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Post by bradshaw on Jun 5, 2018 19:06:34 GMT -5
Keane.... check your email. Suggest both guns be shot with the Bradshaw-Martin 194 before you let go of either, if you decide to keep just one. A charge of 17.5 grains to 18.5/4227 should prove matters @ 100 yards, and thereafter. With 25 yard Zero, figure 4 to 6-inch drop @ 100. Shoot your stag handle .44 Mag beside the Maximums to compare drop.
David
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Post by matt56 on Jun 5, 2018 19:10:56 GMT -5
I was watching the one that sold today. I was quite surprised what it brought considering the lack of interest before yesterday. The seller messaged me some better pictures, it looked like a really nice gun. I had full intentions of buying it for the right price.
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Post by sixshot on Jun 5, 2018 21:06:54 GMT -5
One of those moulds just found it way to my house! As soon as I get back from Raton I'll be casting up a bunch & giving them a test drive. Looking forward to it.
Dick
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 6, 2018 7:01:32 GMT -5
One of those moulds just found it way to my house! As soon as I get back from Raton I'll be casting up a bunch & giving them a test drive. Looking forward to it. Dick ***** Dick.... look forward to your input. You have glass on a 10-1/2”, which should nail results fast. I’m still cocktailing Southport irons and avoiding aftermarket. Urging Lee to try the Hamilton Bowen sight. Beyond eliminating the rear sight and planting RETICLE and TARGET on the same FOCAL PLANE, the optic compresses alignment & squeeze, which helps to compose a group in the same wind. Looking forward, David Bradshaw |
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Post by sixshot on Jun 6, 2018 10:06:49 GMT -5
Heck, I'm getting restless, might cast some today & take them to Raton with me!!
Dick
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 6, 2018 14:07:27 GMT -5
Heck, I'm getting restless, might cast some today & take them to Raton with me!! Dick ***** Dick..... by all means it sounds like a plan. Don’t forget your camera. 18.5/4227 with light crimp at edge of front band. Trial chamber a few rounds before finishing batch. You know the drill. And for those just tuning in, if the round is fired in more than one gun, .357 Maximum brass should be chambered immediately after sizing to insure a smooth slip fit. As I mentioned earlier, brass fired in my T/C Contender requires more sizing to chamber in the Ruger. David Bradshaw |
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Post by onegoodshot on Jun 6, 2018 14:41:24 GMT -5
I picked up a 7 1/2" ruger back in October from a link here. Apprears to be very low round count and it is already drilled and tapped. I'm gonna get a few starline brass and load some of these. Looking forward to it. I have a set of redding 357 dies. Any thoughts on the lee roll crimp?
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 6, 2018 20:14:19 GMT -5
I picked up a 7 1/2" ruger back in October from a link here. Apprears to be very low round count and it is already drilled and tapped. I'm gonna get a few starline brass and load some of these. Looking forward to it. I have a set of redding 357 dies. Any thoughts on the lee roll crimp? ***** onegoodshot..... .38 Spl/.357 Mag dies work for the .357 Maximum and were the only way to handload when Ruger brought me on board the Maximum project. An important challenge is to match a bullet seater to the bullet----to avoid mashing or pinching the nose. Others with a Lee crimp die may throw in. I’ve used a variety of crimp dies. As happens with other straight wall cases, the roll crimp may vary, not just from manufacturer to manufacturer, but between crimp dies from the same maker. A modest crimp serves the .357 Maximum in the 3-3/4 pound, 10-1/2-inch Ruger. If we split hairs, recoil from the 7-1/2-inch may require a taste more crimp. When crimping into the band of a cast bullet, a little dab will do. Too much is apt to bulge the case immediately behind the crimp, which prevents chambering. A roll crimp above the band----seat first, crimp second----should eliminate any tendency to bulge. At all hazards, chamber finished rounds before load a whole batch. You don’t want surprises on the firing line or in the field. Hot .454s, .475s, and .500s require a fierce crimp to constrain fierce recoil David Bradshaw. |
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Post by sixshot on Jun 7, 2018 1:24:04 GMT -5
I should mention that Onegoodshot is the reason I'll be shooting some of these fine bullets, he bought the mould & had it shipped to me! I'll be casting for both of us so thanks in advance. I should also mention David, that this will be my first foray into seating over the front driving band, yup, I've never done it. Always figured that crimp groove was there for a reason & I've used it, now after reading about your success for months I'm going to give it a try.
My simple theory was that a longer jump to the forcing cone would most certainly be at least somewhat less accurate than having the bullet seated out. Of course after all these years my youthful inexperience has caught up with me & I'm going to pounce on it with both feet (actually both hands) In just a few days I'll have some questions answered.
Dick
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 7, 2018 8:35:06 GMT -5
“.... My simple theory was that a longer jump to the forcing cone would most certainly be at least somewhat less accurate than having the bullet seated out.”
----sixshot
*****
Dick.... the theory sounds as good as ever. By its nature, having chambers separate from the barrel, revolvers challenge conventions of accuracy. Ostensibly to start the bullet closer to the rifling in a PPC revolver, gunsmiths often shortened the cylinder. However, even with the lightly loaded .38 Special, efficient combustion requires a cylinder throat (exit hole) long enough to utilize peak pressure.
Extreme accuracy achieved in PPC competition contradicts others theories of accuracy:
1) Placement of ogive or a front band in the throat to insure concentricity of bullet to throat. PPC is shot with wadcutters, deep seated in the case with a roll crimp over the front edge of the bullet.
2) The WADCUTTER is a cylinder of lead which combines Center of Gravity and Center of Form in the longitudinal center of the bullet. A principle of accuracy----most likely first developed for artillery----holds that CoG and CoF must be pushed apart. Perhaps the WADCUTTER HOLLOW BASE was developed to separate CoF from CoG. More likely, the Wadcutter HB was developed to mimic the hollow base Minie Ball. However, the hollow base of a Minie Ball is intended to expand the SKIRT into rifling GROOVES. Modus operandi of the Minie Ball provides for ramming a an undersize bullet down a muzzle loader caked with black powder fouling. The Minie Ball provides for fast reloads at the expense of accuracy.
I do not know how in the pantheon of PPC the wadcutter compares to the hollow base wadcutter. PPC requires bulls eye accuracy @ 50 yards. Handgun silhouette starts at 55 yards and calls for groups you can cover with your hand @ 220 yards.
The Bradshaw-Martin Maximum 194 SWC GC is conceived as a marriage of tournament accuracy with hunting performance. (At eighteen I learned that to DEEP SEAT a SWC does not hurt accuracy.) The long ogive on the Bradshaw-Martin intends to further separate CoF from CoG and to conserve velocity.
We remain on the trail.
David Bradshaw
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Post by ezekiel38 on Jun 7, 2018 11:31:24 GMT -5
Man, I am loving this thread. In the early 1980s I had a Contender with a 357 Maxi 10 Bull Barrel, probably the best shot I ever fired with a handgun was with that gun. Oh, to find an Old Contender and some barrels, and go back to those days.
The shot was: I was sighting the Contender/Maxi 357 in at 25 yds and had just shot a group of 5 that you could cover with a nickel. My shooting partner was impressed and the next trip to the target stand he took a stick pin with a red head on it and said " bet you can't hit that at 25 yards, benched. Nailed it first shot! Put the Contender away and went home!
Been looking for a couple of years locally for a early contender frame and some barrels. I sold the Contender as the 44 Mag and those wooden grips were brutal. In those days I thought all loads had to be driven to the firewall.
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wdr2
.30 Stingray
Posts: 147
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Post by wdr2 on Jun 7, 2018 12:55:39 GMT -5
David - If one were to install a Bowen target rear sight on a 10.5in Ruger Maximum, what would be the appropriate blade width for the front sight? My Bowen target rear has a blade width of 0.130in.
Thanks,
Bill
Idaho
Dick.... look forward to your input. You have glass on a 10-1/2”, which should nail results fast. I’m still cocktailing Southport irons and avoiding aftermarket. Urging Lee to try the Hamilton Bowen sight. Beyond eliminating the rear sight and planting RETICLE and TARGET on the same FOCAL PLANE, the optic compresses alignment & squeeze, which helps to compose a group in the same wind.
Looking forward,
David Bradshaw[/quote]
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 7, 2018 14:58:10 GMT -5
David - If one were to install a Bowen target rear sight on a 10.5in Ruger Maximum, what would be the appropriate blade width for the front sight? My Bowen target rear has a blade width of 0.130in. Thanks, Bill Idaho ***** Bill.... my preference is for the rear notch to be .015-inch narrower than the front blade. Thus, your Bowen .130-inch notch will handle a .145-inch front sight. Much of my silhouette shooting was done with 1/8-inch sights----the proverbial .125/.125 arrangement. The notch may equal blade width with sights of .125” or more. You may also effectively shoot .100-inch front & rear, but this arrangement works best on a relatively short sight radius, such as the Model 1911, with 6 to 6.7” sight radius. A silhouette revolver with .100” front may work with an .080” notch. However, a notch too narrow may pinch the light off the front sight and induce eye straight. A blurred plane on the top of the front sight becomes the first casualty of eye strain. A long SIGHT RADIUS appears to narrow the front sight in the notch. The 10-1/2” Blackhawk Maximum has a 12.3-inch radius. EYE RELIEF----distance from eye to rear sight---- also influences sight picture. Short eye relief widens rear window. Long eye relief narrows rear wind. For most shooters, isosceles provides the longest eye relief of any offhand position. The boxer stance----variations of the Weaver----provides short eye relief. Among freestyle positions, Creedmoor provides the longest eye relief (longer than isosceles), prone the shortest. Eye relief from the bench falls between isosceles and Weaver. Whether rifle or handgun, regardless of shooting position I try to keep my face perpendicular to the target and perpendicular to the sights. An angled face strains the eyes. Ruger widened the rear notch to .142-inch for double action revolvers, which is like sitting in the bleachers. The Bowen Target sight may be the same width or narrower than your Ruger notch. Either way, the Bowen will clean up the sight picture. A rearward-tilting, flat target rear blade rear sight, with the top edge drafted to eliminate glare, greatly eases the task of shot placement. For now, I will keep to factory sights, including prototype; to do so puts me close to hours and days of shooting with the Rugers. David Bradshaw |
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Post by bradshaw on Jun 8, 2018 0:26:18 GMT -5
"Man, I am loving this thread. In the early 1980s I had a Contender with a 357 Maxi 10 Bull Barrel.... Oh, to find an Old Contender and some barrels, and go back to those days....
Been looking for a couple of years locally for a early contender frame and some barrels. I sold the Contender as the 44 Mag and those wooden grips were brutal. In those days I thought all loads had to be driven to the firewall.”
----ezekiel38
*****
Thank you for the kind words. As to the old T/C Contender, it figured prominently in the formative years of handgun silhouette. The era of Rocks & Dynamite handloads in particular, and voluminous fire in general, led the gun’s inventor Warren Center to strengthen the frame. As you allude, its low bore axis and profane grip made firing .44 Mag a vicious experience. Which does not detract from the fact Warren’s tip-open single shot remains the classic vehicle for barrel interchangeability. While the .44 Mag is a rude choice, the Contender is Home Sweet Home for the 7mm TCU and .30-30, to name two. My favorite grip is the Pachmayr Gripper, with the Pachmayr Presentation right behind, along with corresponding Pachmayr forend. The IHMSA-improved Contender has the adjustable trigger and remains the classic.
My Super 14 in .357 Mag is reamed for .357 Maximum, and shoots the Bradshaw-Martin 194 SWC GC well with 18.5/IMR 4227 (consider Hodgdon 4227 the same). Despite a 4x scope on the Contender, my iron sight Ruger shoots some loads tighter @ 100 yards. Dan of Mountain Molds, who makes the mold, says factory Contender throats tend to be deep and sloppy. Don’t be afraid of known aftermarket barrels, which were very popular in the IHMSA Unlimited category, and for hunting.
David Bradshaw
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coogs
.401 Bobcat
Posts: 2,684
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Post by coogs on Jun 8, 2018 6:34:17 GMT -5
After talking to you and Lee over the last couple of weeks I figure I better get one of these molds and give it a try.......being as I have a Max or two that I shoot......
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