"Bluesdaddy .30" Build almost done!

[rsterne]

If you are measuring 0.306-0.307" on the skirt of a pellet that was pushed through the bore, then the bore is at least that big.... The FX Pellets I have here measure 0.300" head and 0.308" skirt fresh from the tin.... It would appear your barrel is a whisker tighter than the LW barrel I have (0.300" lands - 0.308" grooves), but a lot bigger than the new barrels Sean and I had made for the JSB/FX/Daystate pellets.... Our barrels are 0.294" lands, 0.300" grooves....

Bob

[bitterman]

Bob,

Wish your and SeanMP's barrels would have been around when we started this project or even before the barrels were paid for. I think you are right that this is a standard .308 barrel only slightly on the tight side. Maybe lap this barrel and chamber'd for bullets... and get one of your barrels for pellets. and do interchangeable barrels :) Then have the best of both worlds pellets or cast.

Bruce

[bitterman]

Other night I pushed a 96 grain through the bore getting about .3075 to .308

Tonight I resized 6 68 grain to .308 using lee press with lee lube and size kit. Actually showing as .308 after resizing.

First shot was slow so getting close to valve lock at 3100 psi
3100 to 2750
850 905 error error 913 917 so average of 900.8 (used 910 for the errors).. longer string really needed to check efficiency... But not bad for a big bore. Darn these are hard to load.

If I ignore the first shot.. not a bad 5 shot string. Thats about 1.0+ avg FPE/cuin per shot not bad.... 125 ish FPE too!

Lots more left in it but with a nice 5 shot curve like that I'm hoping levels out and get a 10+ shot string per fill starting about 3000psi

Bruce

[bitterman]

Sunday I took a little break from the lake with the in-laws and went to visit Shawn on Sunday!

First we spent some time looking at different projectiles to figure out what would work and Seam figured out .308 reamer.

This is the reamer he made in front of my eyes. What a piece of art!

http://www.airgunsforum.com/picture....&pictureid=984

It cuts even better than it looks! It cut like cutting hot butter!

I also was fortunate to snack on some wonderful zucchini bread !!!! Yummmy my mouth is still watering for some more!

After countless strokes, first lead lapping the bore and then polishing the bore and the inlet! We pushed a 68 grian .309 Mr Hollow Point through the bore. This was result! Smooth Smooth Smooth!!!!

http://www.airgunsforum.com/picture....&pictureid=985

We then spent some time shooting things. Some weirdness was occurring and Sean mentioned to try taking the barrel bad off. We did that and this was the first group that was shot after removing the barrel band off.

1 The one flyer was called so not the gun..

This was a 50m 5 shot group thanks to Sean! First 2 were the 2 shots under the 7
http://www.airgunsforum.com/picture....&pictureid=986


All in all was an amazing day to watch Sean work. I am kicking myself for forgetting the camera! Would have been awesome to video to show how Sean makes reamers!

The barrel is 100% LW .308 Sean confirmed my measurements were off slightly main due a slight restriction at the muzzle. This was actually throwing the cast bullets a bit. After the re-crown the gun was shooting to the right.

I may not have the quote exact, but Sean said this .30 was a blast! I know I had a blast watching him work and also the results he produced!

The barrel is a 1 in 16" twist also.

Bruce

[sholo]

Ya...he just might know what he's doing after all, huh?... I'm just like a kid in a candy store whenever I get the chance to watch him work his magic!

Great work and excellent results...congrats!

Cheers,
Todd

[bitterman]

Yeah he sure does. I am heading back there again this weekend to make some more tweaks :)

Bruce

[bitterman]

I want to thank Sean again for letting me visit!

We got a lot accomplished this last Sunday. After the bore lapping we had issues with loading pellets through the o-ring still well Sean worked his majic! New bolt! Opened oring grove for larger projectile to go through! Sean also added oring on the barrel tenon and put larger set screws in to hold the barrel. Thanks to his hard work I now have an gun that is so easy to load adn a bolt that looks amazing. I will post pics later. Can Just barely load Mr Hollow Point 133 grain bullets but the 120's and 125's load like a dream.

Air usage is down too !!!!!!!!

At 40 yard the 68 grain were going 850+ fps sized .309 and were going through a 1" hemlock board along with 3-4' or sand!!!!! All in all a great day and a ton of fun and awesome progress also!

Bruce

[rsterne]

I found my DAQ likes the 113 gr. FN and 120 gr. RN Lee cast slugs (which both weigh about 118).... I got a 7 shot string with the 20 inch .308 barrel on my Disco Double averaging 680 fps (121 FPE) from 3000 psi down to 2000.... The gun was never intended for cast bullets, of course.... My DAQ shoots them at 825 fps (180 FPE).... I'm thinking of getting my RN mold converted to a hollow-point, it would drop the weight down about 10 gr. I would think....

Bob

[bitterman]

I found my DAQ likes the 113 gr. FN and 120 gr. RN Lee cast slugs (which both weigh about 118).... I got a 7 shot string with the 20 inch .308 barrel on my Disco Double averaging 680 fps (121 FPE) from 3000 psi down to 2000.... The gun was never intended for cast bullets, of course.... My DAQ shoots them at 825 fps (180 FPE).... I'm thinking of getting my RN mold converted to a hollow-point, it would drop the weight down about 10 gr. I would think....

Bob

Bob,

I have a http://leeprecision.com/mold-dc-309-120-r.html lee 120 grain mold. Same as yours? I too have been thinking about it as a hollow point.

Bruce

[rsterne]

Yes, that's the mold I'm thinking of having converted.... My guns shoot the 113 gr. FN better, and the only difference is really the nose, so I figured converting that would be a good bet.... Here is where I sent my .25 cal.... http://www.hollowpointmold.com/

He alse sells Lee molds already converted to drop hollowpoints.... $99.00 plus shipping.... If I was going to do that, I'd just buy the 113 gr. FN converted....

Bob