Just about the time I think I have it sussed, this caliber throws me a curve ball.
In the interest of refreshing my experience with reloading the Hornady 200gr FTX, I threw together some loads starting with Hoot conservative and QL approved, with the intention of working up from there, with a different twist. Instead of seating the bullets to 2.19 COL and driving an aggressive taper crimp into them, I seated them to 2.26, applied a light taper crimp and then a modest stab crimp to the rear cannelure.
Holy Bejebers!
As soon as I touched off the fouling shot (43.5gr Lil Gun), I knew I wasn't in Kansas anymore. Everyone at the range went quiet and looked at me. I looked down at the chrony readout and it registered 2700fps exactly. I thought "Oh this is going to be ugly." After carefully inspecting the bolt, barrel extension and brass I couldn't believe my eyes. The rifle was fine. Out came the micrometer and calipers. The case head registered the same .0025-.0030 growth I got with my tame 40gr of Lil Gun and plain taper crimp (2375fps). The case length had shrunk a whopping .002 from before it was fired, which is atypical and there was no imprinting on the head. The primer looked nice and rounded just like when I seated it. "Ah, must be a chrony error." Back on station, I dialed in the scope and fired my other fouler. Almost as loud and 2615fps as the last of the Kroil dissipated. Whoa! Another tear down and inspection. Another A-OK.
Now I have an audience around me looking at the rounds and asking questions. I did what any adolescent would do in the face of peer pressure. I ran my first string of 5) 43.5gr loads as fast as I could regain my position in the bags and aim. All barked impressively. All cases looked similarly fine and I got a reasonable 5-shot, 100 yard group. The rifle certainly bucked and snorted more than usual and I could have held it tighter in hindsight.
Here's that 100 yard group. Not my best, but considering I've never shot a white tail further than 75 yards in the northwoods of MN, a perfectly acceptable group.
The velocities had a wide span, no doubt from being on the excessive side, but there is no doubt that more bullet retention allows Lil Gun to perform far beyond what even Quickload could predict and left the cases no worse for wear and tear. The latter being the most surprising of all. I had two more runs of five that were half grain steps upward. Despite being loathe to pull down stab crimped rounds, because the crimp has no opportunity to iron out, that was my intention, much to the dismay of my audience. I panned though, saying that I had to go pick up the Mrs at the park-n-ride, which was at least, partly true.
I forgot to mention, the spent cases were entirely soot-free. That was not the case the last time I shot some of these 200s at lesser loads and lighter crimps. I will set the pull-down cases aside for another at-bat with lighter charges, but continuing with a similar crimp approach. Right now, while I encourage others to experiment with the stab crimp, don't repeat my choice of charge. There is much remaining to learn about the best balance between accuracy and power release as determined both by charge and crimp. As far as how the cases behaved, I feel like my ideas about cause and effect WRT this caliber, still remain a work in progress.
Hoot
P.S. I suspect we have at least a few more converts as several members inquired as to where they could get an upper like that. One wanted to know if mine was for sale.