First FF Die Test

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I had a chance to use a Brux .458 Full Form SwingLock die yesterday. The experience actually went well, I may have to add a FF die to my tool box.

I ran a Hornady .458 300gr XTP thru the die. It was set at 20, too loose when I ran the bullet thru my Brux bore. I ran 3 total thru the die before I found my setting that gave what I felt was good loading pressure. I had some 300gr .452 XTP on hand and decided to run 3 of those thru the die to use as fouling shots and I wanted to see how much rifling was engraved on the bullet. The .452 bullets went thru the die with almost the same amount of resistance as the .458 bullets, a surprise for me, I thought it would be less.

With the .452 bullets, I like the idea of not squishing the whole bullet down to fit as a land rider but only engraving the rifling to let the bullet fit the bore.

.452 on left, .458 on the right, the .452 had good rifling marks on it but was not touched between the grooves. The .458 had smear marks between the rifling grooves



Brux 45 cal, 6-land, 1:20 twist barrel
100yds
10gr N110 and 55gr IMR4198 used for all shots
W209 primer
.060 veggie wad used for all except 3 shots
single pass thru the die on all bullets except 2 shots
No scope adjustments made

Here is the sighting in target, shot furthest left is the 1st shot on a clean cold bore, 2 shots that are in the left position in the group are .452, 2 shots right in the group are .458 that were ran thru the die twice which opened up the grooves. I shot these two last into the sighting target just to see where they would go and to my surprise were right in there.


3 shot group of the .458 300gr XTP, single pass sized at ? (15-17 but can't remember exactly, forgot to write down) medium loading pressure


3 shot group of the .458 300gr XTP, single pass, sized setting 20-19-18 (I should have kept track of which was which but didn't) loose, no wad


3 shot group of .452 250gr FTX, single pass, sized at setting 17 with medium-firm loading pressure, last shot was high, warm barrel


4 shot group of .451 250gr Barnes TEZ, single pass, sized at setting 6 with medium loading pressure, 3rd shot was high and was shot after #3 in the photo above, warm barrel. I shot #4 after letting the barrel cool some and it went back into the group
 

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