New bullet

[Don McDowell]

Yes Jim I shot the 1.35 length in the 19. Matter of fact BACO produced the 434470 at my urging . Got my fanny kicked bad bad bad with the 1.35 (both grooved and patched) at distances past 800 yards. Couldn't figure out what in the world was going on, had people ( well intentioned, but ill advised) telling me all sorts of reasons why I was such a horrible shot, but not a one of them would mention the bullet length. Then one day while sitting here at the desk pondering why the problems at distance ,and looking at the various bullets on that I keep on top of it. The original Sharps bullet that was a pull down from a 44 2 1/4 Creedmoor round, jumped out at me like a lightning bolt. It was a good bit shorter than some of the bullets in line with it. So I grabbed my calipers and measured it. Guess what the length is? Wanna take a shot at the weight?
So out to the casting bench I went, shortened up the nose pour adjustable to (that's right) 1.3 . Loaded a few and off to the range I went.. After that range session a letter was sent to Brooks with a check for a fixed bullet at 1.3...
In the meantime Dan t had come up with a money bullet for the 44's at 1.35, I got a hold of some and tried them. Same results as the patched work well till the wind comes up. Another 44 shooter even bought one of the 1.35 money bullet moulds, and dang don't you know he found the same problem. After enough talking with Dan he designed another at 1.3.....
Don't know what would happen with 1.32 in the 17 twist. The first 44 st shot so well with the 1.35 bullet , it was one of those why mess with success deals.. The second one is the same way.
I test loads here on steel to see if there's some possibility, shoot paper for confirmation. Test loads in relative calm conditions, the confirm them in less than ideal condition.
Now days I seldom ever start load testing at less than 600 and mostly take them directly to 1000, then move in to closer ranges.