your target does look like you were using a 6 o'clock hold, but if you weren't, try it.
I do hold at 6 o'clock, but this target is not oriented correctly. I don't know why but occasionally when I post targets, PhotoBucket turns them all kinda directions. This target should actually be turned 90* counterclockwise so most of the groups would be at 3 o'clock.
I will rotate it at PhotoBucket again and see what happens.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/steve4102/180grcast95gr7.jpg)
Nope, still won't turn for me.
Looks turned to me.
And, yeah, that looks less like a 6 o'clock hold.
Hey, I don't wanna come off as insulting anyone's shooting ability. But, have you ever tried loading up a few blanks and tossing them in the pile of loads. Funny how much you learn about your shooting when you get a click when you expect a bang.
Quote from: sqlbullet on September 10 2012 04:02:33 PM MDT
Hey, I don't wanna come off as insulting anyone's shooting ability. But, have you ever tried loading up a few blanks and tossing them in the pile of loads. Funny how much you learn about your shooting when you get a click when you expect a bang.
I do it all the time. This is how I taught my boys to shoot rifles off a rest. I would load the mag with a dummy or two and let them shoot for groups. Works great.
It's been awhile since one of them came with me on a shoot and loaded my mag with dummy rounds. Maybe it's time I take one of them away from their girl friends and go for a shoot. Thanks for reminding me.
This DW pistol does shoot well, so I doubt it is the pistol. Here is a recent outing with 180gr Zero brand JHP with 8.2gr Silhouette at 25 yards.
(http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y17/steve4102/10mm.jpg)
My alloy is pretty soft ( I think). My ingots are Wheel weights with about 2-3 pounds of pure lead pipe for 20 pounds of wheel weights.
If I make my 10MM ingots a little harder do you think that may improve my accuracy? Can I cheat and water drop my 10MM bullet to increase the hardness enough to make an accuracy difference?
If you aren't seeing any leading in the barrel, I wouldn't get too concerned about hardness personally. You can try a little harder though.
Water dropping will only harden them if they have some antimony in the mix. It the alloy is tin/lead, quenching will not imact hardness.
I cast my bullets from isotope lead + 1% tin. XFR shows the alloy to be 95/2/3 lead/tin/antimony. I usually water drop from the mold and generally size within a day or two. Then they get aged for at least 6 months before I shoot them. They land on a hardness of about 23 for the quenched bullets, and about 15 for the air-cooled.
For paper, harder is fine. For terminal ballistics in a hunting or defense load I really like to stay around 15 with the higher tin content.
Quote from: Steve4102 on September 10 2012 06:48:18 PM MDT
My alloy is pretty soft ( I think). My ingots are Wheel weights with about 2-3 pounds of pure lead pipe for 20 pounds of wheel weights.
If I make my 10MM ingots a little harder do you think that may improve my accuracy? Can I cheat and water drop my 10MM bullet to increase the hardness enough to make an accuracy difference?
Yes, you can water drop those, or if you have some already cast, heat treat them in the oven. (more consistent anyway) I heat them at 400F for an hour, then quench in cold water. Wheel weights have plenty of antimony in them for hardening. Or, if you're casting more, try just straight clip-on wheel weights, with no pure lead added. I use this 90% of the time; air cooled is hard enough for mild 10mm loads without a gas check. If you're mixing the stick-on weights in you melt, those are generally softer and can be treated as pure lead for this purpose.
I've found some barrels are more sensitive to hardness than others, and case neck tension has an impact as well. Bullets that are too soft can get sized down by the case. I have run into accuracy issues with too-soft bullets without encountering leading.