Tank wrote:Hey in2anity,
Cracker review bloke!
How’s this project today?
Apologies for necro ing an old thread....but I’m interested to know your thoughts on the FTX proje for 30-30?
I’m waiting on a 336 Dark Series and plan on having it do double duty on the range and field.
The Dark runs Microgroove and 1:10” twist....I’ll post some results with commercial hardcast projes once run in is done and dusted.
Glad I ran across this thread in my search!
Cheers,
Tank.
Thanks Tank - glad to see this old thread still has a little life in it! WRT to your question - it's a bit of a tricky one to measure and critique levers, because the gun itself has such a profound impact on groups. We don't have the luxury of "free floating, glass-bedded" barrels and actions, where consumables is the main focus.
Honestly though - those FTX pills over standard, mid-burning, extruded ADI powder doesn't seem to offer much. Not worth the extra money IMHO. It’s a bit of a hunch but I reckon to get factory-like groups out of those FTX pills demands a ball powder (not the extruded stuff). And you also need to drive them real hard (just like the factory stuff). I was somewhat able to replicate the factory "Leverevolution" by pairing the FTX pill with the Hodgdon Leverevolution powder. But it recoils hard, and beyond 5 shots my groups really start to string vertically.
Also Winchester powders are becoming hard to get in Australia. Nonetheless, that LVE powder isn't popular here in OZ as far as I can tell, so I'm sure if you ring around, you'll still find some gathering some dust on a shelf somewhere.
The trouble with lever guns is the tightly fitted forend and two-piece stock - the gun warps and changes as things heat, so don't expect to be plinking steel all day long at extended distances. Levers are for close-range offhand kind of stuff, or perhaps the odd hunting shot out bush when the barrel is nice and cold.
If you want to learn a bit more about the harmonics of a lever, check out this post I made
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=11991 about how RTV bedding a lever's forend can help with
consistency.
GL & HF mate