Warm and sunny. The birds were singing.

Here's the shooting shack. The picture is taken from the target stand back to the shack. The second pic is the view from the shack. I took my HB 6x45mm and some homemade 76 gr bullets, powered by a Shilen outboard barrel.

...

No COVID monkeys in sight, just a yellow target and a light breeze. Here's one of those yellow targets with 10 holes in her. I was at peace. The paper, bereft of life. The 10 shot group was a little over an inch, formed by the interaction of an almost perfect push of 8208 and good vibes. Another trip tomorrow.

Peace be with you.





Tomorrow, I will be verifying some loads. It's gonna be one of those taking your lunch, enjoying the sun and warm temperatures kind of spring days.

It was another great day. The weather was about as good as it gets. I shot some of my home made 65 gr bullets out of the 223 and some 55 gr Varmageddons from the 6x45mm.

The 223 doesn't care for the Cam Pro 55 grain cheap bulk bullets, but likes the 65 grainers. I can trim this down a bit, I think, but 0.850 of an inch is more than acceptable!



The Varmageddons showed promise with three powders. AA2200 grouped the best of the three at 0.740 inches, but all need more work. Re 7 managed 0.910 inches and IMR 4198 0.980 inches.

Steve, are you shooting them out of your 223 Wilde Encore barrel?

Not these loads. I used a Remington 700 SPS Tactical. Which isn't tactical, but the Remington people called it that for marketing purposes. It's a 20 inch heavy barrel 223 with a Hogue stock. I don't know if it made any difference, but I cut up some Coke cans and made shims for the stock. It's a 223, so I wasn't expecting that there would be a lot of flex. I just wanted to ensure that the barrel was free floated and the action bore evenly on the stock.

It looks to be successful. I think you got our good weather. It's always up and down here. Wait for a while if you don't like the weather here. It will change shortly. Be Well, RZ.

Thanks. I was going to go out this morning, but I have a window replacement tomorrow. I had to move some furniture and cover the bed.

I took the Pro Chrono out to see if it was too dark for the bullets to register with the overhang, forward of the benches. It is too dark. I will have to use the Magnetospeed for this range.

Above: 65 gr. 224 bullets with J4 jackets. These are my "seconds".

I made up some 65 grain bullets with the same profile as the ones above, but using bullet jackets made from rimfire cases. The loaded cartridges have bullet jackets made from Winchester RF cases. These are thinner than their commercial counterparts. Typically, they are about 0.010 inches thick. As a result, they are a few thou shorter and the thinner walls mean they mushroom well. If they were fired from 22-250s, Valkyries, or similar, they can fly apart at short range. I fired this bullet from a 225 Win against several coyotes at distances of over 100 yd and they dropped in their tracks - except one, but that wasn't the bullet's fault. It was mine. I hit it too far back in its body.



A couple of 65 grain RF jacketed bullets, ready to go.



Above: A J4 jacketed bullet (left). An RF jacketed bullet (right).

The commercial jackets are 50% heavier (thicker) than the RF jackets. 15 grains versus 10 grains. As a result, I use 50 gr. cores for the J4s and 55 grain cores for the RF jackets.

The spots on the commercial jackets are water stains. They do not affect jacket integrity. I left a hundred cases in a plastic tub a few years back and forgot about them. I found them yesterday and made them into bullets.

Both 65 grain bullets are RN. At 250 yards, they drop about 5 inches. Compare this to the 65 grain Sierra spitzer. The Sierra drops a little over 3 inches. For a hunting bullet at these ranges, it is difficult to hold or estimate less than 2 inches of extra drop between the Sierra and my home made ones.

According to the computer work ups, the Sierra is travelling about 200 fps faster at 200/250 yd.

I would not feel handicapped using Corbin VB tapered bullet jackets on deer out to 150 yd.

Both bullets are usually punch throughs against coyotes. The commercial jackets are J4s, and leave exit holes about the size of a ping pong ball. The exit holes for the RF jacketed bullets are a little larger, except when they hit bone.

I had another great day today, despite the rain. I tested four powders with the homemade bullets. We have a powder up here that's fairly new. called D8208R. It burns faster than 8208, and I am not sure why they called it that. It performed the best of the four tested. I will reshoot because of the rain.

https://303british.com/home-made-bullets