Ed Harris
posted this
28 January 2014
onondaga wrote: ......I get consistent .600” or less groups at 50 yards with the little Lee 90 gr SWC bullet and 2.9 gr H TiteGroup. I have taken chipmunks, squirrels, woodchuck, and snapping turtles with the load easily out to 50 yards. For my particular rifle I size the bullets at .3125". The new design looks as it would load and perform equally and it has a better, larger flat nose that will punch game harder.
The bearing area of the Lee bullet is much longer than the design you present and the Lee bullet is lighter, but it shoots fine for me. I'm not sure if the length of the bearing area is all that significant to accuracy, but I get ample accuracy and power at 50 yards for small game hunting with the Lee 90 gr SWC in my rifle...
In an ideal world, the bearing length for a pistol bullet should not be less than the bullet's diameter, but if the diameter of the bore-riding forepart is larger than bore diameter, to take the rifling even slightly, this helps to keep the bullet aligned in the bore. In this case the bearing length, including the lube groove, is less only about 0.25", than a caliber, and would be considered marginal, except knowing the intent is for very light loads it “should” work, if cast of suitably strong alloy for its intended application and not over-driven.
I expect it should work very well in subsonic rifle loads and in the .32 ACP. In the 7.62x25 it will be necessary to use hard alloys, such as quenched wheelweights, given the higher velocity and pressure of that round, but my hope is that it will at least perform to “ball ammo plinking” standards with charges which would cycle my CZ52.
In rifle bullets, or handgun bullets driven at higher velocities, you really want the portion of the bullet which actually engraved by the rifling to be 1.5 calibers or greater. When the bullet is very light for its caliber, such as this one, and when it also must be used in cartridges having a short neck, such as the 7.62x25 or of small powder capacity, such as the .32 ACP, where it is necessary to limit intrusion of the bullet into the powder space to the minimum necessary, you must keep the shank short, but compensate by enlarging the bore-riding portion to the extent you can and still fit typical short auto pistol throats, and get what additional guidance you can off the nose. This design is an attempt to compromise all those factors.
73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia