Rossi Rifleman

Well, finally, yesterday - Dec. 3, 2021, my bullet order from GT made Aug. 10th came in. Again, like the last order that seemed to take forever, I wished I had doubled the quantity ordered. I ordered 500 of their .357 cal lswc hp p/b 165 grain (sized .358) that have been fantastic in my 16" Rossi. Then I also ordered ... intended to order a 250 cnt of their .44 cal lswc hp g/c 240 gr bullets that are the best all around I've found for the 20" Rossi. I didn't realize that I ordered the wrong item until I got the email last week alerting me to watch the mail for the delivery .... and the ticket showed (in addition to the proper .357 bullets) to expect a 250 cnt of their Keith Style LSWC HP P/B 250 gr. - sized .430. If they were G/C I wouldn't mind the .430, but normally my gun needs at least a .431 for the P/B or B/B, especially when I'd like to see somewhere around 1650 fps.

Tonight, I loaded up a couple of 10 round batches with 18.5 gr and 19.0 gr of AA#9 with the new 250 gr P/B bullets. Hopefully, tomorrow afternoon I can get out to the amusement park and send 5 of each through the chrony (to watch for "issues) and then 5 of each specifically on target at 50 yards. I'm guessing that with a semi-slow powder like AA#9, the .430 bullets may not bump up as fast as they need too and I might see a tiny bit of leading. If there's a bit of leading issue to be concerned about, I may resort to 8-9 gr of fast burning Unique to bump up the bullet base .... and probably give up 200 fps.

Then again ... that's what makes this habit ... hobby so interesting

jd

bout all I shoot anymore is 8.5 or 9.3 of unique.
I swap the 8.5 around on anything [but the 44 specials] that starts with a 4 with impunity, and keep the 9.3 just for the 44 and 45colt.

I have a couple Jugs of number-9 for stuff like the 300 blackout, but I got like 15 times as much 4100 and 2400 to punch things out at 1600+ if necessary.

anyway if you wanna punch the nose back go to a much faster powder, the pressure spike is straight to the top with something like red-dot, tite-group or around that area
bulls-eye is fast too, but it will flatten out the top of the curve and stay behind the bullet longer.

well, I did finally get to sneak out to the amusement park about 4:00 p.m. .... not a whole lot of good daylight left, especially since we've been covered with heavy cloud cover all day. I got lucky and found the last range with no shooters and a bench for a 50 yard target board. I managed to get the chrony set up and get 5 rounds of each of the 250 p/b bullets - both 18.5 gr and 19.0 gr of AA#9. POI was about the same for both, and oddly enough they were really close (at least vertical) to the 240 gr g/c bullet using 19.0 gr of AA#9. The ES and SD were noticeably better with the 19.0 gr load although (with only 5 round samples) they had almost identical average velocities of 1635 fps and 1637 fps ... too close to call as being different. For the chrony targets, the (small sample) groups were close, but my non-inhibited "don't shoot it's eyes out" (move the chrony) targets should have waited until another day. Another range member walked up to visit ... until the sun went down. It didn't matter, I still wanted to test function and I believe 1.692 inch oal is THE limit for what I can squirt through my particular R92 using a pretty forceful action.

Also, since they are sized .430 (my original intent was to order the 240 gr G/C bullet at .430) and plain based, they did just very slightly lead the bore a bit. It may have just been more perceptible though since I've probably already run 100 rounds through the bore without using those nasty chemicals and wire brushes

But, the bore actually cleaned out better than normal, so I'm good with that anyway.

I'll have to wait until another time (probably some time later this week ) to load up a few more to start working on tightening up the groups to better than 2 inches at 50 yards. No doubt though that some Unique loads or maybe even AA#2 loads are in the future to play with.

jd

Sounds interesting. I hate when I'm at the range and somebody wants to talk when I'm shooting and limited to time or day light..keep up the good work.

A very good range report...And, I've always admired your tag line. Thank you Mr Surveyor.

I loaded up another 10 of those plain based 250 gr GT Bullets over something a little faster the AA#9 to see if it would "bump up" the .430 bullets a little. Trying 15.8 gr of AA#7 to start with, and will probably do the same limited test with only five through the chrony and five on an unobstructed 50 yard target. I intended to go all the way to the faster side with Unique or maybe AA#2, but I'll work my way down through AA#7 and maybe even AA#5 before getting too fast of a powder involved.

Who knows, I may end up "testing" the whole 250 of the accidentally ordered bullets before I'm happy with a load. Given the current situation, I think I need to order at least 500 of my favorite 240 gr lswc hp g/c bullets so they'll be here by the middle of April ...


jd

Oh, as long as I'm archiving ..... here's the Chrony target with the first 10 (2x5) test rounds. Unfortunately, it was getting a bit on the "low light" part of the day ... and, besides, I still wrestle with some little dude sitting on my shoulder, whispering loudly into my good ear - "Don't shoot it's eyes out" (the chrony )


jd

I have the same little shoulder guy. I avoid combining velocity and accuracy tests for just that reason, but when time is short, you do what you need to do. Same with sample sizes. I’ll shoot three shot groups if I’m pressed for time, but five shot groups are much preferred, and two five shot groups are even better. When I read firearm reviews that post photos of “the best three shot group of the day,” I’m inclined to disregard other claims.

Excellent work, JD!

How about a tag line of "You aren't a reloader unless you shot the eye out of a chrony!"

Here's yesterday's hurried Chrony target. The stats were as good as I've ever with my reloads (based on a very tiny sample shot today), and the velocity was about what I expected as compared to the previous test with AA#9. From just loading and shooting a small sample of these P/B bullets, I probably don't have near enough data to claim to have an "informed opinion", but so far the plain based bullets probably won't have the same accuracy I generally see when shooting gas checked bullets. To be expected.

I may just give the 44 mag a rest for the next few weeks and enjoy the 30-30 for a bit. It's been out of the cycle for a few weeks, and I still have a couple thousand LRP's on hand.