.257 So Far!

Shooting the .257 bullets are in some ways the same as shooting a pellet. In other ways, not so much.

With pellets, especially un sorted and un weighed pellets. I got some fine groups. Hell, some were supurb! But there were always the spoilers. You know the ones I mean. 4 touching, or even in one enlarged hole at 50 yards, and the typical flyer, screwing up your once fantastic group! 👿

We’ve all been there, and will again!

Enter the .257 Bullet Shooter by Dyotat. When I first got the gun, it shot fantastic. But that changed fast! WTF??? Well, it seem a Lead Bullet leaves a hell of a lot more lead in the bbl. than Pellets do. 😆 It would shoot great, and then go to shit. And I mean quickly. This was not anything Doug did wrong, but rather just a product of the extra friction. And the typical light roughness of a new TJ Barrel.

Well, not wanting to have to clean the bbl every 20-25 shots, I followed the instructions from OldGoat and RoachCreek and fire lapped the barrel. Results were now 40+ shots before every thing went south.

I figured if one fire lapping was good, why not two sessions?

So I fire lapped again. (Man, that is a dirty Job!), and the accuracy was poor. I figured I had opened up the crown and Re- Crowned the muzzle. It worked. but now it only leaded after 50+ shots. What to do???

I ended up finally taking a .25 bore mop, and coating it with my old stand-by FLITZ. And Woo0-Hoo, I shot 75 round without any loss of accuracy what so ever. The next day, I shot 5 or 6 shots more and I started to get a spread. ( Seems lead left in te bbl over night gets worse over night. Probly from the oxidaton of the lead, (which is harder than the lead itself.) I took a nylon brush, (dry) and wrapped it with two cleaning patches, also dry. Made 10 compleae passes and She was Dead Nuts On again! (I have tried the wet patches , but it always requires re-seasoning the bore again.) That can take as much as 20 shots in this gun. Now if you are casting your own, this is still a lot of wasted lead. If you are havingt buy your bullets, Hell, this can be 10 bucks worth of bullets! But not to worry, a dry patch on a dry brush, No Seasoning required! 😀 :8:

I’ve been testing both Lyman .257420 bullets from a machined down mould, along with bullets from a NOE Mould machined down. They both shoot superbly, but in different ways. The Lyman went from 74 grianins down to 54 grains and the NOE went from 80 grains to 59 grains. These are 20/1 Lead tin mix. This mix tends to give a better, more uniform fill of the mold. (As per RoachCreek) 😉

But on to the differences. The .257420 can be Pinpoint Accurate. and I do mean Pin Point. How about a .090 at 80 yards? Thats the good. The Bad is that I also get flyers with the 420. I am having a hard time casting with the Iron mold from Lyman. The Base of the bullet wants to have a tiny wrinkle in it. And forget trying to use both cavaties. The near cavity will always cast a bad wrinkle on the 7 0’clock positiong on the bullet base. This is where the flyers come from If I was giving it a guess. It takes forever to cast a batch using it’s one cavity that cast a clean base., (Most times.) But only if the heat is exactly right. 😥

I didn’t think I would like the 4 cavity mold I got from Roach Creek. I mean, if 2 cavaties are hard to cast for, 4 will be hell right. Not to mention all slightly different. So I figured bad for accuracy.

Shows I don’t know did’ly.. The NOE Mould doesn’t know how to cast a bad bullet from what I can see. All are superb. Sure you have to cast a few first to get her hot, but then it is a casting machine! :8:

I have always heard of practicle accuracy, and dismissed it as an excuse for non shooters. both Guns and Shooters.

Well, this is for me, an example of damed practical accuracy. No .090 groups at 80 yards, buy what it will do will put the typical High Quality rim Fire to shame. 😯

It will shoot a clover leaf all shots touching at 50 yards with absolute boring regularity.

Think 1/2″ and under all day long. If there is a flyer, it is because I forgot to weigh a bullet and it was light with a void in it somewhere. So a flyer is a way off target shot. But when I weigh, It simply never misses!

At 80 yards, 1/2 to 3/4 again, all day long. If I get sloppy, she will open up to 1″ at 80Yd. And every damed time it does, I know exactly what I did wrong.

Now here is the odd part. (Roach Creed told me about this oddity, but it was hard to believe) Now I believe. Stretch it out to 150-, 200 yards, and it really doesnt’ open up much at all. Hell, 1 1/2 to 2″ at 240 yards is typical. You would think it would at least double the 80 yard group size at 150-160, but it doesn’t. The further you shoot the gun, the better it shoots! 😯 Thats a first for me. Better accuracy at long range, than short. 😕 RC says it has to do with the bullet finding it’s center, or stability at longer ranges, while not fully stabilizing at shroter ranges. Or somthing like that. 😆

Long Story Short= “Fuuuuuuck this thing SHOOTS!!!” 😀

You Knocked it out of the Park with these Guns Dyotat!

KnifeMaker