Had a good Thanksgiving. First 5 shot group of the day from my 7 1/2" Super Blackhawk, it was 25 degrees, an exceptionally warm day in the Interior of Alaska.

beeman,

Great group. I love that hi-tech target too. ;)


Some years ago I read an article in one of the gun rags where the writer shoot a bunch of bullets into a snowbank and when the snow melted recovered them.
The writer said that the bullets were in perfect shape.
Have you ever tried that? Or, does the snow ever melt up there?

I like to think of it as getting the most out of something before I chuck it, amazing how many targets a can of spray paint makes, and what you make into a target. As for the snow banks, our snow up here has a tendency to be very dry, and I have never had any luck recovering bullets from them.

Originally posted by J Miller
beeman,

Some years ago I read an article in one of the gun rags where the writer shoot a bunch of bullets into a snowbank and when the snow melted recovered them.
The writer said that the bullets were in perfect shape.
Have you ever tried that? Or, does the snow ever melt up there?

Having done much shooting in the WINTER in IOWA, I've found that the best way to get out of the WIND was to find a frozen river (banks typically 12 to 20 feet high). When you shoot at targets down range the bullets then keep going and run into ripples of snow - a little at a time. I would find .357's about 50 yards past the targets LYING ON TOP of the snow, encrusted with ice crystals, perfect condition.

Taking that to the extreem - rifle bullets at 3000 fps took much more care - keeping the angle of interaction with the snow very small - hitting the first snow (on the ice) about 100 yards or so out - even then I'd loose more than half by being deflected. But they'd still be there - encrusted with ice.

A couple of winters ago, we were undergoing some extensive cold weather bullet lube testing here at Beartooth. Over the course of about two months we fired several thousands of bullets downrange in lube testing. We also had quite a lot of snow that year, and our test range, was choked with about two and a half feet of packed snow.

After spring thaw, we recovered eighty or a hundred pounds of near perfect condition 280g WFN bullets most with the gas checks still on the bases, the only deformity being that caused by the lands of the revolver barrel.

Rifle bullets recovered were very interesting, as those that deformed did so very uniformly, and didn't have any of the sheared-off features that happens with earthen backstops. It was really revealing what happened to rifle bullets at a variety of impact velocities.

Fun Stuff!

God Bless,

Marshall

I guess I should have cleaned up my loading bench a bit, don't want you folks to think I am a slob.

The writer previously mentioned shooting into a snow bank was none other than Elmer Keith, who wrote about the recovered bullets , some of which looked like they could be fired again.

I knew that shooting into snow was something very familiar. I just couldn't remember who wrote it.

Thanks for telling me.

Nice group Beeman. I love that bullet but tend to use a 1/2 gr. less powder.

Creeker,
I messed around with the powder charge until I was happy. I have backed off about 1/2 grain as well, accuracy was almost as good, and recoil was better.

Dave

I think 23 grs. is what Ross Seyfried uses and what we sell in our Keith loads.