doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com My Rolling Block project

I've bet my .40 cal money on a 14 twist and a ~420 gr bullet. Someday, I'll find out how it does. My buddy built an identical one however, and it shoots extremely well out to 500m. Haven't tried any further.

I should add another friend bet the farm on a .40-82 and a 17" twist. He could not get a bullet to 1000 yds most of the time. No exaggeration. it just would not stay stable long enough to make the flight.

On my .40-65 with the same 1:16" twist all the ballistic data I found said that a 400-420 gr. bullet was best for that twist rate. But I tried all sorts of powders, charges, with a Snover and it seemed to begin to destabilize at just over 600 yds. I printed it on paper and although groups were pretty good at 650 yds., the bullets were beginning to keyhole. But the lighter 300 and 350 grain bullets stayed stable at the same distance, and even at 700 yds. were still stable. Both loads were moving closer to 1400 fps to get best accuracy and stability.
Surprisingly my Ballard Pacific in .40-85 Everlasting likes both bullets in 300-350, and the 420 Snover equally well, and shoots them just as accurately. It's an original barrel in minty condition, and has the 1:20 twist rate. Should not shoot the heavier bullets well, but it doesn't seem to know it shouldn't. It's equipped with an unusual tall midrange that falls between the Ballard Long range and the Ballard Midrange. Pretty rare sight.

I'm surprised you can get a bullet that big to stabilize in a 16 twist, but all of my rifles seem to need more twist or shorter bullets than everyone else's.

I try to follow and apply all those ballistic programs, plus input from shooters who say this or that works. But I still go through the load testing of various bullets and powders to see what a particular gun likes. Sometimes what isn't supposed to work, works great for no particular reason.
I've had a lot of people tell me a 300-350 gr. bullet wont hit anything past 500 yds., at least not consistently. But they sure work for my guns, and have a couple friends who have also tried them in their .40's and had great results. They sure take less powder, and give less recoil, so that's just another benefit of the lighter bullets.

Hi Vall,

I hope you don't mind if I ask. I'm having C Sharps chamber a barrel for me on one of their actions, and I suppose I could just ask them, but I'm intrigued.

How willing are they to do other actions besides their own, are they approachable? I was going under the assumption that they would chamber for cataloged cartridges, do they have an 'interesting' assortment of other reamers that one could inquire about? Would 'Pat' be the fellow to just ask for or do these projects cross his bench anyway?

Thanks much for any comments you might have, and sorry to go off topic. Based on your experiences, I'm also leaning towards giving Snowy Mountain a try. I really like the lines and proportions of your Rolling Block project, and I have no doubt it'll shoot great. Thanks for sharing it.

Craig

Craig,
Pat is the shop foreman or superintendent at C. Sharps, so I would guess he would be the guy to speak with. But I've never spoken to him as Al at SMB has always dealt with Pat when I needed his services. I do know that Al said that C Sharps not only does work beyond what they build, but also reproduces rollstamps on barrels too. A friend of mine sent his 1886 in .50 caliber to Al for barrel repair or reline. Al had Pat at C Sharps install a new barrel, and chamber in the original .50 caliber. They also put all the original Winchester markings on his barrel to keep it looking correct. Al put new stocks on the 1886, and did the case colors and rust bluing.
My friend had Al send the old wood and barrel back with the restored gun so it will be with it if he ever sells it.
If you plan to have Al do the case color and rust bluing, I'd call and ask about the barreling. Not sure about all the caliber reamers C Sharps has, but so far they've never had an issue doing whatever caliber I wanted. But none have been too unusual either.

PS-If you need an action annealed to polish it. AL does this free if you send it to him, and use him to do the color case afterwards.

Vall

Thanks Vall. I've had a chance to stop by the C Sharps shop a couple or few times and I'm careful not to waste their time, but they're always down to earth, pleasant and service oriented. So, I was comfortable giving them my business for odds and ends in the past and going to have them do some smithing. Thanks again for expanding on the thoughts, particularly the Snowy Mountain shop. If you do make it out to the Quigley shoot, you could pop in on some of these folks.

Not sure yet if I'll make the Quigley this year. I've been trying to get into a local gun club that has a 1,000 yd. range where I can get more practice time in, but never heard back on my application. Was told the other day by a friend that their waiting list takes about 18 months to join the club! Yikes!