.. Todays shooting results........

[hawgslayer1]

Today was great day to shoot. Sunny sky with a little wind at my back. Range was pretty empty until around 11am. I'm there at 8 :30. Had the range to myself  for 45 mins. Good day to be out shootin' :!:


Top left are the Harvester SCORPION PT Gold, 300 Grain. ( My rifle, V1 range rifle, is sighted in for Aero Lites @ 100 yards.) If I had the urge to change bullets these would be in the mix.
Top right are PARKER Ballistic Extreme 275 GRAINS.
Middle is a five shot group using SPEER DEEP CURLS 250 GRAINS. ( In the mix )
Lower left are  THORS 300 GR..... .500's
Lower right really impressed me a lot.....They BARNES .458 SOCUMS 300's w/cr sabots........( In the mix also ).
Shots were from the 50 yard bench. I didn't wait to for barrel cooling and no swabbing after shots. I reemed the breech plug after every series except the 5 shot group. Didn't swab at all for them. :cheers:

Ray......

 

[Omega451]

Them .458 Barnes Socoms shot nice for you. Good shootin!

 

[GregK1]

Great shooting! I've gotten some really nice groups with the Deep Curl 240's & 300's. When I spoke with them on the phone they recommended the 300 grain & I can attest to the fact that the bullet stays together & expands very very well. I'm also totally pleased with Barnes too. You can't go wrong with either one.

 

[exMember]

Don't you hate groups like that? Just makes picking the bullet to hunt with that much harder.

Great shooting!

 

[GregK1]

Hey Ray.....how many grains were you pushing the Barnes with? I am thinking that when I talked with Barnes you really had to push that bullet hard to get proper expansion.

 

[GregK1]

Don't you hate groups like that? Just makes picking the bullet to hunt with that much harder.

Great shooting!

:lol!: Couldn't have said it better FG

 

[cvilorio1]

That is some great shooting Ray. Could not have done it better myself.

 

[hawgslayer1]

I'm sorry. I should have put that in...........

I use 110 grains of BLACKHORN 209................IMHO, the best powder out there. (78.0/1 grains by weight. I weigh all my charges).

Ray..........

Thanks guys for all your help and opinions......

 

[GregK1]

I swear by BH209. I think it will be a loooonnnng time til we see something better.

 

[Thunder53]

Great shooting Ray. :face:

Makes it hard to choose, huh???

WHAT sabots did you use for the PT Golds?

I couldn't get a group under 3 1/2" using either the 260's or 300's and crush rib sabots.

Others have suggested I need to move away from the cr's for the PTs.

 

[hawgslayer1]

Thunder53,

The sabots were the HIGH PRESSURE SABOTS featuring CRUSH RIBS........... :cheers:

Ray.........

 

[GregK1]

Great shooting Ray. :face:

Makes it hard to choose, huh???

WHAT sabots did you use for the PT Golds?

I couldn't get a group under 3 1/2" using either the 260's or 300's and crush rib sabots.

Others have suggested I need to move away from the cr's for the PTs.

Did the CR's load really easy? If they don't fit tight enough you lose energy/speed/accuracy due to the loss of gas seal & since different guns have different size bores, you may need a sabot with more contact surface. It should fit snug, but not be impossible to load. Try their smooth sabots, & also try MMP sabots as well.

 

[Thunder53]

I have generally found that out of my particular gun, the crush ribs shoot pretty good.

That said, when I load them with a Brnes 250 TEZ, they go down the barrel pretty easy.

I was concerned that they went in too easy, but my shooting results with the Barnes TEZ, and the Hornady XTP Mags for that matter, have been good.

The yellow crush ribs for the Barnes boattail MZ's loaded a little harder, but the gun still shot them very accurately.

I did all my shooting with the PT Golds with the Crush rib and they loaded about the same as the TEZ's, fairly easy, but seemed firm enough.

For what it's worth, my cousin usually shoots with me and he has a TC Encore which shoots 1 " - 1 1/2" 3 shot groups at 100 yds using either the Hornady SST' or FTX's. In his gun the XTP's are also about the same as that.

We shot several PT's through his gun, some with crush ribs, some with Harvester black long smooth sabots and a couple with the short black sabots, and none shot very well.

I'll try a couple different set ups through my gun, but it doesn't look like it likes the PTs.

Again, the fact is, my gun shoots the Hornady 250 FTX's extremely well and they'er fairly cheap. (I usually call them SST's as they are almost exactly the same, Hornady told me the only difference was the composition of the plastic tip)

So I would be happy enough using them as my "go to" practice load shikle I work on fin tuning my hunting load, which appears to be one of the Barnes bullets and maybe the Hornady 240 XTP MAG.

I do have to say that after I bought my Optima I was "jonesing" for a "better" Bergara barrel gun or a more "upgrade" MLer (and I will likely still get one, or two or three...), but I have really come to appreciate my inexpensive little Optima.

In all honesty, I am shooting a MLer now better than I ever thought I would.

I always heard the barrels of MLers "shot in" better as they had a 100 or so rounds through them ( I must be between 120-150 rounds now). Not sure if that's still the case with the newer guns, but I have JB'ed the living snot out of my barrel and should have helped smooth it out.

 

[GregK1]

Sometimes certain guns just don't like certain bullets. It just happens I shot some Hornady FTX 325 grain bullets that a lot of guys use in the 45-70 rifle. The tip is harder than the SST muzzleloader bullets, but it takes at least 110 grains of BH 209 to make that bullet expand properly. It was one of the very few bullets that my Knight likes, but sooooo accurate.

XTP's are a respected deer killer. They have been the choice for rifle, handgun, & muzzleloaders across the country & for good reason......they don't break the bank & they work.

If you're sold on a polymer tipped bullet, go with Barnes or Thors.

As far as shooting them "in" I have found that with all guns. The triggers get a little better & any moving action wears in a bit....at least it seems that way to me.

 

[Thunder53]

GregK,

It's funny you mention the trigger, because I was thinking exactly that yesterday, too.

The trigger definity seems to have gotten smoother and lighter, not that it was bad after I cleaned and relubed it with graphite.

In fact, a couple times, on one of my pulled shots, the trigger actually went a fraction before I expected it.

I'm very happy with where it is now.

I'm waiting for my shipment of 250 gr Thors (.501) to come in right now and am anxious to try them.

The gun seems to like the Barnes, so I'm interested to see what it will do with the full bore copper bullet. It shoots the 245 gr Powerbelts pretty good.

This time of year, especially with poor ice for fishing, I'm definitely having fun anyway.

So it sounds like you really like that Kodiak, huh?

 

[GregK1]

I can't tell you how much I LOVE that Kodiak. Dudley at CVA told me they dropped the gun from their line because it didn't sell. I figure that it had to be poor marketing. The fit & feel of this gun, not to mention the accuracy put it in the same class as the "premium line" of muzzleloaders.

I'm just starting to love my Apex, now that I'm getting the bugs worked out. Both of these guns love those Barnes TEZ 290's.

I've heard the same here in Michigan about the fishing, but we've had almost no winter or really cold temps. I used to love ice fishing, but with age, I've lost my desire to stand on a block of ice, lol.

I'm looking into a 45 cal. I have my eye on another Kodiak, an Optima (new style), & an Accura V-2. Now to decide!

Keep me posted on your Thor experience.