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Today I decided to sit in the sun and take it easy. So I took out my White inline Model 97. I put the target up at 50 yards and decided to test some things.
Rifle: .451 caliber White Model 97. Has a 22 inch stainless steel barrel.
Scope: Bushnell Elite 2-7x32mm 3200
Ignition: percussion cap. RWS 1075 caps used.
Powder: Goex, Pyrodex P, Triple Seven 2f
Projectile: No Excuses 460 grain pure lead .451 conical bullet
Swabbing: Rusty Duck Black Off. I only swabbed when I changed powders. So there was a total of three swabs. Most the time ten shots were fired before I swabbed. Although I did on occasion clean the nipple to help load the RWS caps further down the nose.
Weather Conditions: 82 degrees and a slight wind. But sunny.
Everyone is on a powder kick. They want the the best powder, the cleanest powder, the most powerful powder, and the biggest powder charge. The other night I was reading from Doc White's web site and it seems some of his recommend hunting loads in a .451 caliber is 60 grains of powder. 60 grains to many would be a joke right? But in reality, 60 grains shooting a 460 grain projectile would be more then enough to take a white tail deer. I am not sure what the speed or energy of that load would be, but I think to 100 yards it would have no problem if you hit what you aim at. Perhaps some White shooters have personal experience with low powder charges, deer hunting and distances, they like to add to this.
Normally I shoot 80 grains of Triple Seven 2f powder. But today I started out with 60 grains of Pyrodex P. The rifle of course loaded easy with the No Excuses conical. But I could not move the conical off the charge. So that was a good thing. I then fired a five shot group. No swabbing was done at all.
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It shot a little lower then I thought. Perhaps it was the heat, or the fact I was shooting as fast as I wanted with no concern for barrel heat. But like I said... the normal load it 80 grains of T-7 2f. So it might be just the fact that the velocity was reduced. Needless to say, I was pleased with the accuracy and the recoil was next to nothing. What a sweet load to shoot.
I then kicked the Pyrodex charge up to 65 grains of powder.
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The group remained pretty much the same as far as distance from the bull. Shot #8 climbed higher and shots 9&10 also moved up. Over all, this is a good group for not swabbing and paying no attention to barrel heating up.
This is where I swabbed the barrel clean. I mean actually to the point that there was little fouling coming out of the barrel with Rusty Duck patches. I then went to the Triple Seven 2f and moved the measure back down to 60 grains.
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On a clean barrel and again with no swabbing I did a five shot group with 60 grains. It was very tight! And I mean real good I thought. I then moved up to 65 grains of Triple Seven. One of those five went into the lower group which was the 60 grain group. But the other four formed that group in the bull. I was more then pleased. Could 65 grains of Triple Seven 2f be my super white tail deer load? For the ranges I shoot it would sure work. Also I noted when I was swabbing the barrel clean for the next powder test, there was no crud ring. I mean none. Could this be because the charges were so low, or the fact I was shooting conical bullets? Could the #11 caps be the cause of it? Maybe the nice weather? I really do not know. The bore swabbed out real easy.
Next powder up was Goex 3f. Here I moved the charge to 70 grains. I did this because that is the powder charge this rifle used to like. I wanted to see if it would shoot good again with that powder.
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The first shot was the lowest. But the next four were right in there. A thing that puzzles me. When I sight the rifle in in late fall before our deer season, it shoots dead on at 50 yards. So a question to you... does shooting in the heat move a group down that much? Have you ever notice a difference like that with your rifles?
Over all it was a good day. 25 rounds was half the new box of conical bullets. I decided that was enough for the day. But it does give me food for thought. 65 grains of T-7 might be my new deer load. I just wonder how well that big conical would expand with that kind of powder charge.
And clean up was a snap. This rife was treated with Montana Extreme Bore Conditioner and it swabbed out in about three or four patches. Cleaning the parts took longer then the barrel.
Rifle: .451 caliber White Model 97. Has a 22 inch stainless steel barrel.
Scope: Bushnell Elite 2-7x32mm 3200
Ignition: percussion cap. RWS 1075 caps used.
Powder: Goex, Pyrodex P, Triple Seven 2f
Projectile: No Excuses 460 grain pure lead .451 conical bullet
Swabbing: Rusty Duck Black Off. I only swabbed when I changed powders. So there was a total of three swabs. Most the time ten shots were fired before I swabbed. Although I did on occasion clean the nipple to help load the RWS caps further down the nose.
Weather Conditions: 82 degrees and a slight wind. But sunny.
Everyone is on a powder kick. They want the the best powder, the cleanest powder, the most powerful powder, and the biggest powder charge. The other night I was reading from Doc White's web site and it seems some of his recommend hunting loads in a .451 caliber is 60 grains of powder. 60 grains to many would be a joke right? But in reality, 60 grains shooting a 460 grain projectile would be more then enough to take a white tail deer. I am not sure what the speed or energy of that load would be, but I think to 100 yards it would have no problem if you hit what you aim at. Perhaps some White shooters have personal experience with low powder charges, deer hunting and distances, they like to add to this.
Normally I shoot 80 grains of Triple Seven 2f powder. But today I started out with 60 grains of Pyrodex P. The rifle of course loaded easy with the No Excuses conical. But I could not move the conical off the charge. So that was a good thing. I then fired a five shot group. No swabbing was done at all.
It shot a little lower then I thought. Perhaps it was the heat, or the fact I was shooting as fast as I wanted with no concern for barrel heat. But like I said... the normal load it 80 grains of T-7 2f. So it might be just the fact that the velocity was reduced. Needless to say, I was pleased with the accuracy and the recoil was next to nothing. What a sweet load to shoot.
I then kicked the Pyrodex charge up to 65 grains of powder.
The group remained pretty much the same as far as distance from the bull. Shot #8 climbed higher and shots 9&10 also moved up. Over all, this is a good group for not swabbing and paying no attention to barrel heating up.
This is where I swabbed the barrel clean. I mean actually to the point that there was little fouling coming out of the barrel with Rusty Duck patches. I then went to the Triple Seven 2f and moved the measure back down to 60 grains.
On a clean barrel and again with no swabbing I did a five shot group with 60 grains. It was very tight! And I mean real good I thought. I then moved up to 65 grains of Triple Seven. One of those five went into the lower group which was the 60 grain group. But the other four formed that group in the bull. I was more then pleased. Could 65 grains of Triple Seven 2f be my super white tail deer load? For the ranges I shoot it would sure work. Also I noted when I was swabbing the barrel clean for the next powder test, there was no crud ring. I mean none. Could this be because the charges were so low, or the fact I was shooting conical bullets? Could the #11 caps be the cause of it? Maybe the nice weather? I really do not know. The bore swabbed out real easy.
Next powder up was Goex 3f. Here I moved the charge to 70 grains. I did this because that is the powder charge this rifle used to like. I wanted to see if it would shoot good again with that powder.
The first shot was the lowest. But the next four were right in there. A thing that puzzles me. When I sight the rifle in in late fall before our deer season, it shoots dead on at 50 yards. So a question to you... does shooting in the heat move a group down that much? Have you ever notice a difference like that with your rifles?
Over all it was a good day. 25 rounds was half the new box of conical bullets. I decided that was enough for the day. But it does give me food for thought. 65 grains of T-7 might be my new deer load. I just wonder how well that big conical would expand with that kind of powder charge.
And clean up was a snap. This rife was treated with Montana Extreme Bore Conditioner and it swabbed out in about three or four patches. Cleaning the parts took longer then the barrel.
