Maillemaker
01-01-2015, 11:07 PM
Last year I picked up a new-in-box second-hand Pedersoli P58 shortly after they came out on the market.
I took it to the range and did some load work-ups, and on my last string of fire came up with a very nice 5-shot group with all 5 shots touching, using 60 grains of 2F Goex and an RCBS 500M bullet sized to .578.
I finally got to try it out again to make sure it was not a fluke, and it looks like this is one possible competition-grade load for this gun.
The bullets are RCBS 500M bullets sized to .578, and lubed with the period lube recipie of 3 parts beeswax to one part mutton tallow. I find this to be a very good lube that is not runny and yet keeps fouling low even in a traditional-style minie bullet with small grease grooves.
http://i.imgur.com/tM2PUQV.jpg
I fired 7 shots at 50 yards. Average To Center was .84 inches.
I suspect that a similar traditional-style minie with a thinner skirt would perform similarly with a reduced charge. Balázs Németh (Space Cowboy here) shoots this gun with the Lyman 575213PH sized to .578, but my Lyman 575213PH mold drops at .575 so I obviously cannot size it to .578. He achieved a very good group (similar to what I achieved above) with only 40 grains of 3F Swiss with this bullet, no doubt in part due to the thinner skirt on the Lyman bullet. I think Moose makes a traditional minie of similar size and weight with a thinner skirt and of sufficient size; I will have to look into that.
Anyway with this kind of group once I get the sights dialed in I may be able to use this in team competition, displacing my Euroarms P53 with Whitacre barrel. The shorter gun should make loading times faster.
Steve
I took it to the range and did some load work-ups, and on my last string of fire came up with a very nice 5-shot group with all 5 shots touching, using 60 grains of 2F Goex and an RCBS 500M bullet sized to .578.
I finally got to try it out again to make sure it was not a fluke, and it looks like this is one possible competition-grade load for this gun.
The bullets are RCBS 500M bullets sized to .578, and lubed with the period lube recipie of 3 parts beeswax to one part mutton tallow. I find this to be a very good lube that is not runny and yet keeps fouling low even in a traditional-style minie bullet with small grease grooves.
http://i.imgur.com/tM2PUQV.jpg
I fired 7 shots at 50 yards. Average To Center was .84 inches.
I suspect that a similar traditional-style minie with a thinner skirt would perform similarly with a reduced charge. Balázs Németh (Space Cowboy here) shoots this gun with the Lyman 575213PH sized to .578, but my Lyman 575213PH mold drops at .575 so I obviously cannot size it to .578. He achieved a very good group (similar to what I achieved above) with only 40 grains of 3F Swiss with this bullet, no doubt in part due to the thinner skirt on the Lyman bullet. I think Moose makes a traditional minie of similar size and weight with a thinner skirt and of sufficient size; I will have to look into that.
Anyway with this kind of group once I get the sights dialed in I may be able to use this in team competition, displacing my Euroarms P53 with Whitacre barrel. The shorter gun should make loading times faster.
Steve