Shooting the 310-165-FN (XCB), some observations

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  • #487751
    bjornborud
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      I shot 160 rounds loaded with the XCB bullet today, giving my XCB rifle a good workout. What I was doing was in no way a TEST, in fact I won’t be using that word much anymore, since a test implies laying down baselines, using a comparison protocol, a minimum amount of shots, etc. etc.

      Rather than getting all complicated I’ll be doing some shooting, explaining and observing over the next few months, and I invite you shooters out there to share your comments and critiques here on the board. No “rights” or “wrongs”, I’ll be trying out a multitude of variables in my quest to make my rifle shoot as well as she is capable of.

      When I did my “HV lube test” the other day, Geargnasher commented that I hadn’t shot sufficiently large strings for the bore to get conditioned with the lube. I have to admit that he most likely is right, and today I wanted to give this famous lube a fair shake. At the end of the day a hundred rounds lubed with FWFL had gone down the bore, and here are some of the highlights:
      First I shot a few mild loads – 13 grains of Unique. After the first group of 6 I went directly into 3 strings loaded with 28 grains of Varget. The first 2 groups, 15 shots each, were filled with 3/4 gr. Dacron, with the third group (10 shots) I used Puff-Lon as a filler. This is a powdery substance that is compressed (by 20%) between powder and bullet base. I could not detect much difference in accuracy between the two methods.

      Then I went straight into some High Velocity stuff. The lube held up very well as the target pictures show. I didn’t set up my chronograph; I have ordered this contraption and it’s being delivered Wednesday:
      A1AcM0TshpL_SL1500__zps3ede08f7.jpg

      It should make documentation much easier, since I like to gather data from all my shooting.
      The numbers in parenthesis next to the HV groups are MVs chronographed with the identical loads earlier, when the rifle’s barrel was 3 1/2″ shorter. It should give a good reference.

      Here are the targets from several of the strings shot with Felix lube:
      IMG_2794_zps4605fda9.jpg
      IMG_2790_zps8358de9e.jpg
      IMG_2791_zpsfb743a50.jpg
      IMG_2792_zps57537446.jpg
      IMG_2793_zps39c76652.jpg
      IMG_2795_zpse9e205af.jpg

      At this point I scrubbed the bore thoroughly, and changed over to a lube I hadn’t tried before: White Label 2700+, from Lars’ Lubes. I had loaded several strings from mild to wild, and to say that I was impressed with this lube would be an understatement. In earlier conversations with Larry Gibson it was mentioned that this lube could be too stiff and possibly leave lube in the grooves upon muzzle exit. Because of the XCB bullet’s shallow grooves I decided to give it a go and it appears the lube performs as advertised.

      With this lube I also mixed it up and loaded several bullets cast from pure linotype. Those are indicated in the target photos.

      IMG_2796_zpseddf171b.jpg
      IMG_2788_zpsaf4d31b6.jpg
      IMG_2789_zpsf6684294.jpg

      All in all I was very pleased with the way both rifle and loads performed. Not pictured are several groups shot with experimental powders, that didn’t work out well. These loads bombed with both lubes, so no fault there. Hodgdon Superformance just doesn’t shoot well at the velocities we were trying to attain, and more experimenting is needed in this area.

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    • #494712
      bjornborud
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        Funny you should say that; Federal Primers seem to be the only brand that’s NOT available in my area. So far I have the following: CCI 200, CCI 250,CCI BR2, Rem 9 1/2, Win LR, S&B LR, Tula LR. As soon as I can trade for some Federals I’ll load them all up an give it a try.

        #494713
        tommeboy
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          I got all kinds of FGMM LR primers. where are you located?

          #494714
          bjornborud
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            All the way in South Florida. Just a tad too far to jump in the car.

            #494715
            SwedeNelson
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              bjornb

              This is some great information
              Looking forward to some more posts

              Bullet maker, maker
              Al Nelson

              #494716
              timmalcolm
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                I don’t mean to be remiss and to not post, but I have done very little shooting with the 30XCB latey. The new batch of barrels arrived and I threaded mine for the Felix rifle and screwed it in place, however, I have not had time to shoot and it rained for two months solid here.
                I’ll post more results as soon as I have them. It’s feast or famine I’m afraid!

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