Range Report: Bartz Upper loves 300 Grainers

[Hoot]

**Hoot's Note: I've been struggling with finding a cloud based image storage site that is forum post friendly, IE "<img>"URL"</img>". Though generous and easy to use, neither MS Onedrive nor Google Drive have directly linkable image addresses that anyone besides me can see. I have set up an account on Postimage.org to try. Unlike my past experience with Photobucket and its subset TinyPic, Postimage says it will not delete images due to inactivity. In the past, many of the images I worked hard to make and post for your benefit have died because they weren't visited often enough using the two aforementioned services. If you find images that do not work in my threads, let me know and I will try to revitalize them. TANSTAFL...Hoot

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We're all drawn to our successes but less so, our failures.

Despite doing my 230gr FMJ tests which went poorly before this outing, I'm publishing this first since it went much better. All the loads tested in this session had room for more oomph, some displaying signs that they would do better accuracy-wise at a higher velocity. Since I was characterizing a new bottle of Lil Gun, I started a little lower, a little slower, working up. Never assume a load using Lil Gun will remain the same recipe from bottle to bottle.

While I'm at a loss to explain why the Bartz upper would make a difference with the 300gr Speer DeepCurl loads, it definitely outperformed my previous efforts across different brands of 300 grainers and across different powders using my original Bushy barrel and later, the Franklin Armory barrel. Not only was I able to get them to shoot pretty accurate, I also didn't run into cycling issues as I ran the charge up, like I did previously. No case head imprinting, no swipes, no short stroking, however I began to see slight primer flattening at the top load, but no significant casehead growth was measured afterward.

Here's the loads tested:



to save on space, I mixed like targets together. Here's the 225 FTX's (I adjusted the scope upward after the first group)



Then the 200 XPB's (They definitely wanted more gas)



and lastly, the thundering herd, 300 DeepCurl's



Now, for some humility, I'll finish the 230gr FMJ Range Report

Hoot


Hoot

[Hoot]

Fixed the images. See top of post

Hoot

[Al in Mi]

nice shooting Hoot.

[Hoot]

nice shooting Hoot.

The POI of the first two 225 FTX shots did not change dramatically on its own. I zeroed the scope. The two 200 XPB loads did actually change on their own, but for the life of me, I can't say why. That upper digests and cycles everything I throw it. I remember when the early Bushmasters would do the same. Many still do. I intend to revisit the 300 grainers and see just how high they happily go. Given the accuracy node around 2083, I'd expect another is coming up a grain or two higher. This is invigorating as I never had a lot of luck with 300 grainers. The recoil from them is a lot stronger than the 225s traveling at higher velocity to the same amount of delivered foot pounds.

More to follow...

[Al in Mi]

The 454 Deep Curls were on my list to try, but could never find them in stock, so I've pretty much settled on the 300gr XTP mags over a heavy dose of 1680 in my 16" stock Bushey. It wears a 1-4 Trijicon T24G with a green triangle, and about the best I can hold is 1 1/2" @ 100, very seldom over 2". I should glass it up and wring it out sometime but that TR24 is one fast handling piece of glass.

[Hoot]

The 454 Deep Curls were on my list to try, but could never find them in stock, so I've pretty much settled on the 300gr XTP mags over a heavy dose of 1680 in my 16" stock Bushey. It wears a 1-4 Trijicon T24G with a green triangle, and about the best I can hold is 1 1/2" @ 100, very seldom over 2". I should glass it up and wring it out sometime but that TR24 is one fast handling piece of glass.

When hunting, my 450b wears a 3-12x52, but for load workup from a BR setup, it wears a Nikon Monarch 6-24x50SF Target Dot, pretty much set at 24x. When someone at the range wants to try a shot. I dial it down around 12x since they're usually shooting offhand. At this particular outing, three members wanted to give it a go, including a gal. Despite not having the brake, the Limbsaver, combined with my internal "shake-weight" system in the stock and my heavier Stainless Steel lower made it tolerable, albeit heavy. Even the gal was surprised at the bite, given it's bark. My spin on a shake-weight system is inspired by Mudbug's stocks he used to sell. They do help.

Hoot