230 Grain Pin Loads

[EEH]

3 hours ago, Carmoney said:

 

Dude, you ordered a bullet mold for an exotic bullet that has no use other than pin-shooting, but you won't buy a pound of a new powder?  

 

Mike, I got that load from you. It worked great. Still have some of the powder.

[gargoil66]

On 9/5/2022 at 11:22 AM, Carmoney said:

 

Dude, you ordered a bullet mold for an exotic bullet that has no use other than pin-shooting, but you won't buy a pound of a new powder?  

 

Mike:

 

Would have preferred to buy the bullets but Badman Bullets were out of stock and I didn't know Bear Creek carried them.  I dislike casting and powder coating bullets almost as much as handloading but will cast bullets if I need to.  Came in handy when the Covid nuttiness hit the ammo and gun industry. 

 

Never cared much for the Dot powders.  Can't remember if it was Red or Blue Dot that someone gave me and I used in the .45 decades ago but it never metered well.  

 

I have five pounds of AA-7 and that is about as close to Blue Dot as you can get looking at a Burn Rate chart so will use AA-7.  

 

GG

Edited September 6, 2022 by gargoil66

[pyrrhic3gun]

I'm pretty sure you mean Blue Dot, as there are like 50 powders between Green Dot and AA-7.

 

[Carmoney]

Understood.  I also have a mold for the "Lincoln Logs" but I haven't cast bullets in many years.  Just be cautious if you go too far off-label.  Blue Dot seems to be the wonder powder for the 230-gr. pin loads.  That one year at Second Chance when the pins were left outside and got all soggy and heavy, my 230s going 1050 fps (from an 8-3/8" barrel) were one of the few loads that took them off the tables clean.  That kind of power is overkill most of the time, but I was glad to have them that year.  I would not try to replicate that load with any powder other than Blue Dot.

[Toolguy]

My 44 Auto Mag Revolver would have worked fine for that. It shoots 300 gr. bullets at 920 fps. for a 275 power factor. It runs 6 44s on a moon clip for fast reloads. If 2 pins are lying down together, it will take both off in 1 shot. I haven't shot it in years, might dig it out sometime. I used to get 5 second + or - runs with it way back when. Fun times.

[Carmoney]

FYI, the original 230-gr. pin bullet was made from the H&G #127 mold, which dates clear back to the 1940s.  Miculek usually shot 200s on pins, but ran 230s for a couple years.  I think his brother Donnie was casting them for him.  I always found the 230s, with their sharp WC-like edges, created better pin action.    

 

OAL for those 230s in .38 Special brass was around 1.52".  If you use the newer style like the bullets from Badman, I would recommend seating them to that same length and just ignore the crimp groove.  

[Carmoney]

4 minutes ago, Toolguy said:

My 44 Auto Mag Revolver would have worked fine for that. It shoots 300 gr. bullets at 920 fps. for a 275 power factor. It runs 6 44s on a moon clip for fast reloads. If 2 pins are lying down together, it will take both off in 1 shot. I haven't shot it in years, might dig it out sometime. I used to get 5 second + or - runs with it way back when. Fun times.

 

That would work, and then some!  I ran .44 and .45 revolvers for years at pin matches, until I acquired a custom 7-shot Model 27 from none other than our host, Brian Enos.  Having that extra round made a big difference.  (That was before the factory was making any of the 8-shooters, of course.)  

 

I only shoot one pin match a year anymore (the 2022 event is coming up next Saturday), but that Baumannize 27 is the gun I always use.  

[Toolguy]

Yep -  that would be a big advantage when everyone else only had 6!

[Joe4d]

10 hours ago, Toolguy said:

Yep -  that would be a big advantage when everyone else only had 6!

yeh depending on the scoring used. Extra shot can save a match. I use a 7 shot 686 cause it is what I have and I enjoy the gun.. My league set pins 1 foot from rear of table,,, So I didnt load full bore but still used 180's flat nose at 800 fps not a harsh load but cleaned them.. seems other guys were using 148's WC,,  and were always asking what my loads were. 

 

[gargoil66]

17 hours ago, pyrrhic3gun said:

I'm pretty sure you mean Blue Dot, as there are like 50 powders between Green Dot and AA-7.

 

P3:

 

Yes, I mean Blue Dot.  Thanks for pointing it out, too.  I edited my post accordingly. 

 

GG

[CtYankee]

A year ago I acquired 250 240gr. Thunderheads from Penn Bullets (but Bob Palermo died in Nov.).  I neither had, nor could get AA#9 at he time, but was given a load for Blue Dot. With Penn Bullets a little over 900fps give you leading, under that seems OK.

[gargoil66]

4 hours ago, CtYankee said:

A year ago I acquired 250 240gr. Thunderheads from Penn Bullets (but Bob Palermo died in Nov.).  I neither had, nor could get AA#9 at he time, but was given a load for Blue Dot. With Penn Bullets a little over 900fps give you leading, under that seems OK.

CTY:

 

The bullets weren't powder coated?

 

GG

[Squirrel45]

Penn is out of business. Only badman and bear Creek cast them now from what iv found. Both can be had in a coated form. 

[gargoil66]

Guys:

 

Went with 5 1/2 grains of AA-7.  Solid recoil but nothing odd about it or the report and the primers are not flat.  I do not like overcharging loads for anything and this one is a couple of tenths over max.  Sure, I could probably go up another half grain but won't.  Would try to find some AA-9 instead.  

 

Deadly accurate like about any wadcutter load I ever used.

 

Only mistake was not using a wadcutter seating stem for the first hundred.  That caused a slight PITA when the stem made for conical bullets widened the front of the wadcutter enough for some to get sticky when going into the cylinder.

 

Had to do some serious remembering where I had a wadcutter seating stem but remembered.  Dillon provides one with their .38 Spl dies.  And I even had it in the box!  

 

The next hundred rounds are just fine.  No problems entering the cylinder.

 

Will shoot some pins tomorrow and see how well they work.  I don't expect miracles out of them but the memories of pins fallen on their sides spinning around every time I hit one with a .45 reminds me that shot placement is top priority.  Even with an eight shot revolver.

 

GG

[gargoil66]

Question.

 

How often were the pins swapped out during a Pin match?

 

GG

[Joe4d]

7 minutes ago, gargoil66 said:

Question.

 

How often were the pins swapped out during a Pin match?

 

GG

depends on the match,,, Place I shoty usually had 2 sets of pens per table So they got shot pretty good. Usually as long as the pin would stand and didnt have chunks out of it. Why I always shot revolver first,, then my 6" 1911 with 250 gr soft wide flat nose  next gun.. Superman not standing up to one of those things.

[Squirrel45]

Till they no longer stand is pretty common 

[Toolguy]

Yep. They can get heavy and full of bullets sticking out, making them not want to roll by then.

[gargoil66]

Guys:

 

Thanks for the info.

 

I see why pin shooting died off.  Gets problematic once the pins get filled with lead and distorted or split.  Not to mention trying to find used bowling pins.  

 

Well, I can see this will be pretty short lived by me.  

 

BTW -- I ran through Round About shooting those 230 WCs.   He, he.  No doubt about it when you hit the steel but they also knocked some of the plates off the hangers.

 

GG

Edited September 12, 2022 by gargoil66

[Joe4d]

at one time bowling was big,, so probably a pretty large and continuous source of used pins.  I am sure the number of aleys has declined a bunch in last 30 years.

reminds me the little town near me has a small aley,, I should try to score some pins

 

[pskys2]

2 hours ago, Joe4d said:

at one time bowling was big,, so probably a pretty large and continuous source of used pins.  I am sure the number of aleys has declined a bunch in last 30 years.

reminds me the little town near me has a small aley,, I should try to score some pins

 

That's a memory, going to bowling alley's and scoring Pins in the late '80's!

[CtYankee]

On 9/6/2022 at 7:17 PM, gargoil66 said:

CTY:

 

The bullets weren't powder coated?

 

GG

No. I got them by mistake and rather than return them I played around with them. Penn Bullets came to coating late, and then the owner died. My last order was all plated except for 45/70 and the Thunderheads.

[Toolguy]

Bowling alleys used to give the used pins to their best customers to burn in the fireplace until people figured out that burning off the coating was causing chimney fires that would burn your house down. It was also very bad to breathe the fumes.

[Carmoney]

On 9/15/2022 at 2:19 PM, Toolguy said:

Bowling alleys used to give the used pins to their best customers to burn in the fireplace until people figured out that burning off the coating was causing chimney fires that would burn your house down. It was also very bad to breathe the fumes.

 

At Daryl's Gun Shop in State Center, Iowa, we used to shoot pins and then light them on fire and cook hotdogs over them.  (This could possibly explain some of my behavior issues that have manifested over the years.)  

[Squirrel45]

Before my time they would burn used up pins in a fire barrel, lead would run out on the ground