Greetings,
Had an interesting time at the range today. First, I re-sighted the 25-06 from cast to jacketed bullets for hunting season. First shot, scope adjustment, 2nd shot scope adjustment, 3rd and 4th shots hit the half-inch target. Very satisfying.
Second, shot to verify the 45-70 trapdoor loads for hunting. WOW. The first 2 shots were off the box the paper was on,, moved the box to 50 yards, hit the box an inch below the top with the box set long side vertical while siting just below the middle of the box. Glad I was not shooting at the grizzly bear the neighbor shot on Sunday (seriously). So, at 50 yards, I was 11 inches high, but only 3 inches right while expecting an inch high and 2 inches right. The big question in my mind was "What the ------".
Some thoughts: The load was nominally the same I have been using the past few years with the following slight (?) changes. A) Lead was mostly pure lead, not wheel weights or the like. Same mold, bullet weight withing 3 grains of other castings (416 grain mold). B) Cartridge cases were new Remington cases, first time used, sized and checked for length. All the same length and measured for length. C) New can of powder, GOEX FFG. I did not check the batch number against the prior cans, but never had such a difference before when changing cans of powder. D) New to me box of CCI 250 primers. Old box of primers, but new set used along with new powder and new cases.
Barrel was cleaned and swabbed as I have been doing before, damp patch after the shot and 2 dry patches, then next shot. First shot from clean barrel out of the gun safe imprinted basically the same place as the 2nd shot I think and neither showed up on the box with the target, but that is conjecture.
The old cases I have been using for a few years, a mixture of Remington and WW cases, have not had the loads fired as I did not bring them to the range. I have a lighter bullet in them than my "420" and "500" grain hunting bullets.
Sooooo, anyone else experience the same thing when going to a new set of cases? Does having new brass give that much of a better seal to raise the bullet strike nearly a foot? Having three slight changes does make limiting the cause a bit of a quandary.
TK