Northern Precision 240 grain 40 cal bullet unbonded

[Mnt monkey]

Been so busy working around my place, got a chance to shoot some today bill at Northern Precision sent me some of his 40 cal bullets to experiment with some, this is a 240 grain lead tip non-bonded knurled up to around 406 which is a little too much for me however they're shooting fairly well, post the target the bottom shot out of the group was cold barrel clean barrel the next two are in the center and then I pulled the one above it however it's looking pretty good I'm sure bill can make these bonded too I'll be shooting these a little bit more also in the picture the smaller bullet is 180 grain star bonded again it's knurled up to around 404 I think it's a little bit more of a pistol type bullet,,I'm not going to shoot it smokeless I am going to try it though with black horn and a 20 twist ,maybe a light smokeless load ,,it's a good looking bullet too it looks like it lower velocities it would be excellent. The load in this group was 57 grains of IMR 4198 and a light blue Harvester sabot,, wind is fairly calm no air molecules in the way

 

[Ninering62]

Been so busy working around my place, got a chance to shoot some today bill at Northern Precision sent me some of his 40 cal bullets to experiment with some, this is a 240 grain lead tip non-bonded knurled up to around 406 which is a little too much for me however they're shooting fairly well, post the target the bottom shot out of the group was cold barrel clean barrel the next two are in the center and then I pulled the one above it however it's looking pretty good I'm sure bill can make these bonded too I'll be shooting these a little bit more also in the picture the smaller bullet is 180 grain star bonded again it's knurled up to around 404 I think it's a little bit more of a pistol type bullet,,I'm not going to shoot it smokeless I am going to try it though with black horn and a 20 twist ,maybe a light smokeless load ,,it's a good looking bullet too it looks like it lower velocities it would be excellent. The load in this group was 57 grains of IMR 4198 and a light blue Harvester sabot,, wind is fairly calm no air molecules in the way

NIce lookin hunting bullets & some good shooting. I figured the bottom was your cold bore shot. The lighter pistol bullets ( I've got a good bit of experience messin with a bunch of light .40 bullets down to 140gr ) you can take those bullets designed for 1200-ish fps & accurately push them to 1800fps even 2000fps depending on the bullet itself of course. I can say the XTP's & Sierra's can take some surprising velocities. I'm glad you got to take a break & get some trigger therapy. Thanks for the post

 

[michiganmuzzy]

Youve convinced me to shoot more sabot .40s this year.
Looks like 56-57 gr of imr4198 is working very well for you with 180-240 gr bullets. I dont currently have a 1:18” twist anything but I’ll try to remedy that this summer. Hope i have as good results in my 1:20”s (adjusted for my lesser shooting skill level of course)

 

[Mnt monkey]

The one in 20 is great ,three or four years ago I thought it was the best, I'm convinced it's the 18, in an ideal world maybe a Gain Twist 22 to 18 or 22 to 16 twists would be cool.I not only am I convinced of the 18 but I mentioned this maybe it was in another thread I'm convinced that that sabot,, that light blue in the load you're developing is nine times out of 10 always going to shoot best right at failure, I hate to use the word failure,, there,, maybe that's the wrong word if you think about it it's also getting probably the most swell and expansion possible before deteriorating I think that's the best place to be with the light blue plastic. For me it's either right at 57 if I'm shooting Imr 4198 maybe 57.23 or 4 but if I go much over that I really start blowing plastic. I so believe in that 57 grains and anything in the 225 to 250 class 40 cal and a light blue I would venture to say if you're 20 twist or 18 or 19 twist doesn't shoot that it's probably not going to shoot.

 

[MrTom]

I'm shooting the 225 grain, .40 cal Fury star tipped bullet ahead of 56 grains of IMR4198 in the blue sabot. The blue crush rib loads slightly easier but I am sticking with the plain blue number and I am sticking with the 56 grain charge too, at least with the IMR4198. I'll be trying 5744, which I have and some charges weighed out, and N110 if I can find it now. Locally the N110 was available until I went to pick it up. Go figure.

 

[michiganmuzzy]

I am shooting 55-56 grains of imr4198, too. With 180 to 225 bullets in the lbcr sabots. Im going to bump up to that 57 gr and see what i get.

 

[LBAhunter]

Been so busy working around my place, got a chance to shoot some today bill at Northern Precision sent me some of his 40 cal bullets to experiment with some, this is a 240 grain lead tip non-bonded knurled up to around 406 which is a little too much for me however they're shooting fairly well, post the target the bottom shot out of the group was cold barrel clean barrel the next two are in the center and then I pulled the one above it however it's looking pretty good I'm sure bill can make these bonded too I'll be shooting these a little bit more also in the picture the smaller bullet is 180 grain star bonded again it's knurled up to around 404 I think it's a little bit more of a pistol type bullet,,I'm not going to shoot it smokeless I am going to try it though with black horn and a 20 twist ,maybe a light smokeless load ,,it's a good looking bullet too it looks like it lower velocities it would be excellent. The load in this group was 57 grains of IMR 4198 and a light blue Harvester sabot,, wind is fairly calm no air molecules in the way

A 40 cal 200gr lead tip would be the ticket. I would shoot it. Maybe a 225gr lead tip....

 

[Mnt monkey]

Bill at Northern Precisions 240 lead tip he can bond up to lead,,,very accurate so far,,he will knurl as needed for you

 

[LBAhunter]

240gr is just alittle to pudgy for my taste. A lighter 200 to 225gr is right up my alley....

 

[LBAhunter]

Bill at Northern Precisions 240 lead tip he can bond up to lead,,,very accurate so far,,he will knurl as needed for you

Have you tested the 240gr lead tip to see how they expand?

 

[Mnt monkey]

Bill is making some more for me that will have a 3/4 Bond that's the one I will test the one I tested was unbonded it shot very well but it smokeless velocities I would have been hesitant to use it however with a 3/4 Bond I think it would be great and I really think with a black horn load or with a sub load even the unbonded version would probably perform okay

 

[LBAhunter]

Bill is making some more for me that will have a 3/4 Bond that's the one I will test the one I tested was unbonded it shot very well but it smokeless velocities I would have been hesitant to use it however with a 3/4 Bond I think it would be great and I really think with a black horn load or with a sub load even the unbonded version would probably perform okay

You think the unbonded version would "pancake" at smokeless speeds?

 

[Mnt monkey]

I would hunt with the unbonded version even smokeless because it shot so accurately I don't worry near as much about a bullet coming apart as about 90% of the muzzleloaders that I read I worry about that bullet going where I aim it, I think any Whitetail hit with that unbonded version most likely within 150 or 200 yards it's going to be a dead animal. Looking at that bullet if that jacket 3/4 of the way up stayed on that lead and that lead expanded I think it would be a pretty nice looking mushroom I really think it Black Horn and subspeed you'd be fine again and in a smokeless rifle the accuracy would give me the Comfort I needed to kill a deer with it