Loads and accuracy problems-

All right!
Big Tator is at it again- I went to the range with some fresh loads and noticed a few problems.

I fired some 310 grain Lee slugs at a target 60 yards away (a rock the size of a baby's head )
McGarey302 was calling my shots. I got "high left, low left, high center, low center, way low left, etc..." My response... wtf? I knew it'd been a while since I fired a gun but this was whack. McGarey302 tried the Super Redhawk and had the same result as I. He had the idea to try different ammo. I put some heavy loads in the revolver- same size bullet but a slightly higher BHN. These slugs were atop of 19 grains of H110. I aimed, fired, and smashed the rock on the first try! Deadly accurate!

So- bad loads.. let's figure out why.

The loads in question (abysmal accuracy) were as follows:

Lee 310 grain LFNGC w/o the GC, Lyman Orange Lube, federal 150 LP primers and the following amounts of Alliant Unique powder (trying to develop a creampuff "special" esque load).

8 Grains
8.5
9
9.5
10
10.5
11Grains (near max). no signs of bulged primers or sticky cases- very palatable recoil.

All the above loads were horrible for accuracy.

Everything else I ran through the gun that day was deadly accurate.

Thoughts?
Tommy, I know you like Unique in the .44 magnum.
I'm thinking the bullets are heavy and long enough that they have to move faster in order to stabilize with the amount of twist that my barrel's rifling has. Am I close?

Thanks!

Tator

that Is wierd some guns just like different things. My Smith loves my swaged 250s with 10gr of unique. WW LP primer. tumbled in lee Liquid alox

I need to get me some of that LLA. It was backordered on midway last time I ordered and I hate paying shipping for just some lube. Maybe I'll just *have* to buy a new mould to justify shipping

It seems like you say- my gun just doesn't like these loads.

I have not tried this!!!!! i bought a big jug of white label XLOX on Ebay. there was a guy on a different site who said he was tumble lubing with straight Johnson's paste wax and said it was as good or better than LLA. I figured one of these days I would check it out.

Only thing I could think of would be to play with the length a little to see if you could find something it likes. Just a thought..

play with the length- seating depth? I'm using the upper of the two crimp grooves. I would think that using the bottom groove would leave too much slop room for the powder.

Did I understand your comment correctly?

Yeah, OAL. I was thinking that you may be able to fudge a few thou. one way or the other to see if it would help. Using the crimping grooves probably won't give you much room to play though.

I've got a nice redding crimp die so I might be able to crimp and deform the bullet slightly/crimp in a different place... slightly.

Do you think I should reduce the OAL to ensure better ignition/pressure increase?

Hard to say. It may be a process of using x grains of powder with x oal, check the results. If that is not satisfactory shorten the ola slightly with the same charge to see what if gives you. Run through the different charges with the same (modified) oal to see what changes for better or worse. You then could go the other way with oal and run through the different charges again. A lot of loading, testing, loading testing I know but sometimes it takes a little more effort to find what the gun is happy with.

I don't reload revolver or 44 Mag, but I would think that due to the weight bullet you are using you would want to use a slow burning powder. However, I couldn't find anything on the burn rate chart that was slower so maybe the opposite applies go to something faster like Unique.

There are plenty of slower powders... 296, H110, 2400, etc... all of which work AMAZING with this bullet.
I wanted to use a faster powder so I could dumb-down the load and make it a lighter recoiling load with unique for target plinking- and to save on powder. It seemed like a good idea but the unique just isn't yielding any accuracy thus far. My hunch is that unique would work flawlessly with a lighter bullet.

eagle, I think you're onto something. I'll have to see what I can come up with. I'm really leaning towards getting that lighter bullet mould sooner than later. I'm really starting to think that the length and weight of this slug requires a higher speed in order to spin enough to stabilize itself.

Like I said in my last post, heavier bullet typically means slower powder, so I would suggest H110. When I originally read your topic I thought thats what you were using, now that I re-read it I see your using Unique.

I have not tried anything heavier than the 245 grain I believe in my 44 mag. I have tried Unique and I have used 4221. 4221 gave me better results than unique did. Ok I will have to double check to make sure it was Imr 4221, I am not home at the moment and borrowing a computer, so I don't have my notes.

For a light load, my son, 9 years old at the time, was shooting the 245 grain Keith style cast, I loaded it up with 7 grains of unique. Kinda like a 44 special load, there is a video of him shooting it, shot it like a champ. Can't tell you the accuracy of it. I no longer have my Ruger, sniff, but will have one again....

Sorry, wasn't much help. Looks like your getting some good help by others....

Use Unique for anything 200gr and under....anything heavier use Lil Gun. Lil Gun is the best magnum powder I have used thus far(imo).

That really sheds some light on it, guys! thanks.
I was hoping to be able to use this (normally heavy hitting h110 style) bullet for light loads but I think I just need to get a better suited bullet for unique- such as a 200 or 240 grain.

Btw, Tommy- I saw your video with your son on his birthday a while ago. It made me happy to see you guys having fun with guns!!! Very nice!

I use 22 grns of IMR 4227 and a fedral premium large magnum primer.
The bullet I use is a 240 grn Speer JHP. Thus far this has been an accurate
load.In my ruger super black hawk. I love my 44 Mag.

That sounds like a good one.
I am partial to a very similar combo- 24 grains of H110 under a 240 grain XTP, Federal 155 (Lg. Mag)... very accurate

It's the creampuff loads that are really giving me the most hassle with accuracy. I can't wait to get that 200 grain bullet mould. Then I'll be able to obsess about the 240 grain SWC and how I need a mould in that size as well