Guys,

For most rifles, I pick a bullet, settle on a load, and load it exclusively.

however.... my latest gun is a .358 Win in a Browning BLR. Its a handy gun and it shoots okay, but the 225gr Nos Partitions I've standardized on for an elk load are now >$1.00/shot just for the darned bullet. While I dont mind paying $1 to shoot at an elk, it really, really takes the fun out of a day at the range.... so I started loading some surplus 185 gr BTB hardcast leads. I'm shooting the 225gr NP's around 2400 fps. The 185 gr BTB are launching around 2000 fps.

I was more than a little bit surprised to see a 10" difference in point of impact between these two loads. I expected the NP's to hit a little higher than the BTB leads, but not THAT far higher.....

I'm using IMR 4320. I am loading the BTB at substantially less powder charge since its a lead bullet.

Would yall expect THAT big a difference in point of impact? I started wondering if maybe it was an issue of how deep I was seating the bullets. I had been seating the bases of the two bullets differently. The lead BTB had been loaded about 0.100" farther out (measured from the base). Might this have an impact on POI? I wouldnt think so, but then again... I've never, ever, compared POI on a gun like this between two radically dissimilar bullets. The BTB is a flat-headed wide meplat bullet launching at a much lower speed, as compared to the Nos Parts.

Anyone have wisdom to offer?

shane

My .338 Win Mag has about 12 minutes between a good cast bullet load, and nearly any other jacketed load. So.... no surprise to me.

You can try running the BTB a little faster. They go 2,300fps in my .35 Rem and only stop there because it's out of room for powder. That would be my next step, were I in the same situation.

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MikeG

I would have been surprised by that big a change, but only for a brief moment. Guns are individuals, and changing components will produce individual responses from individual guns. It is unusual to see that much difference, but it's actually quite common to have something unusual happen when reloading.

As Mike says, experiment some more. You may find a "solution", but then again, you may not.

Depending on the loads and the gun, 10" isn't bad. My .30-30 spreads jacketed bullets from 130-170gr more than that, and 150gr cast bullets over Trail Boss a lot more. My .35 Remington with BTB 210's/4895, and Remington 200gr RN's are also a good 18" apart, with 6" of lateral offset.

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No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.
>>> Thomas Jefferson

well, there you go. Thats why I asked.

thanks for the feedback guys. I love having access to smarts!

I appreciate the guidance.