More on LT-32

James M.

James M.

New member
Since Lou Murdica has shot more of this powder than anyone, I suggest that we listen to him. Most seem to shoot this powder too hot with too much neck tension. I have found good accuracy with 68 gr. Hottenstein BT's with 28.3 grains of Lot #2. I switched from a .256 bushing (for N133) to a .2585 bushing for my .262 neck Krieger and Bartlein barrels. They came alive with less neck tension. Good shooting...James
 
James
I have also found this to be true. 27.8 to 28.5 and my barrels will always shoot, with light neck tension. I am no pro shooter. Not by a dam sight, but i see no need for any other ppc powder now. Makes my life a lot more simple. Well maybe ill keep a little St Louis 8208 around as well. Lee
 
Skeet,
What bullet are you using. I'm going out tomorrow to try LT32 and Berger column bullets for the first time. BTW, my LT32 has a white sticker on the bottom that reads 3 and 03 20.13. I assume it's lot 3 and the rest is a date.
Regards,
Ron
 
Lou and I shot this past weekend in Visalia, CA and the temperature was in the low 90’s and the humidity was around 28% to 35% with heavy mirage. It was a UL 5 shot which Lou won the 100 yard and I think 4th in the 200 yard and 3rd in the UL grand. I was 4th in the UL 100 yard and 6th at 200 yard and 4th in the grand. In the HV Lou was 1st at 100 yards and 3rd for the 2 gun. I was 3rd for the HV grand.

We both were shooting LT-32 @ 27.3 with the Column bullets. Lou went to 27.6 for the first two groups in the UL at 200 yards then went back to the 27.3 I shot the LT-32 @ 27.3 all weekend. I was shooting a Bartlein Barrel in the HV and a Keriger in the UL and I believe Lou was shooting a Shilen in the HV but not sure for the UL.

I believe Norm Jeffrey shot 28.6 of LT-32 and was 2nd at 100 & 2nd at 200 and 1st for the Grand.

So you can see that this powder has a wide range for you to work with.
:cool:
 
I've been working with this in two guns and can't seem to get the flyers to disappear. It does seem to show potential for me at the low (27.X range) and the higher (29.X range). Just can't get it to settle down in these two new barrels.

After several hours of working with it, I went back to a known good lot of 8208 and tried it in one gun. After moving .012 off of jam in .003 increments the 3-shot groups were 28.2gr (.110) 28.6 (.084) 29.4 (.066) While working toward this seating depth you could see the pattern in which the gun was working. When working with the LT32, the targets showed no patterns.

I think I'm going to air this LT32 out and see if it calms it down.

Hovis
 
Is your .012 off jam still in the rifling? If it is, it may be that you want to back out some more. Also, James mentioned neck tension, what have you tried? Thirdly, what weight bullet are you shooting? Could it be that the faster (than 133) powder favors slightly lighter bullets. When I first got a chance to try some early LT32 I did a chronograph test comparing it to one of the lots of 133 that I have and found that it was faster, and I played with neck tension and found that it did not seem to have the same need for it as 133. I also determined that while it was not dirty per sae that I would have to step up my cleaning and do more than with 133. I friend who did not do this was bitten by carbon at a match. I think that 133 has spoiled us because it is so clean. Recently I had a number of barrels to clean, and had been wanting to try cycling a nylon brush using Patch Out, and Accelerator. That combination seemed to get the job done pretty efficiently. I came up with the idea from a discussion that included mention of how Boyer is cleaning.
 
Boyd,

I do not shoot V133, at all and haven't since 2005. I am still in the lands but that is the load with my old 8208 that tightened up across the whole powder range....no need to play with any other seating depth. The two bullets I tested are a 67gr FB and a 67gr BT. With the FB, I started at Jam and came out, with the BT, I started touching and went in. These are proven lots of bullets.

With LT32, which should react close to the T & 8208 lots I have, I ran the BT's from about .010 off lands to full jam...nothing worked. With the FB, I went from jam to .028 off jam...nothing worked.

I wish I had time to scan targets and post them here to show the patterns. I have aired powder in the past to calm it down and these targets are showing the same pattern, I just hadn't thought about it tell a friend mentioned something similiar to me and when I reviewed my targets and pulled the 12 yr old targets out, did I see the same pattern and cause and effect. I'm going to air this stuff over the weekend while I'm away at the east/west shoot and give it another try next week. I have seven new barrels (4ea 6ppc, 2ea 22-.100ppc and 1ea 22-.080ppc). Buy the time I run these through testing over the next couple of weeks, I should have an idea of what is going on. At least I have a couple hundred pounds of my good lot of 8208 so if this lt32 doesn't work for me (32 pounds of it) I'm sure someone will want it. I'll probably burn 8 lbs of it up testing.

Hovis
 
Thanks for the info. I will be interested in the results of your further testing. Just to be clear, you are using seating depths that you arrived at using your old 8208? If you are, could it be that what is best for one powder is not with another? Similar velocities, different pressure rise profiles?
 
Tom...your right but I'm sure this LT32 will work for me, just have to figure it out. Are you airing out any of your powder?


Boyd,
I learned long ago to never trust the same seating depth for different powders, even different lots of the same powder. I run the full spectrum of testing everytime. Any component changes (except for new brass) and it's a start over (primer lots, bullet lots, powder lots). If I find out a barrel is a keeper and the load for it, I set a 1000 primers/bullets/ 4 pounds of that lot of powder/ 50 cases for it to the side and only use them for that barrel. I also try and keep a seperate seater die for that barrel. Makes life a little easier.

Hovis
 
Hovis,

I see you did ok in St. Louis a little better in the 100.

I do not air out my powder, I love to get high when I stick my nose in the jug:confused: No I am not sure if I really understand doing this, but in our sport its like "when you win with wearing one red sock and one blue sock" you seem to want to repeat it. All sports seem to have their quirks with the player.

I have a neighbor that has this underground thing that he is able to test a lot of things and one of them is that all barrels do not like every bullet. You may get two out of three, one out of three etc. and some like everything. And somtimes its not the powder its the bullet/barrel thing.

The LT-32 for me shoots both bullets I have been using without changing the powder weight (Bishop 5/9 & Burger Column) I shot 8208 up untill the LT-32 Lot2 & 3. The 8208 at 29.0 for the 5/9 and 29.3 for the Column and that worked for me.

So far the Lt-32 has been tested by my friend before it goes out to the public and if it does not make the grade it goes into the 2015 bottle. So far no change in Lots 2,3,4 of the Lt-32.

It seems that the LT-32 has a very wide range of weight that will work for defferent shooters. I shot 28.4 at the super shoot and 27.3 this past shoot in Visalia. Some shooters are at 28.8 and not getting any cases sticking.

So will I give up using my 8208 NO, But with the New Lt-32 I will be using it also, we just have to see what works for us as we have so many things that can make a difference. BUT I bet a lot of it has to do with when we pull the trigger and just won't admit we could be at fault, its so easy to blame our TUNE. Except maybe Tony:cool:
 
Tom,

Thanks for the info. I have not tried the columns with the LT32 yet, just not enough time. I used the column to win the 200yd LV at St Louis last fall, I just cannot seem to get it to group at 100yds. I have 2500-3000 left, I think it's a seating depth issue. A little help with where you guys are finding it works would be appreciated (column seating depth).

The benchrest gods have finally given me a break after several years. When I had my first BR gun built, I only got to shoot it in one local match but had a lot of practice with it. Uncle Sam decided that I need to spend a lot of time in bosnia/kosovo and other wonderful places on earth so I decided to sell it. I didn't realize that shooting in the zero's wasn't normal. When the guy came down from Michigan to buy it, I showed him targets and he was in disbelief, so we took the gun to the range and some ammo I had loaded several months before and he shot very low one and a screamer. He paid me more than I was asking for the gun....I thought he was a nice guy....opps.

Anyway....I just seen the same thing this last weekend. The only problem was over holding. The only time I could get it through my big head to not hold off. I shot a swinging 5 to 7 condition with two hours varying on the tails and shot a .096 so after the 100yd stages, I put the gun up and shot a different one on Sunday. The second gun really took off and overholding was again a problem, along with a couple of very bad decisions on starting a group. It really didn't help when I went up to the line to check on my wife's target and I could only see four holes and her bolt was out. When she looked at me, I held of four fingers with a puzzling look on my face. She counted her brass (I couldn't see it) and looked at me again and I guess since I had the same look on my face, she thought I was telling her to shoot another, which she did and turned a nice high four in very tough conditions, into a nice big 1.4XX I was nervous loading around her the rest of the day. Oh....I have to mention that she ended up with food poisoning and is home suffering from it now....the last time we were in St. Louis for a match....I got food poisoning (neither from their kitchen). This all may sound strange to most people but this is a typical match for the wife and I. You should see the flag setting......

Tom....still miss your skits from the supershoot.


Hovis
 
Hovis,

I have several stories about my wife and me shooting together but most of them end up usually her out shooting me. end of story.:eek:

Column bullet setting deph for me is have a small mark as wide as tall to start with on the bullet and work in or out from there. I personally find for me that they are not as setting sensitive as some bullets.

Libby
 
No Brass Neck Thickness listed

Just read through this post and didn't see where anyone listed what their Necks were turned to, just bushing size.

I'm sure that using a given size bushing on a .0080 vs. .0088 neck would make a significant difference.

Anyone have any idea what neck thicknesses are being referred to?

Yesterday, for the first time, I tried Lot #3 of LT-32 with Berger Columns. My chambers neck is .262 and the brass is turned to .0083 ±. I started with a .2570 bushing and 28.0g, increasing the powder in .5g increments up to 29.5g. 28.0 showed the best potential.

I then changed to a .258 bushing, kept seating depth the same and used 28.0g. There was a definite improvement with the lighter NT, however, it was getting dark and I had to stop for the day.

Any suggestions on what steps I should take next? Any suggestions on load development and the sequence of steps would be appreciated.
 
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I finally got to chronograph some loads. .269 nk, loaded round .266, .265 bushing , 64.2 gr column bullets. lot 1 LT-32, 22" barrel
27.3 grs 3240 avg; 27.6 3280-3269-3290--3279 avg; 28grs.3284-3301-3314 avg3296 28.3grs 3341-3334-3343 avg 3339 28.6 avg 3378
29grs 3440- 3651-3436 avg ?
^ I don't know what happen here
I have been hsing 28.3 all year with good results.
 
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Bart Sauter won the IBS nationals 4 gun last week shooting LT-32 powder. A .22 agg 4 gun speaks pretty highly of it and of his shooting. He was shooting his 68 gr boat tail bullet. He did finish up shooting his way into the Hall of Fame as well last week.
 
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