.250 cal Bob's Boattails

[rsterne]

I got my mold from Veral Smith at LBT yesterday and cast some of my new .250 cal Rebated Boattails today....



Here is a closeup.... They came out at 0.249"-0.250" diameter, 0.456" long, weighing 50.6 gr., and fit and function perfectly in a .25 cal MRod magazine.... I have no idea if they will chamber in an MRod barrel, however, but they should fly fine in its 15.5" twist up to about 1000 fps....



Here is a photo showing what they look like after being chambered (top right) and pushed through (top left) a .25 ACP liner from Mike at TJ's.... The bullet on the bottom left is an alternate design without the boattail that Veral sent me a sample of.... He likes the longer bearing area on his design, only time (and somebody buying a mold to his design) will tell.... My design is on the bottom right....



Veral's molds have a VERY tight fit on the alignment pins, so tight that I emailed him to make sure there wasn't a problem.... He replied that is the way he makes them, and after a breakin period the mold will close OK.... Initially, you have to squeeze on the handles as hard as you can to get the two halves of the mold together or it casts oversize bullets.... I actually rapped the handles with my sprue-plate dowel to make sure the mold was closed, it was THAT tight.... After 300 bullets it is now still tight, but a good hard squeeze will seat the two halves together and they no longer spring apart.... I was casting with 1% tin at 850*F to get proper fillout and no wrinkles, which started at below 800*F.... Make SURE you use the mold lube he supplies as directed or you will damage the mold....

I have nothing to report as to accuracy yet, and we're snowed under here, so no idea when distance testing will occur....

Bob

[rsterne]

First results at 35 yards with my Disco Double.... Velocity was 870 fps.... The 50.6 gr. Bob's Boattails were the upper left target.... The others were 4 variations of the RCBS 50 gr. RN.... Middle column was a 46.4 gr. Hollowpoint version and the right column was the 52.9 gr. Round Nose solid, in various combinations of sized, different alloys.... The BBTs are obviously way more accurate....



I then sighted the gun in with the BBTs at 50 yards and did a preliminary BC using the POI at 75 yards and 100 yards, and it worked out to 0.110.... That's not a high as the calculated value of 0.160, but about 3 times better than JSB Kings at about 0.036....

Bob