My first ever keyhole

[rdlowe]

Check this out! Took my Parker Hale out to the 50 yard line to try a couple different minies. I started with a light powder charge of 35 grains 2f. I saw the hit was low on the paper which seemed peculiar, so I pulled out the binos and there it was, big as day. An almost perfect keyhole. Upped the next 3 charges to 50 grains and they shot much better into the group in the upper left. The rest of the morning went fine shooting both .577 and .575 bullets. It doesn’t seem to mind the difference very much at all, so long as there’s enough juice to expand the skirt.

 

[Boomerang]

Interesting!

 

[Phil Coffins]

To light a charge to get the bullet spinning fast enough.

 

[ord sgt]

With my Parker Hale, I found that 44 grains FFFg and a 500 grain .575 minie was bad medicine for ceramic tiles at 50 and 100 yards. Many stationary clay birds were broken at 50 yards also.

 

[longcruise]

Maybe too light a charge to expand into the grooves. Kinda like a minie out of a smooth bore??

 

[mooman76]

You might try an over powder wad. Some say they don't help a Hollow based bullet but I have heard of it helping.

 

[rdlowe]

You might try an over powder wad. Some say they don't help a Hollow based bullet but I have heard of it helping.

Worth thinking about. Starting today I’ll be rolling up some hysterical I mean historical cartridges with Pritchett bullets of 3 diameters and regular “Union style” minies. The Pritchett bullets have clay plugs, but one of them is .550 diameter before paper patching. It’s just gonna take a full service charge to open that thing up. The rest I’ll be able to play around with. I also have some “skirmisher” bullets that are nice and light but sized to .577 which is a nice snug fit. Those I can load down to 35 grains or so no problem. Shot about a dozen of those so far and they make for a pleasant target load.

 

[hanshi]

You haven't lived until you manage to get a keyhole with a round ball.