New .44 caliber Brooks mold.

[Distant Thunder]

I posted this information on the Shiloh forum under the 2021 200 yard postal match thread but I don't know if everyone who may be interested will see it there so I decided to post it here as well.

I was able to get out and do some shooting yesterday with this new Brooks bullet. These loads were the same as my first 2 targets a bit earlier this month. These were the last of my loads left over from last summer, I simply pulled the other PP bullets and seated these 512 grain bullets from my new Brooks adjustable PP mold. I had some concerns about the cupped base in this mold but these targets do show promise and a consistency that make me a little less concerned. Steve Brooks did make a flat base screw for this mold and I will do testing with it in time.

The only difference between these two loads was in the paper I used to wrap the bullets. Group #3 they were wrapped with my old standby, the 9 lb. 100% cotton paper that is no longer made by THE PAPER MILL. Group #4 were wrapped with Staedtler 8 lb. Tracing Paper. Both were run through my custom push through sizing die which brings them down to a push fit in the bore of my rifle. Because the 9 lb. is thicker, .002”, they fit tighter in the bore even after sizing than the 8 lb. paper (.0015”) which after sizing is an easy push into the bore. I was interested in seeing if one paper/fit had an advantage over the other. This is only two groups and doesn’t prove anything, but it does show that both papers will work.

The mold was ordered at .434” diameter to be used with the Staedtler Tracing Paper and I’m pleased that it did well.

The wind yesterday was at 9 mph from 10 o’clock with some occasional squirrely swirls running through and a few reversals so I had to watch my one wind flag pretty close. If I broke a shot with the flag slack or when it was dropping off it would go about an 1 to 1 ½ inches left of were I was sighted. I actually sighted in at the right edge of the 1” circle knowing that the letups would pull me left and I was working hard to keep all my shots inside the 3” circle, which I did not quite manage to do.

Temps were 36-37 degrees and humidity was 65 to 62%. The wind was at 9 mph from 10 o'clock and pretty steady with the usual squirrels thrown in and a reverse or two just to keep it interesting. The let ups were hard to avoid.