Gentler 6mm 65gr boat tails

M

martin zuck

Member
Located a couple thousand the other day. I remember years ago him informing me that they needed to be jumped to one degree or another. In fact he gave me a flyer pertaining to this. Lost it somewhere. Any advise would be appreciated.
 
martin zuck said:
Located a couple thousand the other day. I remember years ago him informing me that they needed to be jumped to one degree or another. In fact he gave me a flyer pertaining to this. Lost it somewhere. Any advise would be appreciated.
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In case you hadn't noticed I misspelled GENTNER!
 
At one of the first matches that I ever shot, I met the late Don Gentner. I was shooting a rear bag that was not tall enough, so I used a Dunrud spacer. The referee said that it was not legal and Don loaned me a taller rear bag so I could compete. He has made many bullets and has had a great deal of success in his shooting career. When it comes to a blanket statement about seating depth, one must be very careful. Each barrel is a law unto itself and saying that a bullet must be jumped may lead to frustration. If it were me, I would start at touch and shoot a hot 3-shot load, a moderate 3-shot load and a mild 3-shot load. Next I would go .003 INTO the lands and repeat the 3 groups. Then .006 into; then .009 into. If any of these seating depths shot the 3 charges into the same relative position on the target, that is probably the correct seating depth. If the accuracy is not what you expect, then repeat this test starting at .003 OFF the lands, followed by .006 off, and .009 off. With the 21 , 3-shot groups, you should have your charge and seating depth figured out. Good shooting....James
 
James is right...there's no seating depth that can possibly be given for any bullet. The rifle will tell you what it likes. Sure, I can tell you what my rifle prefers when shooting a particular bullet and it just might work well in your rifle but you need to try different seating depths to ensure the best.
 
I have always been one to experiment with different seating depths an powder charges. Some time ago I shot with Don down in Kane,Pa. and at the time he seemed obsessed with jumping his boat tails. In fact he gave me a flyer that I promptly lost. Just wondering if he had learned something that I was unaware of.
 
response

… I shot quite a few of Don's bullets back in the day. As I recall his 65 boat tails liked to jump 5-10 thousandths. Shilens, Kreigers, or Harts Didn't seem to matter … The reamer I used had very minimum freebore at the time. That may have been a contributing factor.

Pat
 
jump or jam

Don is one of the best ,,,but just because his/a bullet in his rifle with his powder and powder charge like to jump does NOT mean it will work for your particular combo,,,every new shooter asks the same ???,,,that is the beauty of benchrest,,,you have to tinker/experiment to see what is good for you,,,its like the newleywed hubby asking the old timer ,,,"what will my new bride like in bed ?"....the answer is ,,,she will tell you ,,,the same goes for your rifle,,,,I "think" the type/brand of powder is also a factor in the quest for the perfect seating depth,,,some powders like to jump and some do not,,,,Roger
 
Don Gentner at the NBRSA Nationals in Kansas City

I was looking through some benchrest photos the other day and came across this photo of Don. Don passed away in 2015.

Don Gentner.jpg
 

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P Hurley said:
… I shot quite a few of Don's bullets back in the day. As I recall his 65 boat tails liked to jump 5-10 thousandths. Shilens, Kreigers, or Harts Didn't seem to matter … The reamer I used had very minimum freebore at the time. That may have been a contributing factor.

Pat
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Pat Hurley,
With your background and experience I appreciate your input. Maybe Don was on to something! My reamer has a .030 freebore. If it dosen't work I can always jam them.
 
My reason for this thread was that I managed to acquire a couple thousand of his bullets for next to nothing. With only a few club matches and one registered match per year they should last me a while at the ripe old age of seventy seven. Back when I was more active I was not much for spending a lot of time working up loads. If I could find something that I thought would shoot competitively I would blame my losses on my lack of skill in gun handling and flag reading. Appreciate everyone's input.
 
Generic brand bullets 6mm 66gr boat tail

That's on the label of the bullets I purchased when shooting in Kane in in the 2000s.
They shot well.

Jim M
 
martin zuck said:
My reason for this thread was that I managed to acquire a couple thousand of his bullets for next to nothing. With only a few club matches and one registered match per year they should last me a while at the ripe old age of seventy seven. Back when I was more active I was not much for spending a lot of time working up loads. If I could find something that I thought would shoot competitively I would blame my losses on my lack of skill in gun handling and flag reading. Appreciate everyone's input.
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Hey Martin,

Additionally I was light on the powder charge when shooting Don's boat tails 28-28.5 clicks on a Bruno. I had one reamer that was a .010 and another at .030 … worked the same jump and shot so well I thought I knew everything, bought a set of dies and started making my own. Five thousand buck$ later and a year or two working out a new set up and Wa La :)

Pat
 
Don's bullets

Hi,

Don made two different bullets and he called them "blackbird" and "mojo". He was producing them for many years and about a year before he stopped making bullets with those dies, he bought a new die and he just called them "boattails".

My barrels liked his "blackbirds" while other shooters I know preferred his "mojo" bullets. I did jump his blackbirds but found that didn't work out so well with his mojo's.

Each barrel and chamber knows what it likes and many times when I asked Don a question he would tell me to go to the range and test things out.

Bill McIntyre
 
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