50-95 range report

[Yellowboy]

Guys, an update on my 50-95 reloads.

Shooting the 50-95 Uberti, bullets based on the Lyman 515139 at about 340gn, Trail Boss and CCI Large Rifle primers, I had ordinary results sizing to 512 - basically about a 3 inch group at 50yds for 5 shots.

Changing the sizing to 514, I got the groups down to about 2.5 inches average with the occasional better group showing promise of half that. I slugged the bore and reckon it is about 515 groove to groove so I tried shooting the same loads with unsized bullets which varied around 515 and 516. Hey presto, great 5-shot groups of 2.5 inches with many 3-shot groupings under an inch.

Next step is to size at 516. I expect this will uniform the slugs without sizing them down unless necessary to catch an oddball. This should help turn those one-inch 3-shot groups into 1-inch 5-shot groups. This is with standard open sights off the bench.

I am using 14gns of Trail Boss as my start and have been up to 16gn without any signs of trouble, but also without any real improvement in grouping. The Bertram case seems to hold about 19.5gn of Trail Boss maximum, so I will head up towards that and see if there is any preference for a higher load density.

One thing I would like to try is the Puff Lon lubricating filler over the lower density loads. That may have a bearing on accuracy. Will report further in due course.

[Yellowboy]

Guys, a further update on the 50-95 at the range. Two real changes made, and a third on which the jury is still out.

Change 1: sizing to 516. My bullets are coming out of the mould at around 516 to 517. My groups were better using unsized bullets rather than sizing at 512 or 514, so I tried sizing to 516 to standardize things. No real change in group size with the loads I was using previously. But -

Change 2: go to a heavier load. I ran up a series of tests using 15, 16, 17 and 18 gns of Trail Boss. Ho-hum on the 15, 16 and 17 - but bingo on the 18gn loads which showed a real tightening of the groups, from around 3 to 5 inches at 50 yards to under 2 inches.

Change 3: top up the case with Puff Lon. I tried this on the 15, 16, 17 and 18 gn loads. Generally the groups were the same size or worse. However: with the 18gn loads, the Puff Lon gave a smaller group. I need to shoot more groups to see if there is a benefit there.

Otherwise, 18gn Trail Boss and no Puff Lon gave a 5-shot group of 1.78" at 50 yards, with 4 of the holes in 1.03". Very nice.

With Puff Lon added, the 5-shot group was 1.58" with three of those in 0.59" and 4 of them in 1.10". Very nicer.

I am not sure how much the Bertram case holds but I think it's around 19 to 20 gns Trail Boss. Will work up from 18 gns and see if the groups tighten up even more, with and without Puff Lon.

So far so good. With 150 rounds through the barrel, the gun is shaping up very well.

[Yellowboy]

A further update on the 50-95 loads. I worked up from 18 to 19 gns Trail Boss in 0.2gn increments, both with and without Puff Lon. No improvement on the 18.0 gn loads. Groups all opened up above that load, so it looks like 18.0 gns will be the ideal for me.

[concho]

I have a Uberti 1in48" twist, I load 37 Grs Accurate 5744 lg rifle Fed Primers #210, Lyman Bullet 515139 340 gr wheel weights lead , sized to .515 lubed with home maid juice , 1 inch groups at 50 yds 3 shots !  I make my brass from .348 winchester , and made my own expanders up to .516 , must redo in sizer die after loading as they will not chamber in throat area .537 !

[Marshal Deadwood]

What is 'puff lon' ?

[Hobie]

What is 'puff lon' ?

http://www.pufflon.com/index.html

[hawkeye2]

Gee thanks Hobie, all along I thought it was just another one of those "shot from guns" breakfast cerials.

[smokie]

Howdy Everyone,

Just bought an 1876 Uberti in 50-95.  Unable to get it to group with a 350gn and blk.  Where do you get the Oldwest bullet mold from?  Seems that your results are what I'm after.  Also, has anyone tried one of the larger grained bullets from lyman or rcbs?
Thanks
Smokie