doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Double Rifles, Paradox Guns & Gauge Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Watson Bros 360EX double

Hoping to get to the range tomorrow in between errands. Have loaded up patched 170gr .358"s. The measure .363"...still undersized but at least for once the patches are perfect. I'm trying an excel template suggested by Capt Curl on another BBS, using 9lb onion skin paper from Buffalo Arms. These are at least the nicest looking patched bullets I've managed to date. Fingers crossed. I plan on patching more after I get back from hunting where I'm giving 3 wraps of paper instead of 2. That should take them up to .365", which should also work in my 9.3x72r German boxlock double.

Good luck with the testing and hunting

Undersized bullets are usually shot with BP, the theory being that the pressure curve of BP will bump the bullet up enough to grab the lands. I shot .366" bullets out of my .360" with superb results. I would recommend a premium bullet or hard cast lead for hunting, the ballistics of the .360 are pretty darn mild, not much room for error.

Chris, have you ever thought of swaging down a 375 Winchester bullet ?

Many years ago I took a 200gn, can't remember if it was a Speer or Hornady, soft point jacketed bullet and after a lot of grunting resized it through my 366 push through sizing die.

I only made the one as my little RCBS JR press nearly gave up the ghost with the force needed ! being a flat nosed soft point it allowed the surplus lead to extrude out of the top. I have sent you a pic of the assembled round by email - I never fired it but kept it as a souvenir.

I'm sure with a bigger press and an interim sizing die you could easily make and try a variety of different size and shape bullets. I can't attest for the accuracy of the bullet with this process but the one I made looked good.

Nick

Have you run across this page?: http://forums.nitroexpress.com/printthread.php?Board=doubles&main=131910&type=post
There is really no need for jacketed bullets at the 1250-1650 fps regime of this cartridge and the lead bullets will be much kinder to the old barrel and the game will never know the difference in what made the hole in or through them. Remember millions of buffalo (bison) fell to a 1250 to 1350 fps lead bullet. The original load for the 38-55, which has a larger powder capacity, was a heavier 255 grain bullet at 1350 fps and untold deer, elk, moose and bear were felled with it. Find the most accurate and closest to the sights lead bullet load you can and go hunting with it. Have fun.

CJF,
HalfaDouble just gave you some more good advice.
Mike

Thank you HalfaDouble, Mike, Steve and Skeetex! Sorry for the slow response - have been with the family on some time away.

The only reason I would look to mess with jacketed bullets is that I hate cleaning up the leading I was getting before I started paper patching. That is now better. While I like the option of just reloading, without waiting for patches to dry, even if I wanted to use some of the 200 grain jacketed bullets and size them down, all the 0.375" 200gr jacketed bullets by Speer and Hornady seem to be sold out right now. I do ultimately want to try this, along with swaging 0.358" bullets up, but for now I'll focus on getting my patching and loading right.

I really appreciate you all and the help you give. Thanks.

Chris

We had a good day hunting today. Got a nice buck…range was short, maybe 35 yards. Was in a stand, firing downward. Buck dropped where he was. A fairly big one, but it seems they get larger as you go farther north (we are in Minnesota, about an hour north of Minneapolis). Pics when I get home.

Very happy with how the Watson performed with the RWS jacketed soft points. Still will pursue a patched LRN load.

So a few pics as promised. But first an observation.

While hunting, both from a stand and moving, I found the Watson's small size, balance and lack of protruding parts much easier to to carry over a few days of hunting than the scoped Dakota Model 10 I also briefly hunted with this trip. I'd brought the Dakota in case I needed more range than I was comfortable attempting with the 360EX's black powder loads (until I practice more.) I did pass on a 90 yard shot on a nice buck the day before I got my deer, and briefly hunted with 7mm-08 Dakota as a result, but then switched back to the Watson for the final day of hunting. Glad I did.

CJF,
Waidmannsheil
Mike