Welcome the newest member to the Keith Nose family; the whopping 610 grain Keith Nose HP .72
"The Piledriver"
Prior to deciding upon making a conical for easy loading inside a shotgun shell, we tried several sabots with our .45 and .50 caliber bullets with very questionable results. There was no way of eliminating the flyers as the odd bullet "hung onto the sabot" for sometimes 80 yards. It was during one of the many frustrating test outings when Henry, one of our test shooters, said "why don't you just make a Giant Keith Nose and be done with it". We raced back to the shop where I machined a .720" hole in a bar of steel while Henry turned on the lead pot. We poured the cavity full of lead and let it set. Then I machined the 1200 grain core into a 700 grain Keith Nose HP. Henry loaded them into the empty hulls and off we went back to the test range. After several shots we knew that this would be an amazing bullet! The next week was spent making the required die, base punch and nose punch. After hardening and polishing, we were ready to begin testing.
Our test loads consisted of 36 to 44 grains of Blue Dot powder, a plastic gas seal, and 4 fiber cards all inside a new hull. Several modifications later resulted in us achieving several 1 hole groups at 50 yards using our pet charge of 40 grains of Blue Dot and a 610 grain bullet. Bullet box recovery tests resulted in expanded bullets to 1.25" in diameter. The final step before we began shipping was for the Alliant Powder Company (the manufacturers of Blue Dot powder) to complete the pressure testing. These results are as follows:
"The Piledriver"
Blue Dot Charge
Velocity (fps)
Pressure (psi)
36 grains
1260
n/a
38 grains
1374
11,299
40 grains
1335
11,099
42 grains
1382
11,719
44 grains
1472
12,359
"Piledriver" Ballistic Table - 40 grains Blue Dot
Range (yrds)
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
Velocity (fps)
1335
1268
1196
1138
1089
1048
1012
Energy (ft.lb.)
2468
2178
1939
1753
1607
1488
1388
Trajectory
1.1
2.3
2.0
0.0
-3.8
-9.5
The Piledriver does not require a sabot nor does it require any special crimping tools. We used new hulls but any hull in good condition should work fine.
"Piledrivers" are available in bags of 10 complete with required gas seal and fibre wads for $ 9.95 U.S. / $ 11.95 Canadian
