New 10" barrel, bullet stability problems

[snipecatcher]

It's tough to tell what's going on unless you can look at them up close and run your fingernail over the grooves, but I've tried to point out what's going on:

This picture is showing what appears to be one very wide land where the bullet didn't catch the rifling. The width of the line is where one ridge starts, spanning to the other side.


The top arrow points to where it looks like the bullet first hit the rifling in the throat, and the bottom arrow looks like where the bullet left the barrel.



I suppose this explains why my barrel was behaving like a 10 twist. The bullets weren't getting the full effect of the twist, as they were skipping the rifling. I think we have figured it out. I hope Douglas agrees and takes care of me on this. I am very thankful to all who have helped me along this frustrating endeavor.
Regards,
-Dan

[i8asquirrel]

Glad to hear you figured it out!

[snipecatcher]

I know everyone has seen a fired bullet, but I thought I'd throw this one in for a head to head comparison:

208 A-max recovered from 30/221 Shilen barrel. Note nice clean rifling:



Also thought you might enjoy this one. Hornady 90 XTP (.3085 diameter) 2000 fps. I blew up the first jug, soaking my rifle, my chronograph, and myself, and stopped in the second jug, blowing out the side of the jug. Mushroomed quite nicely. This would be an excellent bullet if you want limited penetration:

[TCCrewchief76]

That's awesome Snipe! Does that round feed from the magazine? What load are you using with that bullet?

Kevin

[BWE Firearms]

I have been using Douglas barrels for 30 years and am surprised something like that got out. Let us know what they do to correct this.

[snipecatcher]

Originally Posted by TCCrewchief76

That's awesome Snipe! Does that round feed from the magazine? What load are you using with that bullet?

Kevin

They are the only bullet I've used thus far that will not feed from the magazine. 16 grains of VVN110 gets it to 2000 fps in a 10" barrel. OAL is only 1.65". This would be a pretty neat load if it would cycle reliably. Someone should make a handgun for it.

[TCCrewchief76]

That's what I was thinking!

Kevin

[snipecatcher]

Just got off the phone with Stan at Douglas Barrels. Good people. He said they don't make many of the fast twist barrels in chromoly, 99% of people order them in stainless. Because of this, their button for the chromoly rifled barrels hasn't got much attention, and was out of spec. They need to make a new button, which will take a couple weeks, so he offered to replace my barrels with stainless. He will be sending Paladin a new stainless blank, 1 in 7 twist. I can't wait!
Regards,
-Dan

[rsilvers]

Maybe they don't have a chrome-moly button in that twist and used 1:10 twist bullon but spun it at 1:8 or 1:7.

[snipecatcher]

I don't think so. He was pretty upfront about everything. He just said I was the first person to have an issue, probably because I'm one of the few people who didn't go stainless. Either way, I'm not blaming anyone for this. Stuff happens; it's how the company deals with it after the fact that matters. Both Douglas Barrels and Paladin Machine (TP555) have been as helpful as they can in taking care of this, and I really appreciate it.
Regards,
-Dan