Got To Do Some Shooting Today

[sharps1863]

Finally got to put some rounds down range today with my Armi-Sport 56/50. Put 50 rounds through it. It is shooting 10 inches high at 75 yards, was shooting 8 inches to the right. Some rear sight adjustment cured that. At least putting the shots on the paper now with a low sight hold. The rear sight on these have a lot to be desired. What these carbines run you think the Italian's could put a decent rear sight on them.  
Load:
8-grns Trailboss
 .515 Smith Bullet 350 grn Cast with soft lead, homemade lube
 Starline Brass, Win LRP, 1.59 OAL chambers and feeds good through the action
I think the next go around I'm going to try some unique and regular B.P loads.
The picture shows my last 6 rounds fired had one good group above the target the other 3 hit slightly high and to the left on the paper. The black dots cover my previous 8 rounds. Was also shooting at one of those rubber target balls, it was fun getting that thing to bounce around.

[FrontierWest]

Better than me, but I'll get it!   

john

[sharps1863]

Well I got to put some rounds through my Spencer today, no pictures this time I forgot my cell phone at home. But anyway I had loaded all 64 rounds of brass I have. Divided up 4 different loads of 16 rounds each. Range 50 yards off of a rest.
1st load
9 grans of Trail boss
340 grain .514 bullet as cast from a lyman 515-139 mold soft lead, Star-line brass Win LRP Same Bullet Brass and Primers used with every load. 
shot about the same as pictured above, could not tell a big difference between 8 to 9 grains.
2nd load
8 grains unique. grouped worse than the Trail Boss.
3rd load
30 grains of pyrodex rs
4th load
30 grains 2F Swiss, it and the pyrodex shot about the same. Shot a 6 to 7 inch group.
I think I'll try and find some wheel weight lead for a harder bullet next time, The lead I have been using is almost pure and I most differently need to work on my rear sight. It is atrocious. I'm going to hit harbor freight and get a needle file and work on the sight. cast me some wheel weight bullets and maybe bump the trailboss and unique grains up a little and see how that does.
I would like to shrink my groups down to a least 2 to 3 inches at 50 yards
Would this be expecting to much out of this rifle?

[Professor Marvel]

Greetings -
Not to sound obtuse, but have you slugged your barrel ?

yhs
prof marvel

[sharps1863]

Professor
No it has not been slugged. I'm just going with what the factory states the bore size is. This may sound like a stupid question but what do I need to do to slug the bore.

[Professor Marvel]

Professor
No it has not been slugged. I'm just going with what the factory states the bore size is. This may sound like a stupid question but what do I need to do to slug the bore.

Ah My Good 1863 -

a thousand thanks to you for opening the door far enough to stuff in my foot! Allow me to pontificate- anytime we are discussing "old style large bores" it is important to know the specifics of your bore - especially if it seems to be flinging projectiles into patterns rather than groups!

one way is to obtain a roundball or oval fishing weight just bigger than bore diameter, and a brass or bronze rod just small enough to fit down the bore.
Lubricate the lead ball and  drive the lead down the barrel from one end to the other. I feel a mallet is better than a hammer. Most folks start at the muzzle end.... it doesn't hurt to do another started at the chamber end - see this post: http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,39456.0.html


recover the lead and measure the diameter. The grooves will be observable as the "high spots" . Measure groove to grove and obtain a lead bullet ever so slightly larger - you probably want to use a bullet .001 to .002 larger than measured diameter.

see over here the advise from Fox Creek Kid , http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,37886.0.html

and definitely go here to the Spencer ARCHIVES:
http://www.cascity.com/forumhall/index.php/topic,14075.0.html

hope this helps
yhs
prof marvel

[sharps1863]

Ok I slugged my bore this evening and it miked out to .511. The lyman .515 mold I'm using drops a .514 cast bullet. Should I get a sizer in .512 or continue shooting as cast but go to wheel weight lead, instead of using soft lead. Another thing I have been doing is dropping the cast bullets into water to cool. Some say this raises the hardness level ? Don't have a tester so I don't know  .
So I'm open for any and all suggestions to get the group size down some.

[Shenandoah]

I shoot hard cast and my rounds are about 18 inches high at 50 yards. I was told it is probably zeroed for 200 yards. IIRC, my load was 13grns Unique.  It is no tack driver but I got about a 4 inch spread.

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Ok I slugged my bore this evening and it miked out to .511. The lyman .515 mold I'm using drops a .514 cast bullet. Should I get a sizer in .512 or continue shooting as cast but go to wheel weight lead, instead of using soft lead. Another thing I have been doing is dropping the cast bullets into water to cool. Some say this raises the hardness level ? Don't have a tester so I don't know  .
So I'm open for any and all suggestions to get the group size down some.

The harder the alloy the larger the resulting as cast size. Both tin & zinc shrink less on cooling. Going to WW metal would likely drop about .515-6, in my experience. If your soft bullets reload and chamber properly, there is no crying need for a sizer.  I did size for a Husqvarna cape-gun as it had tight chambers and wouldn't accept the ammo made for my Swedish rolller. Another thing;- a bit of tin or zinc makes casting well-filled out bullets easier.

Dropping cast bullets in water only hardens them if there is zinc (at least some hardening alloy).  Wheel weight metal is usually about 10 Brinnel hardness, but if chilled rapidly it can be up to 20. I don't test so this info is what I have gleaned from reading.

[sharps1863]

Looks like more load expermenting is in my future.  Is anyone converting the Lee mould on the forum now to sell. It seems it has given good resuilts from what I have read. I would like to try one of these.