Which bullet?

[Gunlaker]

Hi,

I've decided to use my CSA .45-110 for a gong shoot next month. This rifle has only been used at 200m so I have no idea at all how things will work out at 800m. I don't have access to a range beyond 200m right now.

I'm shooting paper patched Money bullets at about 1360fps. I have 2 bullets to chose from, both are BACO money bullets. One is 540gr and 1.5" long and the other is 535gr and 1.45" long.

The rifle is has a 1:18 twist and I'm a bit worried about the longer bullet being stable to the furthest gong. I do find that the longer bullet is a bit more accurate at 200m but maybe that doesn't mean much when the closest shot is going to be 500m.

I suppose I could hedge my bets and patch up some of each. I have a few hours of practice at the shoot the day before the match so I suppose that I could postpone my decision until I see what happens then.

Any thoughts or experiences with the longer bullet at these velocities and range?

Thanks,

Chris.

[Semtav]

I suppose I could hedge my bets and patch up some of each. I have a few hours of practice at the shoot the day before the match so I suppose that I could postpone my decision until I see what happens then.

I sure would, then you can lay all speculation to rest and see which bullet your gun likes the best at the longer ranges

[Don McDowell]

What I do in a deal like that is load enough of both bullets for the match and practice, then hit the practice time pretty hard with both, and then which ever one makes you feel the most confident you have enough to shoot the match, and the other for more trigger time.
Probably both will hold up fine, but as we know there is only one way to find out.

[Gunlaker]

I think you guys are right and that's exactly what I'll do.

Chris.

[Smokin Guns John]

Keep us posted!

[Gunlaker]

Will do!

[bobw]

I shoot ppb's in that weight range from 1.42" to 1.48" long wherever I set the mold and have no problem stability wise with a 1 in 18 twist Shiloh to 1000 yds. I believe the 540 money bullet was a Kenny Wasserburgger design BACO started with. bobw

[Gunlaker]

I brought both bullets to the Heffley Creek silhouette and gong match near Kamloops B.C. This weekend. This was my first time shooting these rifles past 200m and was definitely an eye opener.

I ended up using the longer bullet for the match. Unfortunately I only had 500m sight settings as I'd spent most of my practice time getting settings for the silhouette match using my .45-70. So I entered kind of blind as I only had estimated sight settings that I generated using jbm ballistics software. The numbers were off by a quite a bit.

Bullet impacts were hard to see due to wet ground conditions and lots of bush and trees at the 700 and 800m gongs. The order of shooting had me starting at the 800m gong and all of my impacts ended up being way high I later discovered. Then I went to 500m offhand and it worked out well. The spotters quickly got me on target at 600m and 700m and things went well enough so I expect that the bullet is stable. It was quite windy and we finished the match in a downpour.

Chris.

[Kenny Wasserburger]

The 540 Grain Money PP bullet shots right fine out of a 1-18 twist Shiloh. Used it at Phoneix last March. It beat Gullo and a good many others in the Cup Match!

And won a 3rd NRA Scope Regional Title 2 days later.

I use the 525 Gr bullet at 800 and the 540 at 900 and 1000 yards. I have the 540 in two sizes .444 and .446 the .446 shoots the best in the old Hell Bitch. The .444 in Dora. I do recall that at 1000 yards the last day of the Regional in very bad conditions it finished in the top 5 maybe the top 3.

Use 1-16 alloy in both the 1-16 twist and the 1-18 twist you will like the results.

Kenny Wasserburger

The Lunger

[Gunlaker]

Thanks. I didn't know that you had any 18 twist rifles. I was using 20:1 but I've mixed up a batch of 16:1 which I plan to mess with before long.

Since I was just shooting gongs it's hard to say how good my load was at distance, but it did hit the targets once the spotters got me on. I was impressed by how little elevation was needed at 600m with this load. Only 0.95" which was 0.04" less than my .45-70 needed to reach the rams ( also shooting a Baco Money bullet, but a greaser at 1150fps ).

Thanks very much for the information Kenny.

Chris.