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Information about tested loads will be posted here at a later time. These are merely guide lines and should only be performed by those with a working knowledge of how to reload ammunition. Venom Ballistics offers no guarantee nor assumes any responsibility for the use of the following information.
Marksmanship tips
Flinching
Shooting heavy magnums often creates flinching issues.
Once they take hold, they can be hard to conquer.
One method I have found was the dry practice method.
In this technique you load your piece with dummy rounds (snap caps)
take aim at a target and drill the basics of marksmanship.
- aim
- squeeze
- follow through
the key here is not to simply point and click. but seriously watch what you are doing with the gun through the process.
Evaluate your performance with brutal honesty and make that gun hand of yours behave again.
Choosing good cast bullets.
As we all know, cast bullets represent an economical alternative for high volume shooters.
As some know, cast bullets can offer performance gains.
One of the biggest concerns with cast bullets is the leading issue. In the quest for solutions, the first card played is to use harder alloys. The next is powder charge reduction, then experimenting with size dies, then finally, different lubricant. Sorry to say, this usual advice is missing a very important step.
The very first place to look for lead fouling reduction is the bullet design.
A good design will augment the contributions made by the alloy, lube, sizing, and all totaled, allow full power loading.
It is of great importance, to understand the processes by which lead fouling occur.
The first of the three ways it happens is by shearing.
Simply put, the bullet is being shaved in the forcing cone as it takes the rifling
the next is frictional transfer, this is similar to shearing in that material is shed from the bullet sides as it travels down the bore. There is also heat involved in this type which causes this type to adhere to the bore more vigorously.
The last source of leading is by way of vapor phase deposit. This is where a small quantity of the material from the base of the bullet is vaporized by the heat of being fired. This vapor will condense and solidify wherever it comes to rest in the bore. This type is the least troublesome of all sources and will allow hundreds of rounds to be fired before its contribution aggravates frictional transfer.
Here are some tumble lube type cast bullets From a Lee Precision mold.
Take careful note of the details of the bullets shank. The design will hold a surprising amount of lubricant while offering a very clean profile which helps it retain energy at greater ranges.
Unfortunately it has shown only marginal accuracy, and is a chronic lead fouler. Its shortcomings do not lend at all well to either high volume shooting nor high powered business loads.
Take a very close look at its front bands. you will note the front bands, that meets the rifling, is very narrow. This is likely the whole cause of its failure as a design.
Even at modest loadings, it will shear as it lacks the strength to fight said forces. Once shearing occurs, frictional transfer is aggravated dramatically as the bullet must deform at it runs over the sheared material. Despite its ability to carry a large amount of lube over almost all of its bearing surface, nothing can stop the leading. This is a classic worst case bullet design as its rear pressure band, while thick enough, is beveled to assist with loading. Unfortunately that convenience invites flame cutting, making a further mess of things. Of the specimens recovered. most only displayed faint signs of rifling, which would indicate an alarming amount of lost material.
Next we will look at a Venom Ballistics P-40 in 223 grain
Note the considerable girth of the first two bands and its wide grease groove.
The first two bands of this bullet total .175″. Thats well over 1/8″. This facilitates its survival through the forcing cone by offering enough strength in these bands to fight shear. while the thirsty grease groove holds more than enough lubricant to fight frictional transfer beyond 1400 FPS.
While cast bullets are often used for economical reasons, they should be taken every bit as seriously as the over hyped jacketed offerings in the marketplace.
A common application for cast bullets are “plinking” loads. In a plinking load, the reloader usually chooses the least expensive components avaliable and loads thousands, if not tens of thousands of this type in the course of their career. The plinking load is usually the least thought about load one will devise, yet it is the single most likely ammunition you will have on hand for crisis resolution. The bullet selected should be taken far more seriously than it traditionally is for this reason. This load deserves a bullet that is accurate and capable of dispatching things that may become confused about its place on the food chain. these requirements met or exceeded, also lend to a more satisfying batch of ammo in the long run.
The Venom Ballistics P-40 series of high performance cast bullets was designed from the onset to fit these requirements. This is the single most important hand load you will ever establish, therefore it was the very first bullet I addressed.