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I made it to my hunting camp over Memorial Day weekend to do some work around our house and trailer but also got the opportunity to do some shooting with my Wolf that has a thumbhole stock and old Optima style breaching lever. It's an odd duck that I got off Sportsman’s Guide and had not had the chance to shoot yet. It handles quite well and will be a good gun to use in thick cover and when using my climbing tree stand.
I was very interested in shooting some .44 cal/.429 200gr XTPs and some Barnes 225gr 45 cal/.451 Long Colts out of it. The 225's look a lot like the Barnes 250/300 gr MZ Expanders that tend to shoot well out of my guns. Regretfully, I still haven't found one that likes the 225's and was hoping this Wolf would but of course it had to be like all the others and throw them at the target like a brick! Suffice it to say I was not too impressed with either the 200s or the 225s so I then tried some 250gr Aerolites which shot pretty good and assume a heavier bullet will even do better. Photo's are below.
All shooting was done at 55 yards using 100 gr of loose 777 with a WIN 209 primer. The rifle “headspace” was adjusted to shoot clean and it sports a Konus 3-9x32 (will probably change to a Redfield 2-7X Revenge I recently got). Weather during the day was mid 80's with humidity at 98% and it actually stormed about 15 min after I finished shooting.
For the 200 gr XTPs I tried two different sabots, one that was short on the bullet (old Hornady type); the other was a longer green Harvester one that covers most of the bullet. Prior to shooting, I had done some research and found out that a 200gr 44 cal pistol bullet typically has a muzzle velocity in the range of 1897-1923 fps when shot out of carbine, so I wanted to match that as close as possible in order to not exceed the bullet’s performance capability. Using the old Hornady short sabot I measured and average muzzle velocity of 2014 fps and had a horrible group (3in plus) at 55 yards as the picture shows. When using the longer sabot, I measured an average velocity of 1892 fps, right in the area I was looking for and the group was much better but had some vertical stringing measuring about 1.5 inches; I may be able to make that work for me with a little more range time.
When I shifted over to the 225gr LC bullet, I again used 100gr of loose 777 and a smooth long petal black sabot (MML HPH sabot) and got a muzzle velocity of 1865 fps. This bullet seems to defy every sabot, powder and gun I try (at some point you’d think I’d give up!) but I swear it will not beat me! This time I ended up with about a 2 inch group and from how they fell on the target you’d think I was aiming at each corner of the diamond (trust me I wasn’t!). I am open to any suggestions as to powder and sabot combos so if you have used this bullet please let me know if it worked for you.
After playing with the 200 and 225 gr bullets I decided to try some 250gr CVA Aerolite Powerbelts over 100 grs of loose 777 and ended with a one-inch group with 2 shots touching and I know I threw the third shot when I pulled the trigger. If I felt confident in these bullets performance I might use them but would prefer the 225gr Barnes (someday!).
After shooting the Wolf I had just enough time to break out one of my Black/Black 2011 Optima’s using a 250gr Barnes MZ Expander with a MML HPH sabot over 2 White Hot pellets. This gun has a Weaver Kaspa 3-9x40 scope and a standard DuraSight mount that came with the gun. Muzzle velocity measured 1469 fps (seems a bit low to me). Shot 1 in the below pic was the initial hit and I adjusted the scope and got shots 2/3 to touch each other and then decided to see what would happen to the shots without swabbing and allowing the barrel to cool down. As you can see in the photo shots 4-6 started progressively hitting higher and to the right. Saw the rain was coming so I packed it up and ran under cover!
Next out will be my new Traditions Pursuit in Reaper Camo and a newer Wolf with a Camo stock when I get the chance.
Any ideas on the 225 LC would be greatly appreciated. I also plan to play with a Barnes 200gr TAC and those 200gr C.O.P bullets I bought a while back in the Wolf.
Thanks for reading!
John
I was very interested in shooting some .44 cal/.429 200gr XTPs and some Barnes 225gr 45 cal/.451 Long Colts out of it. The 225's look a lot like the Barnes 250/300 gr MZ Expanders that tend to shoot well out of my guns. Regretfully, I still haven't found one that likes the 225's and was hoping this Wolf would but of course it had to be like all the others and throw them at the target like a brick! Suffice it to say I was not too impressed with either the 200s or the 225s so I then tried some 250gr Aerolites which shot pretty good and assume a heavier bullet will even do better. Photo's are below.
All shooting was done at 55 yards using 100 gr of loose 777 with a WIN 209 primer. The rifle “headspace” was adjusted to shoot clean and it sports a Konus 3-9x32 (will probably change to a Redfield 2-7X Revenge I recently got). Weather during the day was mid 80's with humidity at 98% and it actually stormed about 15 min after I finished shooting.
For the 200 gr XTPs I tried two different sabots, one that was short on the bullet (old Hornady type); the other was a longer green Harvester one that covers most of the bullet. Prior to shooting, I had done some research and found out that a 200gr 44 cal pistol bullet typically has a muzzle velocity in the range of 1897-1923 fps when shot out of carbine, so I wanted to match that as close as possible in order to not exceed the bullet’s performance capability. Using the old Hornady short sabot I measured and average muzzle velocity of 2014 fps and had a horrible group (3in plus) at 55 yards as the picture shows. When using the longer sabot, I measured an average velocity of 1892 fps, right in the area I was looking for and the group was much better but had some vertical stringing measuring about 1.5 inches; I may be able to make that work for me with a little more range time.
When I shifted over to the 225gr LC bullet, I again used 100gr of loose 777 and a smooth long petal black sabot (MML HPH sabot) and got a muzzle velocity of 1865 fps. This bullet seems to defy every sabot, powder and gun I try (at some point you’d think I’d give up!) but I swear it will not beat me! This time I ended up with about a 2 inch group and from how they fell on the target you’d think I was aiming at each corner of the diamond (trust me I wasn’t!). I am open to any suggestions as to powder and sabot combos so if you have used this bullet please let me know if it worked for you.
After playing with the 200 and 225 gr bullets I decided to try some 250gr CVA Aerolite Powerbelts over 100 grs of loose 777 and ended with a one-inch group with 2 shots touching and I know I threw the third shot when I pulled the trigger. If I felt confident in these bullets performance I might use them but would prefer the 225gr Barnes (someday!).
After shooting the Wolf I had just enough time to break out one of my Black/Black 2011 Optima’s using a 250gr Barnes MZ Expander with a MML HPH sabot over 2 White Hot pellets. This gun has a Weaver Kaspa 3-9x40 scope and a standard DuraSight mount that came with the gun. Muzzle velocity measured 1469 fps (seems a bit low to me). Shot 1 in the below pic was the initial hit and I adjusted the scope and got shots 2/3 to touch each other and then decided to see what would happen to the shots without swabbing and allowing the barrel to cool down. As you can see in the photo shots 4-6 started progressively hitting higher and to the right. Saw the rain was coming so I packed it up and ran under cover!
Next out will be my new Traditions Pursuit in Reaper Camo and a newer Wolf with a Camo stock when I get the chance.
Any ideas on the 225 LC would be greatly appreciated. I also plan to play with a Barnes 200gr TAC and those 200gr C.O.P bullets I bought a while back in the Wolf.
Thanks for reading!
John
