Clements & Stroh Range Report NEED HELP

[squawberryman]

Finally got to go to the range. Bear in mind my last name isn't Ransom and I haven't pulled the trigger on a pistol in three months. That being said I took my Stroh "used to be blue" 44 specail and Clements Refined Vaquero in 45LC. 44 special was 7.0 of Unique under a 255 grn WNFPB. 45 was 300 grain XTP over 21.7 of WW296. Off a bag at 25 yards.


Taget on the Left is 45, damn that thing's a hammer. If I shot better it'd stack those bullts into one hole. I could shoot that load all day.

Target on the right is the Stroh gun. Here's the problem. After a few cylinders it started going high so I switched back to the big paper. The POA was the center of the paper. After one shot, I used that hole as the POA. That hole is the fourth one down in what looks like a verical string, it's not though. All those other shots are at 25 yards with a good hold. What the??

I'm not familiar with excessive leading as I've not spent enought time with any lead bullets to know. Throw some ideas at me please. Thanks

[hammerdown77]

Sights aren't loose, are they?

[squawberryman]

The rear sight is a Micro with detents. No play there, i just checked.

[CBH]

Plz correct me if wrong but I've heard that the wfn bullet likes more velocity/pressure to stabilize.

[hammerdown77]

At 25 yards I doubt stabilization is an issue.

I've never seen that much vertical dispersion just from a little leading. Did you check your bore?

That almost looks like you had erratic powder charges or bullet weights or something of that nature. I would have said it was inconsistent grip, but you did say you had a firm grip on the gun.

[squawberryman]

Hammer what would I look for in the bore sir? As far as grip, after I blew the side of my bag out with my 327 I went to holding the gun on the bench. Knocked the buhjeezus out of the meat in my hand a couple times. Hurt like all get out. There's a good chance my grip was as bad as my attitude after that.

[zeus]

I'd guess the grip. that would explain the vertical change. Give it a little time and go back, heck that's a good excuse anyway rest your wrist on the bag and it will keep it from the gun from blowing it up

[hammerdown77]

Ah HA. We may have a clew. Don't let the butt of the gun rest on anything if you can, certainly not the bench itself. That will cause vertical dispersion, in my experience. It causes the gun to rotate about a fixed point on the bottom of the grip during recoil, which is different than how it would recoil if you were holding it offhand, or if only the front of the frame were resting on the bag.

[webber]

I have NEVER seen an XTP that looked like that and I have both the standard XTP 300 gr and the Mag version and they sure don't look like that.
What did you do to it?

[webber]

I have NEVER seen an XTP that looked like that and I have both the standard XTP 300 gr and the Mag version and they sure don't look like that.
What did you do to it?

[hammerdown77]

Maybe it's a blemished bullet he bought when Midway or Midsouth was doing a blem bullet sale.

[webber]

If it is a blem I'd say it is blemed to death.

[squawberryman]

I'll try to get a pic of the box and the bullets today. I wish I had 5K of them though.

[hammerdown77]

They look kind of like this "jacketed flat nose" XTP I ordered for my .357s. The nose profile in the picture looks different than the other 158 grain "jacketed hollow point" XTP they have. Although, I don't see a JFN style on Hornady's website for the 45 caliber 300 XTP (regular, or MAG).

www.midwayusa.com/product/799330?cm_vc=S014

[edk]

Did the XTP nose get smashed by the seating stem? It would be interesting to compare that one with another fresh out of the box.

edit: upon further inspection of this thread I see that the XTP is a 45 and fired from your Vaquero - not the gun in question. So the XTP's nose remains a curiosity but sure isn't the root of any 44 special trouble...