Superformance: Rebirth of the .300 Savage

Posted on October 29, 2012 by Roy

Now I want to say right out of the gate that my title probably overstates the case. One new load for an old cartridge probably does not constitute a “rebirth.” But there is deeper water here so hang on while I dip my big toe in the fascinating stream of American firearms history, usage, and marketing.

Savage does not always get credit for being the historically innovative company that it has been. The .300 Savage was introduced in their great Model 99 lever action rifle in 1921. That is over 90 years ago, math fans. Savage wanted a cartridge that would scoot a 150-grain bullet at about the same speed as the .30-06, but it had to be much shorter than the .30-06 if it were to work in the Model 99. Their new round filled the bill pretty well in 1921, but as new powder and bullets came along, the larger case capacity of the ’06 put the Savage in the shade. The good, big cartridge will beat the good, little cartridge every time. In the meantime, however, Savage sold a gazillion Model 99s and they and others chambered bolt actions, pumps, and autoloaders for the short three-hundred.

The Original .300 Savage

Over the years, one of the recurring themes in American sporting arms is the idea of a short cartridge being used in a short-action rifle. Rifle folks, including the military, just seem to like the idea of a compact rifle action, but they don’t want to sacrifice power to get it. The .308 Winchester really filled the bill when it came on the sporting scene in the 1950s, and more recently there has been an orgy of short cartridges, short magnums and even Super Short magnums in .30 and other calibers. Many rifles have been chambered for these, but details of how these have done in the marketplace I do not have. It seems that the .300 Winchester Short Magnum may be the most popular of the crop.

The .300 Savage, however, predates the .308 Winchester by thirty years, and it does its work in a case only 1.87 inches long, and a COL of 2.6 inches. Eagle eyes will quickly note that the neck is very short, and that is what you naturally get when you make the body of the case large enough to pack some powder punch, while keeping overall length down. And along with that goes a rather sharp shoulder (30 deg.). The first pic shows the .300 Savage with a couple of sporting rounds of twentieth century

Left to right: .223 Rem, .300 Sav, .308 Win

military origin.  The short-necked .223 Remington looks like it could be a .300 Savage if it fattened up a bit.  Note that the .308 Winchester has almost the same body but is a bit longer in the shoulder and neck. The combination of a straight case with a sharp shoulder and a short neck gives the Savage a modern appearance, and these factors also facilitate accurate headspacing and reliable extraction in a lever action rifle. All of this, folks, was real innovation. The 92-year-old .300 Savage is the archetypal short-action cartridge.

The combination of good performance on medium game (Ref. 1) and a large number of rifles so chambered has kept the .300 Savage in the viable category among purveyors of factory ammo and components. The 150-grain load at a velocity of 2600-2700 fps has been most popular, but a 180-grain load has also been commonly available. The heavier bullet is hampered by a marginal velocity of around 2300 fps. An advantage has been that these loads can use spire point bullets because the Model 99 rifle has a rotary magazine, rather than the tubular type found on other lever rifles. Downrange performance of the Savage is therefore enhanced in comparison with rifles that must use cartridges with round or flat noses. Higher muzzle velocity and better velocity retention both help to put the .300 way ahead of the always-popular .30-30.

Superformance

A few years ago Hornady updated the lever action scene with the LEVERevolution (Ref. 2) line of cartridges that offered higher velocity and safety in a tubular magazine for the .30-30 and other calibers.

Hornady’s Superformance line of ammo is different, but it also gets enhanced velocity largely from improved powder technology, which Hornady has pursued with the Hodgdon Powder Company. This line, which yields 100-200 fps additional

Left to right: Winchester, Remington, Hornady Superformance

velocity, runs the gamut of varmint, big game, and target cartridges in many calibers. I was very happy to see that a Superformance version of the .300 Savage was recently introduced, one which uses their 150-grain SST bullet, a boattail design having a ballistic coefficient of 0.415. The next pic shows three 150-grain, .300 cartridges with the Superformance on the right.  Note the red polymer tip of that bullet.  Pulling a bullet revealed a charge of 44.7 grains of dark, silver gray ball powder with flattened grains that appeared to be identical with Hodgdon Superformance Powder, a reasonable assumption, but of course we must not identify powder by visual comparison.  It also strongly resembles H414.  Have a look at the components in the picture.

OK, maybe it is not a rebirth of this old round, considered obsolescent since its replacement by the .308 Winchester, but at least one innovative ammo company feels that it is worth the development of a new load in their premier line. That is a support which a totally obsolescent cartridge would not get.  Believe me, the company would not do it if they did not expect it to be profitable.

At the Range

I testfired the .300 Savage ammo in a bolt-action, Remington Model 722. What? No Savage Model 99? Well, no, I do not have the pleasure of owning one of those (yet). The Model 722 was introduced in 1948 and was chambered for the .300 Savage from 1948 to 1959. This Remington model lasted until the introduction of the Model 700 in 1962. My 50-some year old edition is in very good condition with a perfect bore.  I do like the 24-inch barrel of the 722; it should be able to take good advantage of the progressive Superformance powder.

Velocity

I used Winchester and Remington 150-grain loads for velocity comparison using a ProChrono unit, with results as follows:

Winchester Super-X 150-grain Power Point:  Average velocity,  2657 fps   

       Extreme Spread, 48 fps;  Standard Deviation 18 fps.

Remington Core-Lokt 150-grain PSP:            Average velocity,  2622 fps

     Extreme Spread, 92 fps;  Standard Deviation, 30 fps.

Hornady Superformance 150-grain SST:       Average velocity, 2752 fps

     Extreme spread, 92 fps;  Standard Deviation 28 fps.

Each average is based on at least eight shots. The results would indicate that Winchester and Remington are juicing their loads right up to conventional pressure specs, and, yes, the Superformance does deliver additional velocity. In the case of the Winchester, +95 fps, and +130 fps over the Remington. This happens without exceeding SAAMI pressure recommendations for the cartridge. One could argue about the practical difference in field performance resulting from the velocity difference, but the difference is there, and the very efficient SST bullet will insure that the velocity difference is at least as great out at 200 yards where the deer might be standing.

Accuracy

My evaluation of accuracy was not extensive. The Remington 722 is fairly new to me and has yet had no accuracy tweaking. Three, 3-shot groups fired at 50 yards with Superformance ammo averaged 0.90” (1.8 Minute-of-Angle). The smallest of the three groups measured an impressive 0.36”, which demonstrated the possibility for excellent accuracy.  The small number of groups fired did not indicate that the Superformance was more accurate than the Winchester or Remington loads; they gave comparable results. More shooting would be needed for a better determination here. 

Handloading Possibilities

No handloading yet, but I will find out how it goes in the fullness of time. In his Pet Loads article on the .300 Savage, Ken Waters (Ref. 3) stated that some experts find the round to be a difficult reloading proposition.  This might be on account of the short neck, which requires that heavier bullets protrude into the powder space, but Ken found no significant difficulties with the cartridge in his work. The short neck, itself, should present no real problems with good dies and careful technique. On the other hand, the straight case and the sharp shoulder should minimize problems due to lengthening and case life.

Reloading manuals indicate good potential for the cartridge using the lighter bullets.  The Hornady Handbook of Cartridge Reloading (Ref. 4) shows 150-grain bullets being boosted to 2700 fps with several different powders and 2800 fps with 44.0 grains of IMR 4064. Then there is the question of what will happen with Hodgdon Superformance powder, which is now available to reloaders.  I have found no loading data for that powder in the .300 Savage.

Future Fun

I am wondering just how accurate the .300 Savage can be in a good, bolt-action rifle, so I will be doing a lot more shooting for accuracy with the Remington Model 722 with factory loads and handloads. I promise that I will find out just how good this gun/ammo combination can be made to shoot and I will report the results to you. I caution that the leaves are all down here at ATOTT headquarters, and I do not know how many good range days remain this year. Therefore, there might be lilacs blooming again before you see the full results.  However, there is lots of other good stuff to write about, so check out the site from time to time.

 

  1.  See, for example, Harvey T. Pennington, “All You Need is a .300 Savage,” The Gun Digest 2009, Gun Digest Books, Iola, WI 2008.  p. 14

2.   See my article “Hornady’s LEVERevolution” at this site.

3.   Ken Waters, “Pet Loads for the .300 Savage,” Ken Waters’ Pet Loads, 6th Edn., Wolfe Publishing Co., Inc.  Prescott, Arizona  1998.  p. 281

4.   8th Edition, Hornady Manufacturing Co., Grand Island, Nebraska, 2010. p. 471

 

Posted in Rifles/Thirties | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Superformance: Rebirth of the .300 Savage

A Remington Model 788 .44 Magnum

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Roy

An average male ruby-throated hummingbird weighs just a bit more than the bullet of a .22 rimfire magnum. These little hummers have been buzzing around ATOTT headquarters, tanking up on juice at the feeder and getting fattened up for their migratory journey to Mexico. Late summer hummingbird weather usually provides some good days for shooting, and I recently headed to the range with a rifle that throws a bullet weighing about five times as much as the average male hummingbird.

The Remington Model 788 appeared in 1967, and folks were surprised to see a couple of rimmed cartridges in the list of offerings, the .30-30 Winchester and .44 Remington Magnum. The .44 Mag is one of our classic and most useful cartridges, mainly in revolvers, but it was not unknown in rifles, and a bolt action

Remington Model 788 with Burris Compact 2-7X Scope

was definitely an attention getter. The promise of the rifle was an increase of several hundred feet per second in muzzle velocity, putting it even more solidly in the category of effective rifles for deer, hogs, etc. The edition I took to the range on hummingbird day has a 22” barrel with an excellent bore, a straight-grain walnut stock, a crisp trigger, and a good scope of moderate power.  It is a compact package with a big hole in the muzzle and the promise of accuracy based on the strength and rigidity of the Model 788 action. The action seemed to be well supported in the wood so no accuracy tuning was attempted prior to this trip to the range.

The picture shows a three-shot group fired at fifty yards with Magtech 240-grain ammo that I used for sighting in with the Burris Compact 2-7X scope. This group, measuring .41”, was the best of the day, but there were others that indicated a

A Three-shot Group Fired at Fifty Yards

potential for very good accuracy and an overall, anticipated performance level of around 1.5 Minute-of-Angle with 240-grain ammo.

Getting a .44-caliber cloverleaf on your target is a great mood enhancer with pistol or rifle, and I recommend the quest for such results. The Burris Compact scope would be just about right for hunting at appropriate ranges for this rifle, and the 7X setting is fine for ammo testing and target shooting, as this scope has a very sharp image.

The accuracy potential of this 788 .44 Mag is going to motivate a lot more ammo testing, with velocity comparisons, group shooting, and perhaps some accuracy tuning. As always, you will eventually see the results reported here in detail.

 

Posted in Rifles/Other | Tagged , | Comments Off on A Remington Model 788 .44 Magnum

Shooting Hornady’s LEVERevolution 140 grain Monoflex

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Roy

The goldenrod is blooming in the roadside as I write this. It has taken that long to thaw out all of the .30-30 ammo I put on ice last January. Not that we have that much goldenrod because we have not had a drop of rain in many weeks and the temps have hovered near 100 deg. for days now. The roadside botanical gardens, normally ablaze with sunflowers, asters, and goldenrod, have suffered, but I have managed to get a few targets to bloom, and I hope you will be interested in the results.

The bullets of the title cartridges have no lead content. They are made entirely of “gilding metal,” except for the plastic tip which makes them safe to use in tubular magazines. Alloys of the metallic elements copper and zinc have been made and used since ancient times. Mixing zinc with copper produces “brass,” an alloy with increased strength and corrosion resistance. A range of properties for different brasses results from varying the zinc content. Cartridge brass is about 30% zinc. Gilding metal is a brass with only 5-10% zinc. The gilding metal used to make the Monoflex bullet is the same stuff Hornady uses for the jackets of its jacketed lead bullets. For reloading Hornady sells these nonlead bullets in a range of calibers and weights and these are referred to as GMX (Gilding Metal Expanding) bullets. These are hunting bullets and the hunting advantage is said to be controlled expansion over a range of velocities, and no trouble with core separation ‘cause the bullet is homogenous and there ain’t no core.

Hornady .30-30 140 grain Cartridge

The picture shows an intact cartridge and a disassembled cartridge that held 34.3 grains of a ball powder that could reasonably be assumed to be Hodgdon LE powder. The gilding metal bullet is a boat tail design with two cannelures, a feature that Hornady says helps to reduce fouling. The next pic shows the 140 gr. Monoflex bullet with a 160 gr. FX lead core jacketed bullet that is used in the other LEVERevolution .30-30 load. Note that the Monoflex is

Left, 140-gr. Monoflex; Right, 160-gr. FX Bullets

longer than the FX, even though it is 20 grains lighter. This results, of course, from the fact that the gilding metal is about 24% less dense than pure lead. The FX therefore wins the ballistic coefficient prize. Its BC is .330, compared to .277 for the Monoflex.

 

 

At the Range

Hornady’s web site states that the 140 gr. Monoflex bullet will leave the muzzle of a 24” test barrel at 2465 fps. Results using the usual suspects for test rifles were consistent with this claim. The following velocity data were recorded on a very hot day in July.  A ProChrono chronograph was used for the measurements.

Remington Model 788 (22” Bbl).  Average Velocity 2419 fps

Spread, 63 fps; Std Dev, 12 fps

Winchester Model 94 (24” Bbl).   Average Velocity 2499 fps

Spread, 37 fps; Std Dev, 13 fps

Browning Model 1885 (28” Bbl)  Average Velocity 2519 fps

Spread, 63 fps; Std Dev, 20 fps

The uniformity of velocities in all rifles is noteworthy. Considering the progressive LE powder used in these rounds, I think I might have expected this ammo to be loaded to a higher velocity, say about 2600 fps, but maintaining safe pressures evidently prevents this level of boost. At least, with a long-enough barrel on a hot-enough day you can get a bit over 2500 fps. One observation is that the recoil level is quite mild. This is a very pleasant round to shoot, and youngsters and other, recoil-sensitive folks will find this a good load for practice and use in the deer woods.

A good level of accuracy is the norm for most factory ammo these days, as has been reported in the earlier posts in this series. My standard bearer for accuracy evaluation, the Remington 788, confirmed the Monoflex’s accuracy potential. Three-shot groups fired with this arm are shown in the first picture. The average of the six,

Six Monoflex Groups Fired with a Remington Model 788

consecutive, 3-shot groups was .58,” or, about 1.2 minutes-of-angle. This is really good for factory performance in sporting rifles, and the uniformity of group sizes was exceptional. The smallest group measured .51,” the largest, .64.”  This type of small spread is rarely seen with factory ammo or handloads.

After this level of performance, I was flummoxed by the larger group average returned by the Browning 1885 Traditional Hunter. Four groups with this arm are shown in the next pic. Six consecutive, 3-shot groups averaged 1.45,” or, 2.9 MOA, more than twice the size of the Remington 788’s groups. Note that two of the groups

Groups Fired with Browning Model 1885 Traditional Hunter

have obvious flyers. Shall we just leave those out? The average, then, falls to .90,” or, 1.8 MOA, still indicating that the Browning doesn’t much care for this ammo. Perplexing, but that is what I got so that is what I report.

The Winchester 94, which has never cared for the lighter class of .30-30 bullets, averaged 2.15” for four, 50-yard groups. Two of these groups also had flyers, and, if I eliminate the flyers from measurement, the average of the four groups is 1.41,” or, 2.8 MOA. OK, so it is not fair to arbitrarily eliminate shots from group measurements, but it is fun, and I have been honest in telling you about it. The smallest three-shot group offered  by the 94 measured 1.45 MOA.

Bottom Line

This ammo delivers the performance values that it promises. It has great potential for accuracy, but, in spite of the expense, you will want to give it a good check in your rifle before heading woodsward. Killing power should hold up to at least 200 yards, if expansion performance in game is what it is cracked up to be, but someone else will have to verify that for you. Velocity and accuracy are my domain.

Now that this is out of the way, I will happily return to bullets that contain lead. Non-lead ammo is way too expensive for test shooting of rifles or scopes. Lead is a lot cheaper than copper, and, with its high density, a great, time-honored metal for bullet cores for both target and game shooting.

 

Posted in Rifles/Thirties | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Shooting Hornady’s LEVERevolution 140 grain Monoflex

A Chronograph Chronicle

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Roy

One of the great things about the digital electronic age is that most shooting/reloading bugs can afford to have a chronograph. There are some good reasons for measuring the velocity of a fired round. For one thing, it is just fun to know the velocity of a favorite factory load in your rifle, and the uniformity of the load’s performance. Then, you want to make sure that your load will deliver what is needed in the game fields. More importantly, for handloaders, measuring the velocity of a handload is probably the best way to keep an eye on pressure.  Sure, pressure signs show up in fired cases but they are sometimes subtle and difficult to interpret. An accurately measured velocity, on the other hand, can give you a good clue when you are pushing things a little too hard.

I have used several different CGs over the years. My first was a simple Chrony which I bought soon after they first appeared for sale. It worked fine but after several years I moved to a Pact Model 2. This model has the sensors on a strong metal frame with the cable-connected readout/control unit able to be placed on the bench by the shooter. The convenient Pact worked very well until an issue developed due to the klutziness of the user and no fault of the unit. When I found that the cost of replacing the part that it needed was as much as the cost of some new, complete CGs I decided to try another Chrony. In the time since I had my first one, the Chrony line had been upgraded and expanded, and generally received very good user reviews.

F1 Chrony folded (Click for full view)

The pics show the Model F1 Chrony, the simplest model in their line. When unfolded, the metal box has the “electric eyes” at the ends of the box with provision for plastic diffusers to be held by metal rods above each sensor. These provide a clear field for each sensor against which to detect the passage of a bullet. Each of the support rods is composed of two pieces connected by a ferrule. Each plastic diffuser is composed of three pieces connected by tabs and buttons. Thus, you must assemble 14 separate pieces of metal and plastic to put the diffuser system in place. What a pain. I cut the pieces to six by epoxying the rods and the plastic pieces together. The digital readout is on one end of the unit and an on-off button is on the side. Turn Chrony on, fire over the sensors between the diffuser frame rods (15 feet from the muzzle), and read your velocity on the screen. That’s certainly very simple and the F1 Chrony has given me accurate results, except under certain light conditions as described below.

The F1 Chrony generally costs less than $100, but you are going to want an accessory, a plastic push-button unit that plugs into a jack on the side of the box. If you fire a string, pushing the button will then give you the high velocity, the low velocity, the average, the extreme spread, the standard deviation, and the individual shots in the string. Now, who wouldn’t want that information? To get it you must lay out twenty bucks for the pushbutton unit. It is worth it.

Be Vigilant

Most users of chronographs know that cloudy days are better than sunny days for chronograph use and that certain light conditions may result in faulty velocity results. I will illustrate this with data from personal experience.

I was testing some 150-gr. factory ammunition in .30-30 caliber using the F1 Chrony. I fired a 12-shot string of a certain brand from my Winchester Model 94, with the following results:

Lo, 2587 fps; Hi, 2647 fps; Average, 2610 fps; Spread, 59 fps; Std Deviation, 22 fps.

These look like great results but the numbers were cause for immediate suspicion. A velocity of 2647 fps is in .300 Savage territory and could not be produced in the .30-30 at normal, safe pressures for that cartridge.  Several days later I repeated the measurements with the same load and gun and got the following results:

Lo, 2433 fps; Hi, 2482 fps; Average, 2450 fps; Spread, 49 fps; Std Deviation, 17 fps

These velocity values show a drop of about 160 fps from the earlier results. An average velocity of 2450 fps, while still very strong for a 150-grain load, is much more reasonable.

So, what is going on with the earlier, faulty results? The afternoon was wearing on when I fired that string. There was strong sunlight coming across the unit at a fairly low angle. Apparently, some factor, perhaps a reflection from the bullet, tripped the rear sensor too early. This isn’t a very cogent explanation, but I can’t do any better. I do know that there are no problems when the sun is directly overhead or, say, between 11 and 1:00 o’clock overhead. Results are also somewhat dependent on the angle the sun makes with the long axis of the chronograph. I should point out that this situation is not unique to the Chrony, but could happen with any brand of chronograph.

The scary part is that there is nothing in the number pattern of the faulty results that would raise suspicion. The numbers are uniform with a decent spread and standard deviation. It was simply previous experience with the .30-30 that raised the flag for me. If I had been evaluating a new handload, I probably would have been tempted to believe, erroneously, that it gave terrific performance.

What, then, do we do with our chronograph? Stay alert, keeping mindful of past experience and of expected velocity values published in loading manuals. Avoid the lower angles of sunlight, or, shade the chronograph from crossing sunlight. It will work fine as long as the sensors see clear sky above. If results seem suspicious, recheck them on another, perhaps cloudy, day.

Posted in Personal History, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Comments Off on A Chronograph Chronicle

Defrosting More .30-30 Ammo: The Serbian Connection

Posted on July 4, 2012 by Roy

No trouble keeping stuff thawed at ATOTT headquarters today, America’s birthday. We are in the middle of a monumental heat wave:  97 deg. in the shade on

Fireworks make people happy

the porch – lots of places above 100 – no end in sight. Luckily I was able to do the shooting for this post before the heat set in. It would be very uncomfortable at the firing range today, and I am gonna need a break in the steam before more progress can be made.  

My first brush with Prvi Partizan factory ammunition came when I bought some of their 7.65 x 53 cartridges to try in an Argentine (1891) Mauser. At the time PP was the only convnient source of ammo for this caliber for me, and the product seemed to work quite well. Velocity was what it should have been and accuracy was very good.

Prvi Partizan has been in business since 1928 and manufactures a broad line of sporting and military ammunition. The box exhibits the logo “PPU” which stands for Prvi Partizan Uzice. The city of Uzice, located southwest of the capital city

Box of PPU .30-30 ammo. (Click for full-size pic)

of Belgrade, is the location of the PP factory. The company has a pretty good web site, www.prvipartizan.com/, that tells their whole story and is graced with a rather charming version of poor English. PP offers low-priced, conventional 150-grain and 170-grain loads for the .30-30 that are offered by most distributors in the USA. Based on my good luck with the Argentine, I decided to try both of these loads.

Wolf “Gold” Performance Ammunition is also made in Serbia. In fact, it is made by PPU and the Wolf 150-grain load appears identical to the PPU 150-grain load. The Wolf brass carries the PPU headstamp. Wolf gained notice by offering very inexpensive, Russian-made, steel-cased ammo in military calibers. The “Gold” designation, however, indicates brass-cased, reloadable, sporting ammunition and all of this is made by PPU. Wolf ammo is imported by Sporting Supplies International (SSI), an American company. The Wolf web site, www.wolfammo.com/, lists only a 150-grain load for the .30-30, which is what I tried.

Also fired in this test group was the 150-grain load offered by Sellier and Bellot, a company in a different part of Europe. S & B ammo is manufactured in the Czech Republic. The company, begun in 1825 to manufacture percussion caps for the military market, has an impressive history. S & B considers itself to be an engineering company and manufactures industrial tools and machines in addition to rifle, pistol, and shotgun ammunition and reloading components. The company is now a part of CBC, the Brazilian company that also owns the Magtech ammo concern.

Left to Right: Wolf 150, Prvi 150, Prvi 170, Sellier & Bellot 150

At the Range

Velocity – All of the ammo in this category appears to be loaded to normal .30-30 pressures and would be expected to give velocities in the normal range, i. e., the upper 2300s for 150-grain loads and upper 2100s for 170-grain loads, depending upon barrel length. I used the Remington Model 788 with 22” barrel and either the Winchester Model 94 (24” bbl) or Marlin 336 (20” bbl) for a lever gun trial. In general these loads met expectations in a very consistent fashion. Using data from strings of at least 6 shots, extreme spreads were in the range of 28 – 82 fps and standard deviations varied from 10 to 36 fps.  The best numbers were given by the PPU 150-gr. load in the Winchester 94. The specific velocities measured are as follows.

Wolf Gold 150-gn.                 Remington 788: 2255 fps           

                                                       Marlin 336:  2352 fps

Prvi Partizan 150-grain.     Remington 788:  2245 fps

                                                 Winchester 94:  2345 fps

Sellier & Bellot 150-grain.  Remington 788:  2388 fps

                                                       Marlin 336:  2388 fps (Yup, same)

Prvi Partizan 170-grain.     Remington 788:  2117 fps

                                                Winchester 94:  2139 fps

Accuracy – Accuracy performance is best indicated by the groups obtained using the bolt-action Remington Model 788. At least 4, 3-shot groups were fired for each load with this rifle, with the following center-to-center measurements.

Remington Model 788.         Wolf Gold 150 gr. (4 groups):    .88”  (1.76 MOA)

                                             Prvi Partizan 150 gr. (4 groups)    .67”  (1.34 MOA)

                                            Sellier & Bellot 150 gr. (4 groups)  .80”  (1.60 MOA)

                                              Prvi Partizan 170 gr. (8 groups)   .46”  (  .92 MOA)

Very respectable accuracy was shown by all loads, all of which gave groups measuring less than 2 minutes-of-angle in this rifle. The Wolf Gold average was inflated by serious flyers in two of its

50-yard group fired with Wolf 150-gr bullet inthe Remington 788

  groups. I note that this load gave one of the smallest groups of all, .21”, shown in the picture. The other 150-gr. loads, larger, were comparable in size.

 

Amazing Grace

The picture below shows the first four groups fired with the Prvi Partizan 170-gr. Load, which gave an average measurement of .32,” equivalent to an average group size of .64” at 100 yards. This is the most outstanding performance I have ever seen for a factory .30-30 load, and perhaps the best for any factory load regardless of caliber, in my experience. Four clover leaves in a row indicate no accident or coincidence.  This stuff is good.

Four consecutive groups fired with PPU 170-gr. load.

I try to shoot as well as I can when testing ammo and it is a challenge to be perfectly consistent. Here are twelve consecutive shots with no trigger jerk, no flinch, and a consistent hold at the bench for all of the shots. I am pleased to be able to present results that you can trust.

I tried this ammo again on another trip to the range. The first two groups averaged .64,” a bit off from the earlier results. Realizing that I had not cleaned the bore of the 788 for a while, I gave it a good brushing with Shooter’s Choice solvent and the next group measured .33”. The average for 8 groups came to .46,” still less than 1 minute-of-angle! Have I mentioned that this PPU ammo is about the least expensive .30-30 you can buy?

Prvi 170-gr. load dismantled. (Click for full pic)

Curious about this level of performance, I pulled a bullet from one of the rounds. I found 31.7 grains of a silver-gray, flattened ball powder inside. It resembles the Hodgdon LEVERvolution powder used in Hornady’s ammo of the same name. The bullet, weighing 171 grains, is a flat-based item with a straight ogive and an ample exposed lead tip. What can we say, other than that these components work very well together.

Lever Action Accuracy

I have to admit that working with the Remington 788 spoils me for work with other rifles with other actions, but the levers performed adequately with the test ammo. The Winchester model 94 liked the PP 170-gr. better than the 150, giving 2.25 MOA and 3.25 MOA, respectively.  This 94 has always liked the heavier bullets better. The Marlin 336 was quite good with the Wolf 150, plunking them in at 2.54 MOA. The Sellier & Bellot went into 3.1 MOA out of the Marlin tube.

The Brass

The weight of one brass case for each of the loads above:  Wolf 150, 135 gr.; Prvi 150, 136 gr.; Prvi 170, 135 gr.; Sellier & Bellot 150 gr., 143 gr.

Compare to previous loads in the series:  Winchester Power Max 150 gr, 135 gr; Federal Fusion 150 gr; 138 gr.

The cases of the European ammo are as heavy as those of the Winchester and Federal loads tested earlier. Note that the Sellier & Bellot case is the most robust of all measured so far.

Tune in Later for the last test report in this series. We will be looking at Hornady’s LEVERevolution with the 140-gr. GMX no-lead bullet. Should be interesting.

 

Posted in Rifles/Thirties | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Defrosting More .30-30 Ammo: The Serbian Connection

Defrosting Some .30-30 Ammo: Bonded Bullets

Posted on June 11, 2012 by Roy

In my post “.30-30 Ammo On Ice,” written in the dead of winter, I pined for the coming of spring and good shooting weather. That has now come to pass and I am able to report on the results of testing some of the .30-30 factory ammo mentioned in that post. Actually, there was a lot of different ammo cited in that post, too much for one shooting session or one report, so I am going to present the results in several chapters.

Left: Winchester Power Max 150; Right: Federal Fusion 150

This first installment will report on the Winchester “Power Max” Bonded 150-grain load and the Federal “Fusion” 150-grain bonded load. As reported earlier, the idea of  a bonded core bullet is to keep jacket and core together as the bullet penetrates flesh and bone. When jacket and core separate, the lead core breaks up and penetration stops, resulting in wounded but often lost game. Hence, the bonded core seems like a good idea, especially for the bullets in the 150-gr category*.  Winchester’s offering has a hollow point, and they advertise it as a “Protected Hollow Point.” It is a round nose in profile.  The Federal round has a straighter ogive and a fairly large, flat, lead point. Both loads profess standard 150-gr muzzle velocity (2390 fps), but the Federal claims slightly better down-range retention of velocity. The different companies making bonded bullets use different methods for bonding but they will not be discussed here. You can find info on the web. I would rather get to the shooting.

At the Range

I modified my testing procedure somewhat from previous practice. I used three-shot groups, rather than my usual four, in the interest of economy, saving time, and minimizing problems due to barrel heating in the good ‘ol summertime. I think this should be OK, because we are talking about hunting ammo here, and how your first few shots come out usually tells the tale in a hunting situation. All test firing was at a distance of fifty yards, a convenient distance for managing targets and minimizing problems due to weather, wind, and different loads shooting to different points of impact. Two rifles were used for the testing. My very reliable and accurate Remington Model 788, equipped with a Leupold Vari-X III 4 – 14x scope, was counted on to give a good idea of the accuracy level, and a Winchester Model 94 was used to represent the light hunting arm. My 94’s 24-inch barrel gave a check on factory-reported velocities, and the Williams FP aperture sight gave enough precision for accuracy estimation.

Velocity Data (Average velocity AV; Extreme Spread ES; Standard Deviation SD)

Winchester Power Max 150 grain

     Remington 788 (22”)  AV  2304 fps; Es  48 fps; SD 19 fps.

     Winchester 94 (24”) AV  2392;  ES 28 fps;  SD 14 fps.

Federal Fusion 150 grain

     Remington 788 (22”)  AV 2364 fps;  ES  47 fps;  SD  19 fps.

     Winchester 94 (24”)  AV 2450 fps;  ES  49 fps;  SD  17 fps.

The velocities of both loads were very uniform in both guns. The Winchester Power Max delivered speed very close to published values for conventional 150-grain loads, which are normally quoted at 2390 fps from a 24” barrel. The Federal Fusion was a bit hotter, breaking 2400 fps in the 24” Winchester 94.  This is very strong performance for a 150-grain .30-30 load.

Accuracy

Groups with Remington 788: Top, Winchester Power Max; Bottom, Federal Fusion

The first picture shows the first four groups fired with the Remington 788 (with Leupold Vari-X III 4-14X scope) for the two loads. Groups for the two are very good and comparable in size.  The Winchester Power Max gave the smallest group but had a bit more tendency to give two-and-a-flyer. I added two more groups for each on a second trip to the range, for a total of 6 groups with each, with the following overall results:

Rem 788:  Winchester Power Max Average group size:  .75”

                    Federal Fusion Average Group Size:   .55”

These are the actual group measurements at 50 yards, so we are seeing here accuracy in the range of 1.0 to 1.5 Minutes of angle (MOA) for this factory stuff in a good rifle.  No deer safe within effective range of this ammo.

The next pic shows two groups for the Winchester Power Max fired with the Winchester Model 94. The two-and-a-flyer performance really shows up here, and it may be as much the gun as the load. The measurements are pretty decent. This rifle has typically given groups in the range 2 – 3 MOA with good ammo in the past. The Winnie did not like the Federal Fusion quite as well.  Two groups averaged 3.1 MOA.

The Fired Cases

There is nothing unusual to report about the appearance of the fired cases. Measurement showed that the case web diameter expanded on firing by .0026”.  This is indicative of normal pressure for the .30-30. The case shoulder of both rounds moved forward in the amount of .032”. Again, this is normal. Factory .30-30 is always a bit short in the shoulder, which blows forward on firing to fill the chamber. Thus, this measurement depends on the chamber of the particular rifle used for firing. If headspace is correct, the case does not lengthen ahead of the web. After firing, the case will fit your chamber perfectly, and, if reloaded with neck sizing only, will give very good results, in the same gun, of course.

The weight of one fired brass case:  Winchester, 135 grains;  Federal, 138 grains. I will keep track of the weights of fired cases as we test ammo in this series as a check on the quality of the brass.

Stay Tuned

Hope you like this. More results will be coming soon as more factory ammo is thawed out.  Gotta get to the range now.

 

*On the other hand, you might want to ask if core separation was ever a problem at .30-30 velocities with the conventional bullets used in that cartridge for eons. It may be that the bonded bullet idea is more valuable in, say, high-velocity rounds like the .270 Winchester.  Just had to mention this.

Posted in Rifles/Thirties | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Do You Need A .308 Marlin Express?

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Roy

I am amazed at the deer population in America and the activity in the guns and ammo industry that it stimulates and sustains. Judging from the number of available hunting rifles in various calibers, and all of the factory ammo available for them, big game hunting in general is alive and well and making money for a varied industry. But, it is a very competitive situation, and products which will give an edge in the marketplace are always vigorously pursued.

If the success of a hunting rifle-cartridge combination can be measured by the number of gun sales and animals harvested with them, then the hammer lever action rifles using the .30 WCF have to be at the top of the historical heap. Millions of guns sold, and probably millions of deer taken by them since the late 1800s, attest to their success.  Midway USA currently lists 33 loads in the .30-30 ammo category, proving that all of the great thirties appearing since, including the latest short magnums, have not been able to kill the first of the smokeless powder sporting rounds. All this is true in spite of the fact that everyone (?) knows that the .30-30 just doesn’t have enough power and the lever rifles, the Winchester Model 94 most famous, are just not accurate enough. For this reason, attempts to pump up Old Flat Cheeks with other chambering have always generated a lot of interest.

How about a Rimmed .308W?

The best attempt occurred in the 1980s when Winchester beefed up the Model 94 and modified the ejection system to kick the empties out to the side (the 94AE), allowing the mounting of a scope directly over the action. The strengthened arm could support cartridges generating up to about 52,000 psi, putting it definitely in the big leagues. The cartridge offered to use this new strength was called the .307 Winchester, basically a rimmed version of the .308 Winchester which offered much more poop than the old .30-30. Having thicker case walls, ballistics were not quite as good as those of the .308W in a bolt gun, but they came close, and the 150- and 180-grain loadings were essentially equivalent in performance to the fine .300 Savage. Introduction of this round for the Winchester Model 94 should have signaled “Game Over” in the deer woods.

A Winchester Model 94AE

But alas, this offering was not a commercial success, nor was its big-bore companion, the .356 Winchester. The Model 94 was the only rifle offered in the .307 chambering, which was eventually withdrawn, and now the 94 itself is gone as an American made arm. Too much competition from too many different kinds of rifles and cartridges. Add the fact that flat point bullets still had to be used with the .307 for safety in the tubular magazines, so downrange performance continued to be less than desired.

But the idea of the handy woods gun never seems to die, and so, in 2007, along came something called the “.308 Marlin Express.” As the name indicates, Marlin is the perpetrator of this round, along with Hornady and Hodgdon, the folks who produce the factory ammo and reloading components. The Marlin platform for the round is the Model 308XLR, a stainless, 24-inch barreled rifle of the Model 336configuration, long proven to be strong and effective in its previous incarnations. The cartridge body is comparable to the .307 Winchester, but slightly shorter overall, so it will work fine in a lever action, but has a bit less powder capacity.

The Marlin Model 308XMLR

Most of the pundits of the shooting press composed rhapsodies of praise and acceptance for the .308 ME when it appeared. One of the best reviews was written by Rick Hacker and appeared in Guns and Ammo Magazine (December, 2006). Mr. Hacker is a fellow who never met a lever action that he didn’t like, and he found plenty to like about the potential of the new cartridge in its stainless Marlin weapon. Ballistics make the cartridge, and the .308 ME is well-endowed, sending a 160-grain bullet out at 2,660 fps, with 2,513 fp of muzzle energy. It arrives at 300 yards with a retained velocity of 2026 fps and energy of 1457 fp. If sighted in to be 1.7” high at 200 yards, then it arrives at 300 yards at -6.7” Thus, the cartridge attains a point-blank range of 300 yards and arrives at that distance with strong killing power.  This is an incredible achievement for a short round suitable for lever actions. In general, reviewers in the gun press have labeled the .308 ME as a “rimmed .308 Winchester,” which emphasizes its considerable capability. There is no question of its suitability for most big game hunting, in the West as well as the East.

One question is, of course, can you put one in the vitals of a game animal at 300 yards? Can you put ‘em all on a dinner plate at that range, or even a turkey platter? Marlin claims to have given some attention to improvement of accuracy in the 308XLR, and the quality of the Hornady ammunition is likely to be above reproach, so field performance will tell the tale. Mr. Hacker did not report any groups shot during his evaluation, but did report he was able to ring a gong (?) at 400 yards. Anecdotal accounts in the press mention 100-yard groups of 1.0 to 1.5” and that is fine, but accounts of formal bench shooting at range seem to be scarce. It is possible that I have missed some accuracy reports.

Credit Hornady’s LEVERevolution technology for the outstanding ballistic performance. The pointed, Flex-Tip bullet is very efficient and resists atmospheric drag way better than the flat- and round-noses of traditional .30-30 loads. The progressive, Hodgdon LEVERevolution powder does the rest. Hacker quotes Hornady’s Chief Ballistician Dave Emary as follows:

     “Of Course, the downrange performance of the .308 Marlin Express, which duplicates the .308 Winchester, would not have been possible without the high energy, highly progressive propellants that did not exist in the past. They burn slowly while steadily building up pressure faster.”

Three Similar Short Thirties

While you are digesting that little nugget, let’s have a look at the picture of three very similar cartridges, left-to-right, the .300 Savage, .308 Marlin Express, and .308 Winchester. Case capacity is similar with these three, but the 52,000 psi working pressure of the .308 bests the other two. The .300 Savage uses 47,000 psi, and, interestingly, the .308 ME is also loaded to 47,000 psi. Appearance surely isn’t everything, but a quick study tempts me to say that the Marlin Express is about as close to being a rimmed .300 Savage as it is a rimmed .308 Win. Of course, Hornady and Marlin would not get much advertising punch out of calling their Prince a “rimmed .300 Savage.”

Left to Right: .300 Savage, .308 Marlin Express, .308 Winchester

The .300 Savage

The .300 Savage first saw the light of day in 1920. It was the original short-action, no-neck thirty and way, way ahead of its time.  Note the 30-degree shoulder and the straight case. Savage wanted to duplicate .30-06 ballistics in a cartridge that would work in their great Model 99 lever action. They came pretty close in 1920 with the 150-grain load, but the case does not have the length or capacity to be competitive with bullets of 180 grains. Since then, the gap between the Savage and the ’06 Springfield has widened. My copy of the 1965 Gun Digest (one of the best editions ever) lists the 150-gr .300 Savage at 2670 fps and 2370 fp for muzzle velocity and energy, respectively, which was far ahead of the 150-gr load of the .30-30 Winchester. Having a rotary magazine and using an efficient spitzer bullet, retained energy was 1410 fp at 200 yards, and still over a thousand at 300. Midrange trajectory for a 200 yard zero was only 3.2”  On the other hand, the 150-gr .30-06 Springfield came in at 2970 fps and 2930 fp in 1965, so, no contest there. But it does seem that the .300 Savage is more than a little bit similar to the 40-years-younger .308 Marlin Express. Back in 1965, according to the rifle directory of the Gun Digest, you could have a Savage Model 99E in the .300S for $104.50. Actually, you could have had the combo for even less 92 years ago when the .300 Savage round  first became available.

A Savage Model 99

Super Performance, Anyone?

Now a very interesting fact is, while Hornady used the LEVERevolution technology for the .308 Marlin Express, they have recently released a 150-gr load for the .300 Savage in their Superformance line of cartridges! The Superformance line is advertised as giving 100-200 fps greater velocity than conventional loads in all cartridges in the line, again attributed to the use of more efficient powder. For the .300 Savage this now means a muzzle velocity of 2740 fps and muzzle energy of 2500 fp. At 300 yards you will get 1407 fp of punch. With a 200-yard zero the bullet will arrive -8.8” at 300 (All figures from Hornady data tables). Go figure.

In closing, let’s give a little attention to the .308 Winchester, which one might describe as a rimless version of the .308 Marlin Express. Ammo development of the Winnie has not been ignored; several loads are available in Hornady’s upscale Superformance line of cartridges. With a 165-grain SST bullet, muzzle velocity is 2840 fps fps and muzzle energy, 2955 fp. With a 200-yard zero, it arrives at 300 yards at -7.6 in. with 1858 fp of smack remaining. If you want it in a lever action, you could try the Browning BLR Lightweight ’81. It has a straight-grip walnut stock, a 20-inch barrel, a rotating bolt that locks in a barrel extension, and a detachable magazine. All this charm weighs a total of 6 lbs. 8 oz.

Game Over.

The Browning BLR

Posted in Rifles/Thirties | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Do You Need A .308 Marlin Express?

The Browning A5: A New Semi-Auto Shotgun

Posted on April 27, 2012 by Roy

My latest copy of the American Rifleman (May 2010, p. 42) brought news of a new semi-automatic shotgun in an article by Phil Bourjaily, noted shotgun expert. The title announces “The Humpback Returns: Browning’s New A5.” The “humpback” reference, of course, refers to the original Browning Auto-5, one of John M. Browning’s finest inventions, the first semi-auto shotgun, and the only successful one for many years. So the Browning organization is going retro and the resemblance to the original Auto-5 which the square-backed receiver gives  is obvious. It does look familiar, but the hump is a little less pronounced on the new model.  I like its looks and think it is an attractive arm. It is made with a black anodized aluminum alloy receiver at a Browning facility in Portugal.

The New Browning A5

A quick reading of the article, however, shows that the retro appearance is superficial. Although it is a semi-auto, the new A5 has an action that is completely different from the original Auto-5.  Whereas the old Auto had a long-recoil action, the new action is inertia-operated and Browning calls it “Kinematic Drive” (Mercy!) I won’t take space trying to explain functional differences here; I couldn’t do a very good job. Suffice to say the two types of actions use the energy of firing recoil differently to eject the empty and load a fresh shell. Both are strictly mechanical,

Original Belgian Browning Auto-5

however; neither uses gas operation to get the job done. The bottom line is that the new A5’s operation resembles the more modern Benelli action more than it does the old Belgian Browning. I should say also that the new Browning has many nifty functional and convenience features in its own right. Bourjaily gives a good rundown and reports that folks who used the new gun at Browning-sponsored hunting events were quite impressed. Imagine that.

John Moses Browning loved shotguns and was an avid user of the scatter arm for trap and field. He was a member of a match-winning 4-man trap team in the early 1900’s and he loved to hunt, but his driving need to invent and design new guns limited his time for that activity. He invented three successful shotgun designs for Winchester, the first being the lever-action Model 1887, followed by the Model 1893 pump and the immortal Model 1897 pump. John, his brother Matt, and the two other trap team members put the 1893 to good use in trap matches. In addition, Browning invented ten additional complete shotguns, mostly pumps, that were purchased by Winchester but never marketed. This curious practice was followed by Winchester, with rifles and shotguns, to prevent competitors from getting Browning designs, all of which might be expected to be very good and successful in the market.  As if this were not enough, John M. designed the Stevens Model 520 and 620 pumps, and a pump that became the Remington Model 17 and was later used as the basis for the famous Ithaca Model 37.

Browning’s crowning achievement in the shotgun arena, however, was the magnificent Auto-5, for which he obtained four design patents beginning in 1901. It is ironic that this important arm was the basis for a separation of Browning from Winchester, a company with which he had enjoyed a very productive relationship for more than twenty years, going back to the single-shot rifle which became the Winchester Model 1885, and including many notable arms such as the lever-action rifle models of 1886, 1892, 1894, and 1895. Because of prior history and his love for Winchester, Browning tried and tried to get a deal on the auto, but in the end, Winchester was too wary of the idea of automatic sporting arms. The Belgian firm of Fabrique Nationale had no such reservations and began to manufacture the Auto-5 in 1903. Marketing considerations resulted in Remington also being licensed to manufacture and sell the design in America as the Remington Model 11, which they began to do in 1905. The success of these arms was immediate and complete, and continued throughout the twentieth century. I think it is the case that Browning never sold another gun to Winchester.

If you wanted a new gun for pheasants and ducks, I will bet that you would be very satisfied with the new A5 Hunter. It is currently made only in 12 gauge (3”), with 26,” 28,” or 30” barrel, and will set you back $1,559 with a walnut stock. If you would like a durable but creepy plastic stock you can get one for a bit less. The Rifleman article included no patterning reports, but patterns are bound to be good.

Those of you who have read other writing at this site will know, however, that my brain operates largely in real retro mode, so I think if I wanted the feel of a Browning auto I would opt for a used example of the old Auto-5. Never a big shotgunner, I have hunted pheasants on occasion, and as I write this, the desire to find out what old Browning customers know seems to be growing. Something appealing about having that barrel and bolt slam back at you as it ejects a fired shell and gets ready to slam in a fresh one.

If I decide to satisfy this desire I will have no trouble. Fabrique Nationale had made 2,000,000 editions by the early 1970’s. Noone knows for sure how many Remington Model 11s were sold, nor the number of any of the other makes which were copies of the Browning design. Belgian models are common on the used market at prices of $500 on up. A pretty nice one can be had for $1,000. Who knows? If I can find something to trade, an Auto-5 might be in the cards for me and if so, you will probably hear more about it here.

Posted in Shotguns | Leave a comment

Two Sidearm Thirties: Colt Model of 1849 vs. Smith and Wesson No. 2

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Roy

Time for some handguns here. The first picture shows a Smith & Wesson No. 2 Army and a Colt Pocket Model of 1849, two revolvers very similar in purpose, but quite different in design.  The S&W was made in 1861 and the Colt in 1867.  First, let us take care of the caliber. The Colt is marked “.31 cal.” on the left side of the brass grip frame just above the trigger. It was

S&W No. 2 Army, top, and Colt Pocket Model of 1849, bottom.

made to fire a ball of approximately .31” diameter.  The S&W carries no caliber designation but it is generally considered to be a “.32” because it took a cartridge known as the “.32  Rimfire.”  In spite of caliber designations, the bores of these two handguns measure close to .308,”  the same as usual measurement of the bore of a modern thirty-caliber rifle. The two revolvers, then, are “thirties.” Though not really small, the Colt was designated a “Pocket Model” because it was much smaller than its predecessors, the huge and various “Dragoon” models that were carried by cavalry soldiers. The 1849 model answered the need of civilians for a more manageable sidearm, one that would probably fit in the large pocket of an overcoat. The Colt’s competitor, the S&W No. 2 was, in fact, the second revolver model made by Smith and Wesson, and it is sometimes referred to as the “Army” model.  The U.S. Army, however, never bought or issued any of these during the Civil War, but many No. 2s were privately purchased and used as backups to army issue revolvers by officers and other soldiers. In this roll they proved to be very popular and S&W got more orders than they could fill.

Design Characteristics

Original .32 rimfire round flanked by a .38 Special and a .22 Long Rifle

There is a sharp contrast in the firing mechanisms of the two guns.  The Colt is a percussion revolver. Each chamber in the cylinder must be separately loaded with black powder and ball, with the help of the loading lever, and then each must be fitted with a percussion cap on its nipple at the rear.  The S&W, on the other hand, fired a self-contained brass cartridge, one of the first sidearms to do so.  This arose from S&W’s control of the patent on a bored-through cylinder, necessary for a cartridge arm. Give the S&W a big edge for convenience in carrying ammo and for speed of loading.  The Colt would have used about 15 grains of black powder per load with the .31” round ball having a weight of about 46 grains, which is not much more than the bullet of a .22 Long Rifle.  S&W’s .32 Rimfire, on the other hand, used a 90-grain bullet backed by 13 grains of black. The Colt would produce the higher velocity, maybe 800-900 feet per second, but the S&W’s heavier bullet would probably give it an edge as a defensive round.

Looking at overall design, the Colt does not at first glance appear to be something you would make if you wanted a really trustworthy arm. The barrel-loading lever unit seems to be hanging tenuously in front of the cylinder with no top frame strap to keep it in place. Looks are a bit deceiving, however. Check the disassembled parts in the photo and you will see that the barrel unit is connected to a very substantial axis rod that carries the cylinder and attaches the barrel with a strong wedge through a slot in its end. This cylinder rod is the heart and soul of a colt percussion revolver. The barrel unit is kept in alignment by studs in the bottom of the frame. Even without a top frame, the Colt is therefore plenty strong enough for black powder pressures.

The S&W, shown open in the next picture, would appear to be a better design in having a complete frame. Note also the previously-mentioned chambers bored completely through the cylinder. This was allowed by Smith & Wesson’s ownership of the Rollin White patent for same. Colt was thus prevented from moving to this superior design until the patent ran out some years later.  The S&W design, however, has its own weak points.  The hinge and latch are rather small and subject to wear and resulting shakiness. No strong rod supports the cylinder. At the front, a metal nubbin on the cylinder fits into a dimple in the frame below the barrel. The bottom line is that the design functions and is strong enough for black powder pressures while offering the decided advantage of cartridge loading. The photo shows that the cylinder may be removed for loading when the frame is open. The metal shaft below the barrel is used to poke empties out of the cylinder.

Shooting the Pocket Revolvers

Shooting a historically important gun requires careful consideration. The Colt 1849 is relatively tight, indexes its cylinders well, and is probably in good enough condition to fire without incident. It is, however, a valuable collector piece in that the overall finish is very good, function is good, screws are not buggered up, and all serial numbers match. There is, therefore, little reason to fire it and jeopardize its collector value. I note that there are precise modern replicas of this arm available for those who need the experience of firing this model.

Like the majority of its brothers, my No. 2 Tip-up has lost all of its finish, but it is pretty good mechanically.  The cylinder indexes well and has no serious play. The problem here is one of ammo availability. There is at present no .32 rimfire ammo, except for a few collector rounds that would cost a bunch for the thrill of firing. However, Dixie Gun Works offers a solution in the form of machined brass cases with .32 dimensions.  These cases have a drilled, off-center priming hole in which a.22 blank may be inserted for ignition of a black powder charge. The offset allows the rimfire hammer of the revolver to strike the blank correctly when it is inserted in a chamber.  A .31-caliber round ball may be used, lightly seated, as the projectile.The picture shows the scheme. Using a half dozen of these rather expensive cases, I loaded 5 grains of Pyrodex “P” black powder substitute, CCI .22 blanks , and Hornady .315” swaged round balls (47 grains each). This load made a nice bark with just a little recoil and white smoke.  There were no misfires (the cases have to be chambered with the thin side of the head out so the rimfire hammer will smack the rim of the blank). The balls easily penetrated the piece of 3/8-inch plywood to which I had attached a target.  A six-shot group, fired at 15 feet (rested), is shown in the picture.  Ignore the “2” at 8-o’clock, which was the first shot fired from a clean bore, and the remaining five measure about 2.2 inches.  Their roundness makes it difficult to seat the balls uniformly from case to case, and this affects accuracy. Better results were obtained in further tests reported below.

I checked velocities with my PACT chronograph on a sunny day, about 90 humid degrees at the range. Six rounds of the Dixie cases through my No. 2 gave an average of 1164 fps with an extreme spread of 121 fps. The highest-velocity individual shot through the No. 2 was 1227 fps! Granted that the round-ball projectile is light, but I was still surprised by velocities of this magnitude from 5 grains of Pyrodex. Clearly, the charge of the blank is adding more than I anticipated to the total power of the round. During this testing, the No. 2 kept the six shots in 3 inches at 30 feet. I note that these machined cases are thick and much stiffer than drawn cases and they do not obturate. The fired cases came out dirty as sin.

Further tests of penetration showed that balls launched by the long cases in the No. 2 will punch through three ¾-inch pieces of clear pine and lodge in the fourth piece at close range. A ball recovered from this test weighed 43.2 grains. Firing at close range at the wood indoors produced truly impressive muzzle blast, fire, and smoke.

The machined cases allowed me the experience of shooting this interesting, Civil War-era revolver and it was a lot of fun to have success. They are inconvenient to use, however, and the cases mouths easily get out of round which impedes cylinder loading and requires corrective attention. Not for every day fun, but they filled my need.

 

In the end I am not going to pick a winner, especially after having not shot both. One would favor the S&W on the basis of convenient reloading, but actually, I am not sure I would want to have to pull either one of these out of my pants during the heat of mortal combat because their power would be marginal. Nevertheless, they fulfilled a need in firearms history during a transitional period and they provide a nice contrast in the design of the two famous arms companies in the mid-19th century.

Posted in Handguns | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Two Sidearm Thirties: Colt Model of 1849 vs. Smith and Wesson No. 2

Catalog Time

Posted on February 26, 2012 by Roy

No sooner have we dealt with Christmas and New Year’s Day than we start to get a bit of stimulation in the mail – new seed catalogs! There is no better antidote for the dark winter blahs than pages and pages of colorful, succulent green beans, radishes, tomatoes, and sweet corn. Joyful anticipation comes back into the lives of us drab, shivering folks who have little plots in back of the house or next to the barn. We will soon dig in the dirt again and life will go on.
Now I have nothing against fresh vegetables, in fact, I love ‘em, but while the hoe and fertilizer folks are busy sowing their corn and beans, I have other projects and I want to be sowing bullets in the berm behind my target stand. Sure enough, to help me with my anticipation I recently received a Shooting Catalog from one of the best-known suppliers of outdoor sports equipment. It is equally as colorful as the best seed catalog and has enough great gun gear to make any gun nut’s mouth water.
I am not going to use the name of this catalog purveyor but I bet you will recognize who it is. If you don’t, don’t worry. It is not important. I am simply going to call them “Acme, Inc.” Acme is a very large company with many large and often fancy retail stores across the country. They issue many, many, slick catalogs per year, catalogs covering various specialty areas, such as shooting, and a master catalog, a couple of which would make a good medium for bullet expansion testing. If you get them, that is what you should do. Don’t throw them away until you have riddled them with pistol bullets. Perhaps all of this might suggest that Acme’s overhead is comparable to the GNP of many small countries, and that fact will have something to do with their pricing structure. On the other hand, they are able to deal in bulk quantities of nearly every product, and if you order a catalog item, it will be in stock.

I have not purchased a large amount of stuff from Acme, but whenever I have favored them with an order I have been entirely satisfied. The picture shows a Colt 1860 Army replica, made by the Italian firm of Pietta, that I received recently. It was a sale item and the price was right, as is often the case with Acme’s sale items. The Colt 1860 Army, a .44 caliber percussion revolver, was the sidearm used in largest quantity by the Union side in the Civil War. The Pietta replica shows good workmanship, with nicely polished and blued barrel and cylinder, color case hardened frame, polished brass grip frame, and walnut grips. The action is smooth and tight and the trigger seems good, which I will verify when I get around to shooting the piece. Not a thing to complain about here for a price of about $200, but if your taste in Italian gunmakers runs to Uberti, Acme has those, also, for more dough.
In the early catalog pages you will find that Acme offers a brand new version of the Winchester Model 94, the iconic lever action that keeps dying and being resurrected. Acme’s offering has a 24” octagon barrel, a half-magazine, a case hardened receiver and lever, and very fine walnut. It is a very spiffy rifle, indeed, and the asking price is $1,699.99, which shows that 94 Winchesters have moved to a new level of existence. Well, it costs money to be resurrected. Others Winchesters brought back to life in Acme’s pages are a similarly finished Model 1886 and several grades of the Model 70.
One outstanding feature of the Acme catalog is the ammo section, a full 25 pages of handgun, rifle, and shotgun ammunition. If you think folks in America are not going nuts in buying ammo, have a look at this section. Bulk amounts are advertised and you can get up to 1200 rounds of .223 Remington for $419.99, or 1000 rounds of .308 Winchester (full metal jackets) for the same price. You get dry storage boxes for free when you buy bulk amounts. Hunters can still buy reasonable cartridge amounts, and good ammo in the popular chamberings will cost in the range of $35 – $50 for a box of 20. A box of one of my favorites, the obscure .30-40 Krag, will cost me $37.99. Can you understand why I shoot only 3- or 4-shot groups in testing factory ammo?
Acme winds up its catalog with over thirty pages of optics. Plenty of scopes, dot sights, binoculars, spotting scopes, and rangefinders. If you need really fine glass, you can choose a Swarovski 3.5-18X variable scope, a Z5 Model, for $1,549.99 or, if the portfolio has done well, maybe a Z6 model for $3,099.99. If these are a little too rich, Acme has a house brand of riflescope that they call the Euro, which they advertise as offering “Superior European optics at unbeatable prices.” A 6-18X can be had with fancy reticle for only 649.99. Must be the 1% folks who are buying these scopes. For the 99% I hasten to say that Acme does offer the Bushnell line of scopes, and a 6-18X Bushnell Trophy will set you back $199.99. I have found the Bushnell Trophy to be a scope of excellent value.
America is a great country. I am glad Acme is in business, and I hope they stay in business. I am also glad they are not the only purveyor of shooting equipment. It always pays to shop around for such things as ammo and scopes. Now I must rest and ponder what my shoulder would feel like after 1000 rounds of .308.

Posted in Personal History | Leave a comment