Went out to our local range here in PA and fired my first cast bullets through my Winchester Big Bore 94. It is in 356 Win. Cal. and made ca. 1991-2(tang safety and rebounding hammer). Had a few problems right off the bat. The bullet I wanted to try, the BTB 200 grain WFNGC had to be REALLY deep seated(some were seated to 2.30 OAL so they didn't keep the action from having to be closed hard). I think the problem is my rifles short throat not being compatible with the bullet profile. They are also too short to feed through the rifle when deep seated, as they had to be. The rounds just jump right out of the reciever or catch on the breech face on the upstroke....had to single load. I was using 42 grains of IMR 4350 to start...should be somewhere in the 1700-1800 fps range if I recall. Loaded up a few of those BTB 200 gr. .359 WFNGC's and about 30 RCBS 200 grain .359 FNGC's. There was no problem with the seating depth of the RCBS bullets. Hit the range and fired up a few rounds. The bullets struck 12-15 inches low at 50 yards for both bullets! I wasn't expecting that, as I had never fired reduced cast loads before.. Fixing the low point of impact posed a problem as I was maxed out on the elevation for the rear site. So, couldn't do much work as the rounds were off or nearly off the board. The ones that did hit were about 2" at 50 yards. This may sound like an excuse, but I absolutely hate the bead front sight of my winchester. I feel I can't do any precise work with it and that my shot placement would have been much better without it. I went home to regroup and scratch my head. I decided to raise my point of impact by hacking off the front bead with a hack saw and in the spirit of the great gunsmiths darkened it in with a black magic marker. With a little file work it looks factory except for the marker. So, I will be heading back out soon with what I hope is a more precise sight and a raised point of impact.
Another problem I had was the forend coming loose from the reciever in my hands(not sure if I just forgot to put the barrel band screw in right or the screw jumped the threads when I pulled the trigger). The recoil of the reduced rounds was pretty stout...suprised me. I will take your advice Slim and get a pad. The greatest pleasure I had out of the whole day was when I went to clean the gun. I ran a patch through of Hoppes and it was as clean as the day it was made. I don't see a trace of lead. That's enough to get me hooked on Cast right there. It's like cleaning a 22! So, will report on my next shooting session withing the week. Thank you William Iorg, Lobo Lohr, Marshall Stanton and many of you who have been kind enough to help me get started in this reloading/cast bullet game.
Another problem I had was the forend coming loose from the reciever in my hands(not sure if I just forgot to put the barrel band screw in right or the screw jumped the threads when I pulled the trigger). The recoil of the reduced rounds was pretty stout...suprised me. I will take your advice Slim and get a pad. The greatest pleasure I had out of the whole day was when I went to clean the gun. I ran a patch through of Hoppes and it was as clean as the day it was made. I don't see a trace of lead. That's enough to get me hooked on Cast right there. It's like cleaning a 22! So, will report on my next shooting session withing the week. Thank you William Iorg, Lobo Lohr, Marshall Stanton and many of you who have been kind enough to help me get started in this reloading/cast bullet game.