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Equipment & Gear => Guns and Ammo => Topic started by: yorketransport on March 07, 2019, 08:11:50 PM


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Title: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 07, 2019, 08:11:50 PM
It's taken 15 months, a complete concept redesign, 4 different barrel makers and 2 different gunsmiths, but it's finally done (almost)! I ran out today after work just so I could fireform a piece of brass. I should get a chance to start load work in the next week or two depending on how busy I am at work.

(https://i.imgur.com/eVWtatv.jpg?1)

I was initially going to use an X-Caliber 1-7" twist barrel but when that showed up the bore looked so rough that I just sent it back to them and got a refund. After that I picked up a sendero profile 1-7" twist McGowen barrel. When that showed up it looked great (like every other McGowen barrel I've had) but I decided that I wanted to go with a sporter contour instead, so I sold the sendero profile barrel. This time I called up K&P barrels and ordered up a 25" #5 contour 1-7" twist barrel which I had in my hands in less than 4 weeks! While waiting though, I traded my way into a 28" Broughton 1-8.5" heavy varmint barrel. I decided to just have both the 1-7" and the 8.5" twist barrels chambered up and have one hunting barrel and one target barrel made.

The original design for the 270 Boondoggle was to use the 375 Ruger case but when that reamer turned into a frag grenade while chambering a barrel, the project went a different direction. After that I was just going to go with the 27 Nosler but then decided that the 27/28 Nosler would be a bit more interesting and offer a bit of a performance bump. About that time I had a few issues with the smith who had been handling the build, so I decided it was time move on entirely. I worked with the guys at Hammer Bullets to get my project into the hands of a new smith, so now all that I needed to do was come up with a chambering for the gun. I didn't really love the idea of the 27/28 Nosler just because the brass options are a little limited and I just don't like Nosler brass. About this time I found out that ADG is making 338 RUM brass. I looked at some case dimensions and came up with an idea for the final version of my Boondoggle. What I ended up with is essentially a 27 Nosler reamer that's been pushed .130" deep so that the shoulder matches the position of the shoulder on the 338 RUM case. The shoulder diameter is slightly larger on the Nosler case and the shoulder angle is 35° instead of the 30° on the RUM. This means that standard 27 Nosler dies can be used and just held .130" off the shell holder.

Here's a 338 RUM case on the left and a formed 27 Boondoggle on the right.
(https://i.imgur.com/aG3X2Sn.jpg?1)

Performance wise, here's a break down of what I'm look for from the 28" barrel, the 25" hunting barrel will come in 75-100 fps slower:
130gr: 3600 fps
140gr: 3500 fps
150gr: 3400 fps
170gr: 3200 fps

These are rough estimates just based on what I've seen from the 6.5 Badger (which is similar in capacity), 270 WSM and the 270 RUM. I think these are pretty conservative estimates but at the same time I don't really plan to just run this as hard as I can. I'm hoping that I'll have better results with the ADG brass than I've had with Nosler and Remington RUM bras in the past. The Nosler and Remington RUM brass has always been inconsistent and sloppy.

For comparison here a couple of other cases lined up. I couldn't find my 270 WSM or 270 Weatherby brass so I substituted 300 WSM and 7mm Weatherby cases which are the same except for neck diameter.
Left to right: 270 Win, 300 WSM, 7mm Rem Mag, 7mm Weatherby, 27 Boondoggle
(https://i.imgur.com/sg6H1Q6.jpg?1)
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: h20hunter on March 07, 2019, 08:29:46 PM
Is that boondoggle or boondoogle?
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 07, 2019, 08:38:53 PM
Is that boondoggle or boondoogle?

I completely for got about that part of the whole story! :chuckle:

The smith sent me a picture of it when he finished up the barrels and that was the first thing I pointed out to him. He panicked because he knew that he was the second smith to make a significant mistake on this project. I thought it was pretty funny and almost had him just cross out the extra O and make it a G but decided that leaving it as "Boondoogle" summed up the whole project perfectly.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: jasnt on March 07, 2019, 08:40:31 PM
Looking like 22-250 speeds. Awesome
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: zwickeyman on March 07, 2019, 08:44:35 PM
Flat shooter for sure.

500 fps faster than my 270 win  :yike:
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Dan-o on March 07, 2019, 08:47:01 PM
Holy crap....................................

The ultimate Boondoogle!
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: b23 on March 08, 2019, 10:30:33 AM
Yorke, what are you thinking for powder choice/s?  I'm guessing something at least as slow as Retumbo or probably slower maybe.  Have you by chance measured the case capacity of that beast, somewhere around 105-ish +/- ??
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Fl0und3rz on March 08, 2019, 10:43:32 AM
How many barrels per round you expect to get out of it?
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Mtnwalker on March 08, 2019, 10:46:27 AM
How many barrels per round you expect to get out of it?

 :chuckle:
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Alchase on March 08, 2019, 05:54:20 PM
This is cool, thanks for taking us along on your adventure or “Boondoogle” LOL

It has been fun to follow!
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 08, 2019, 09:55:21 PM
Yorke, what are you thinking for powder choice/s?  I'm guessing something at least as slow as Retumbo or probably slower maybe.  Have you by chance measured the case capacity of that beast, somewhere around 105-ish +/- ??

Case capacity on my fired case is 110.6gr of water to the top of the neck. I was pretty happy with that since my estimate was 110gr. The test round that I fired was 75.0gr of Retumbo and a 145 ELDx. I'll probably start with H100 and Retumbo for the light weight bullets up to about 130gr. I think powders like Reloader 33 and slower will work best for the 170gr bullets. I used US869 in the 270 RUM with the 140gr bullets and it worked pretty well. I still have about 6# or US869 sitting around as well as about 14# of H50bmg that I'll try as well.

I took a lot of what Biggerhammer and I learned from working with the 6.5 Badger and tried to make some adjustments to make the Boondoggle a little more user friendly. The 6.5 Badger case wins in the case capacity department, but at the cost of powder selection. The 40° shoulder on the Badger and the small bore diameter caused some powder bridging issues with extruded powders. Going to a .270 and keeping a 35° shoulder angle helps solve a lot of those problems. Then I looked at what I learned by working with the 270 RUM and realized that there really wasn't a need for more than 110gr capacity and the shorter length of the 338 RUM case just works better on a gun that's going to be mag fed.

The big thing I wanted to do is follow my basic rule of being able to use off the shelf dies if I wanted to. I'm so sick of paying a couple hundred dollars and waiting 3-4 months for custom dies that I'll do anything I can to avoid it. To form the Boondoggle brass I size the 338 RUM case down using a 300 SAUM die then a 270 WSM die with out the expanders, both dies that I have sitting around. Then I anneal the cases and run them into a 27 Nosler die with the expander just enough to push the shoulder angle to 35° and get the necks right. Bullet seating, neck sizing and bumping the shoulder can all be done with the 27 Nosler die set.

I won't know whether or not to call this a success until I've had a little time to play with different powders and bullet combos, but I'm feeling pretty good about the chambering. If it works out, I'll order up an actual chamber reamer and headspace gauge instead of just using a 270 Nosler reamer run .130" deep. The rest of the project has been a spectacular failure though. :chuckle:
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: b23 on March 08, 2019, 10:05:02 PM
The rest of the project has been a spectacular failure though. :chuckle:

Well, at least the failure was a spectacular one, and not just some limp boring run of the mill failure, so at least you got that going for you.  You know, one of those glass half full instead of half empty metaphor things. :tup:
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Fl0und3rz on March 09, 2019, 06:02:57 AM
This is cool, thanks for taking us along on your adventure or “Boondoogle” LOL

It has been fun to follow!

Yeah, I am really just following along, but I wanted to tag with style.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 10, 2019, 03:41:00 PM
Here are the velocity results from today's testing. This was one shot at each powder charge while looking for max pressure.

Temp: 38°
Bullet: 145gr Hornady ELDx
OAL: 3.530"
Barrel: 28" Broughton 1-8.5"
Powder: Retumbo
Primer: Fed 215
Brass: ADG 338 RUM

90.0gr: 3489 fps
91.0gr: 3489 fps
92.0gr: 3541 fps
93.0gr: 3610 fps
94.0gr: 3626 fps

-------------------------------------------------------

Temp: 38°
Bullet: 145gr Hornady ELDx
OAL: 3.530"
Barrel: 28" Broughton 1-8.5"
Powder: IMR 7828
Primer: Fed 215
Brass: ADG 338 RUM

80.0gr: 3318 fps
81.0gr: 3337 fps
82.0gr: 3378 fps
83.0gr: 3411 fps
84.0gr: 3491 fps
85.0gr: 3484 fps
86.0gr: 3536 fps
87.0gr: 3551 fps
88.0gr: 3616 fps


The flat spots you see in the velocity in both the Retumbo (between 90 and 91gr) and IMR 7828 data (between 84 and 85gr) correspond with shots fired from a clean barrel. The barrel was cleaned after the 84.0gr and 88.0gr IMR 7828 charges and then the 90.0gr charge of Retumbo was fired.

I stopped shooting with both powders once I started to feel resistance on the primary extraction when opening the bolt. The 88.0gr charge of IMR 7828 would be a workable max charge. The 93.0gr charge of Retumbo would be a working max and I consider the 94.0gr charge of Retumbo too hot. The velocities I got are consistently 100 fps faster than what Quickload predicted, but the pressures seem to track pretty close. Based on this I'll feel pretty good about trusting the Quickload predictions.

From a function standpoint, everything worked great. All rounds were fed out of a 300 Win Mag AICS pattern magazine. The more I use the ARC Nucleus action, the more I like it. Feeding is incredibly smooth and ejection is perfect allowing me to either pull the case out of the action by hand or I can cycle the bolt fast and launch the brass 3 feet away.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Crunchy on March 10, 2019, 04:36:45 PM
That is smoking fast.  Looks like you guessed right with the 145 ELDx load right off the back.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: b23 on March 10, 2019, 04:45:01 PM
Yorke, with that round of testing, how close were you seating your bullets to touching the lands?
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 10, 2019, 05:37:34 PM
That is smoking fast.  Looks like you guessed right with the 145 ELDx load right off the back.

I'm getting pretty good a making up random load data. :chuckle: I tried using Retumbo with 140gr bullets in the 270 RUM a few years ago so I had a pretty good idea where to start. I had to start a little lower with the IMR 7828 since I've never played with it in an over bore 270 before.

Yorke, with that round of testing, how close were you seating your bullets to touching the lands?

The Hornadys were .020" off the lands. Both chambers were cut so that I could seat the 168 Hammer Hunter .020" off the lands with an OAL of 3.720" which puts the ELDx at 3.530". I'll leave the throat on the 25" 1-7" twist barrel this way since it's intended to be a hunting barrel. I'll probably extend the throat on the 28" barrel so that I can seat the 170gr EOL .020" off the lands at 3.720" OAL since that's about the max that feeds through the Wyatt's mag that I've got.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 24, 2019, 06:49:26 PM
Here's an update on the 27 Boondoggle. I had it out last Saturday to start some accuracy testing and ended up with some less than spectacular results with both barrels; in the realm of 2 MOA at 200 yards. Everything about that seemed wrong! At that point, there were only 30 shots fired through the 28" barrel and 10 through the 25" barrel. I took it home, tore it all apart to check everything, clean the  barrels and trouble shoot. With no obvious issues, I threw it all back together and loaded up 3 different loads with 3 different bullets to see what I would come up with and headed back out on Sunday.

This time I started the day by shooting the well proven 6.5 Badger barrel to make sure the action/stock/optic were all still behaving as normal and was rewarded with a .5 MOA group; exactly what I expect from that combo. I screwed the 28" 27 Boondoggle barrel back on there and shot these groups at 150 yards. All loads used 92.0gr Retumbo.

140 Ballistic Tip
(https://i.imgur.com/UocHiRy.jpg?1)

140 Sierra TGK
(https://i.imgur.com/hnpZ2XK.jpg?1)

145 ELDx
(https://i.imgur.com/Wa1VMxT.jpg?1)

For scale, the dot is 1.25". So now I have one group that's just bad, one stringing vertically and one stringing horizontally. This rules out an issue with the optic or bedding and points to loads which are completely out of tune. I've never had a barrel shoot this poorly with any combination of powder or bullets, let alone 3 different bullets! These groups were shot without the Magneto on there so I don't have velocities for the groups. Now there's 45 rounds through this barrel.

After a week of brainstorming and trying to diagnose the issue it's decided that this barrel either needs a long break in period or it's just very particular about what loads it will shoot well. I took it out again to day, this time doing a conventional ladder test at 380 yards to see what's going on. This time I had the Magneto mounted on there to get velocities while shooting. The wind was pretty erratic, so I was focused more on my vertical rather than chasing wind calls. The numbers next to each hole are the velocities for that shot. Both bullets were shot with powder charges starting at 90.0gr Retumbo and working up in .5gr increments. I got up to 93.0gr with the ELDx and up to 93.5gr with the 140 TGK. The black diamond is roughly 5" from point to point.

(https://i.imgur.com/PafVdTz.jpg?1)

Now I'm getting somewhere and I'm seeing an explanation for the erratic groups before. As the barrel is breaking in, I've gained 100 fps! It looks like the velocity is stabilizing now and you can see that 93.0gr of Retumbo gave 3701 fps with the ELDx and 3703 fps with the TGK. The ELDx hit a flat spot in velocity at around 3550 fps with one shot dropping low, but that was caused by a bent tip (I dropped that round and expected a flyer). The 140 TGK shows a good node at the top end around 3700 fps with only 1.5" of vertical at 380 yards between 92.5gr and 93.5gr. That's not bad at all! That load is at the top end of what I'd shoot, but bolt lift is still reasonable.

Next weekend I'll head out with the ELDx loaded up at about 90.5gr and I'll try the 140 TGK again at 92.5gr.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jpmiller on March 24, 2019, 07:45:42 PM
Cool! This whole thing fascinates me
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Crunchy on March 24, 2019, 08:25:47 PM
Yorke,
How do you like your magneto speed?  I am trying to decide between it, and a labradar.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 24, 2019, 09:02:44 PM
Yorke,
How do you like your magneto speed?  I am trying to decide between it, and a labradar.

If you can drop the extra money and you shoot alone, get the labradar. The magneto does a great job of getting accurate velocities and it's easy to setup and use if you're shooting around a bunch of other people. The labradar has the advantage of not being strapped to the barrel though. I wouldn't sell my magneto to buy the labradar, but if the labradar had been out when I bought the magneto I would have bought it instead.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Crunchy on March 24, 2019, 09:11:35 PM
yeah, sometimes the rifle range I shoot at gets crowded.  So the magneto speed might be the better option.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: CAMPMEAT on March 24, 2019, 09:18:26 PM
Let's see the entire gun.........
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Magnum_Willys on March 25, 2019, 12:19:30 AM
The magneto speed is like a tuning weight. It affects impact points. One variable I don’t need. Labrador for me. Imo
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on March 26, 2019, 06:31:23 PM
The magneto speed is like a tuning weight. It affects impact points. One variable I don’t need. Labrador for me. Imo

I rarely see a change in group size, just point of impact. I never zero with the Magneto mounted on the barrel though and I always shoot groups with it off.

Let's see the entire gun.........

It's nothing fancy, still a bit of an unfinished project. I haven't found a stock that I really like yet so it's still sitting in one of the Stocky's composite stocks. It's not a bad stock, the comb is just too low. It doesn't help that the scope rail on the Nucleus action is so tall. Even with low rings I needed to raise my cheek up almost 1/2" to get a good cheek weld.
(https://i.imgur.com/uqS5rxm.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/4zL9tZH.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/Cs2T0bh.jpg?1)

The more I shoot the Nucleus action though the more I like it; it's breaking in really well and feeds perfectly from the magazine. I don't like the Calvin Elite trigger that's on there but I don't dislike it enough to spend $150-200 on a different trigger. I have a Jewel HVR trigger that I used on there initially but I didn't like having the bottom safety on this gun and the 6oz trigger wasn't a good fit on this rifle.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on April 17, 2019, 04:54:23 PM
Here's the Boondoggle update: I give up. :chuckle:

After testing 5 bullets and 3 powders in two different barrels with 2 different scopes, I can't get it to consistently group under .75 MOA. I'm talking with the smith who did the barrel work and I'm probably going to cut 1/2" off the shanks and on both barrels and just sell them for somebody else to chamber for the 27 Nosler. I won't waste my time with a gun that shoots this poorly. The odds of having 2 bad barrels is pretty unlikely, so it looks like this is just bad smith work.

The sad part is that both barrels should be shooting really well based on everything I've seen. This was from my seating depth tests with Reloader 33 and the 170gr Berger EOL in the 25" barrel.
(https://i.imgur.com/oZvYtav.jpg?1)
The groups were all 3 MOA at 270 yards though. Too bad, because 3200 fps with a 170gr bullet from a 25" barrel would have been pretty nice!
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: jasnt on April 17, 2019, 05:51:11 PM
That’s bummer. Up hill battle since day one       So what’s to become of the nucleus
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on April 17, 2019, 06:13:27 PM
I'll just throw the 6.5 Badger barrel back on there for now. I have a set of dies for the Sherman version of the 300 PRC improved on the way (someday...) so I'll stumble onto a 30 caliber blank at some point and go that route. Then I might just copy you and order up a Savage prefit in 338 RCM and chamber up another 338/375 Ruger barrel.

I told the smith that I'd give it one more trip out before walking away from it. I'm going to tear it all apart and re-bed the stock just to rule out any thing like that too.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: jasnt on April 17, 2019, 06:31:18 PM
I’ve been thinking about ordering another barrel too. One much lighter for hunting with
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jason on April 17, 2019, 06:52:04 PM
I’ve been thinking about ordering another barrel too. One much lighter for hunting with
Group buy? I’m probably not going to use the X-Caliber 338 contoured blank that I just bought.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: jasnt on April 18, 2019, 07:48:29 AM
I’ve been thinking about ordering another barrel too. One much lighter for hunting with
Group buy? I’m probably not going to use the X-Caliber 338 contoured blank that I just bought.
my next barrel will be another McGowen prefit howage barrel. About $320 total and ready to shoot   Little more if you wanted it braked
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jason on April 18, 2019, 12:41:35 PM
I’ve been thinking about ordering another barrel too. One much lighter for hunting with
Group buy? I’m probably not going to use the X-Caliber 338 contoured blank that I just bought.
my next barrel will be another McGowen prefit howage barrel. About $320 total and ready to shoot   Little more if you wanted it braked
I'm in for the McGowen Savage prefit. I do want muzzle threaded just in case. Stainless for me though.
Is there a velocity difference between SS and a CM barrel with the same twist.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: jasnt on April 18, 2019, 02:06:53 PM
I’ve been thinking about ordering another barrel too. One much lighter for hunting with
Group buy? I’m probably not going to use the X-Caliber 338 contoured blank that I just bought.
my next barrel will be another McGowen prefit howage barrel. About $320 total and ready to shoot   Little more if you wanted it braked
I'm in for the McGowen Savage prefit. I do want muzzle threaded just in case. Stainless for me though.
Is there a velocity difference between SS and a CM barrel with the same twist.
i don’t think it makes any difference but I like to paint my rifles and ss doesn’t like paint on it. Cm holds paint well
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on April 18, 2019, 06:51:36 PM
I'll reach out to a couple of the small shops I've dealt with to see what they can do for a kind of group buy. Maybe if we can source  the threaded blanks I can get a local guy to chamber up a couple of them at a good price. A guy can knock out 3-4 simple prefit chamber jobs in an after noon, especially if the blanks are already threaded.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jason on May 01, 2019, 07:08:47 AM
I'll reach out to a couple of the small shops I've dealt with to see what they can do for a kind of group buy. Maybe if we can source  the threaded blanks I can get a local guy to chamber up a couple of them at a good price. A guy can knock out 3-4 simple prefit chamber jobs in an after noon, especially if the blanks are already threaded.
Yorke, you get any traction on this?
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: jasnt on May 03, 2019, 09:31:40 PM
I’ve been thinking about ordering another barrel too. One much lighter for hunting with
Group buy? I’m probably not going to use the X-Caliber 338 contoured blank that I just bought.
my next barrel will be another McGowen prefit howage barrel. About $320 total and ready to shoot   Little more if you wanted it braked
I'm in for the McGowen Savage prefit. I do want muzzle threaded just in case. Stainless for me though.
Is there a velocity difference between SS and a CM barrel with the same twist.
http://mcgowenbarrel.com/shop/full-custom-barrel/
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: CAMPMEAT on May 04, 2019, 08:19:35 AM
The magneto speed is like a tuning weight. It affects impact points. One variable I don’t need. Labrador for me. Imo

I rarely see a change in group size, just point of impact. I never zero with the Magneto mounted on the barrel though and I always shoot groups with it off.

Let's see the entire gun.........

It's nothing fancy, still a bit of an unfinished project. I haven't found a stock that I really like yet so it's still sitting in one of the Stocky's composite stocks. It's not a bad stock, the comb is just too low. It doesn't help that the scope rail on the Nucleus action is so tall. Even with low rings I needed to raise my cheek up almost 1/2" to get a good cheek weld.
(https://i.imgur.com/uqS5rxm.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/4zL9tZH.jpg?1)
(https://i.imgur.com/Cs2T0bh.jpg?1)

The more I shoot the Nucleus action though the more I like it; it's breaking in really well and feeds perfectly from the magazine. I don't like the Calvin Elite trigger that's on there but I don't dislike it enough to spend $150-200 on a different trigger. I have a Jewel HVR trigger that I used on there initially but I didn't like having the bottom safety on this gun and the 6oz trigger wasn't a good fit on this rifle.





Thanks for the picture..............
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on May 04, 2019, 07:08:04 PM
I'll reach out to a couple of the small shops I've dealt with to see what they can do for a kind of group buy. Maybe if we can source  the threaded blanks I can get a local guy to chamber up a couple of them at a good price. A guy can knock out 3-4 simple prefit chamber jobs in an after noon, especially if the blanks are already threaded.
Yorke, you get any traction on this?

Not really. I've been on the road more than usual and haven't had much time to hassle the local smiths. :chuckle:
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jpmiller on May 04, 2019, 08:29:53 PM
Everytime I see this thread I have to go find the pic of the barrel with "boondoogle" on it and laugh. It's perfect
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on May 04, 2019, 09:27:58 PM
Everytime I see this thread I have to go find the pic of the barrel with "boondoogle" on it and laugh. It's perfect

I liked the term “boondoogle” so much that I’m actually going to rebrand my T-shirt company from Scapegoat Enterprises to “The Boondoogle”. I already got my new logo done.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jpmiller on May 05, 2019, 07:24:02 AM
Everytime I see this thread I have to go find the pic of the barrel with "boondoogle" on it and laugh. It's perfect

I liked the term “boondoogle” so much that I’m actually going to rebrand my T-shirt company from Scapegoat Enterprises to “The Boondoogle”. I already got my new logo done.

 :chuckle: awesome!
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jason on May 05, 2019, 07:29:19 AM
Everytime I see this thread I have to go find the pic of the barrel with "boondoogle" on it and laugh. It's perfect

I liked the term “boondoogle” so much that I’m actually going to rebrand my T-shirt company from Scapegoat Enterprises to “The Boondoogle”. I already got my new logo done.

 :chuckle: awesome!
Yorke, might as well put that on T-Shirt.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on May 05, 2019, 12:22:13 PM
There's a great story behind the logo. I'm still trouble shooting some accuracy problems with both barrels for the "Boondoogle" and it's down to either two bad barrels or bad smith work. I keep getting a few good shots followed by a flyer in two different barrels from two different manufacturers. I've tried different scopes, rings, bases, stocks, bullets, powders, brass and anything else you could think of trying to narrow it down. The decision was finally made that had to be bad smith work.

The other issue though was that the 1-7" twist K&P barrel wasn't stabilizing the 168gr Hammer Hunter despite that bullet stabilizing in 2 other 7" twist barrels for the guys at Hammer Bullets. I checked the twist using the tight patch and a cleaning rod method and came up with roughly a 7" twist and called it good because of my relatively unscientific method. After talking to the guys at Hammer Bullets we thought that maybe it was my low elevation causing stability problems. They're in MT and never shoot below 3000' and I'm shooting at 500'. We came up with the idea to have them ship one of their rifles to me to test the 168gr Hammer Hunter at low elevation using a gun that was proven to shoot it well under their conditions.

During this time, I've reached out to K&P barrels about my problems to see what Ken thought about the stability issues. While on the phone with him he crunched some numbers to see if maybe a 7" twist wasn't enough to stabilize the bullet under my conditions. Ken offered to take a look at the barrel if I could send it back to him and he'd cast a lap to calculate the actual twist of my barrel to see if the twist wasn't exactly right. He also asked if I could send him one of the bullets that I'm trying to shoot so that he could come up with the proper twist to make sure it will fully stabilize.

When I pulled the K&P barrel to send in, I noticed something on the breech face of the barrel.
(https://i.imgur.com/mg2Ij5V.jpg?1)

What you see there, is an impact mark from the bolt nose on the Nucleus action.
(https://i.imgur.com/bNTb2dZ.jpg?2)

That mark is on both barrels, and explains my accuracy problems. The smith didn't cut enough bolt nose clearance on the barrels, so the bolt is making contact with the breech face.

I've actually reached the point where I'm writing off this whole project. I'll send the 8.5" twist barrel back to the smith to have the threads cut of have that barrel cut as a Savage prefit in 27 Nosler and sell it. When the K&P barrel comes back, I'll have the same done to that barrel or if they just make a new barrel, I'll sell that barrel blank as a package deal along with a 270 RUM reamer and a pile RUM brass.

The upside is that I've created a new term.

Boondoogle: When your boondoggle gets boondoggled

 :chuckle:
   
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jpmiller on May 05, 2019, 12:33:30 PM
Is that fix you were talking about to make the rifle shoot better an expensive time consuming thing?
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on May 05, 2019, 01:12:27 PM
Is that fix you were talking about to make the rifle shoot better an expensive time consuming thing?

None of it will cost me anything, the smith is eating the cost of any work done. I've just hit the point where I'm frustrated enough to just call it quits and move on. The original goal was to have this project up and running in time for the Q-Creek ELR match in June. Since I wasted so much time trying to get the accuracy problems figured out I didn't even register for the match. I have other guns I could have used, but specifically wanted to use something as unconventional as possible. I almost signed up to use the 338/408 pistol, but it's just not built for that still of shooting competition. Since I can't follow through on the original goal of the project, I'll just salvage what I can of the money wasted by selling off the barrels and move on to the next "boondoogle".
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Crunchy on May 05, 2019, 01:20:35 PM
Come Yorke, no one likes a quitter :chuckle:  At least now you know what the problem was.  Little peace of mind.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: jasnt on May 05, 2019, 01:28:19 PM
Sad deal.   
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jpmiller on May 06, 2019, 06:53:57 AM
Bummer it didn't work out, still a pretty cool project. Good luck on the next one.
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Magnum_Willys on May 06, 2019, 08:03:51 AM
Who woulda thought?
 :chuckle:
Face off that barrel and give it one more try?
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: yorketransport on May 06, 2019, 08:00:25 PM
Who woulda thought?
 :chuckle:
Face off that barrel and give it one more try?

I had no idea how accurate the name was going to be when I started this! :chuckle:

A part of me really wants to give it one more try, but I actually accomplished my initial goal. I wanted a 140gr bullet over 3500 fps from the 28" barrel and a 170gr bullet over 3150 fps from a 25" barrel. I hit both of those number pretty easily, so my basic concept and design was good. This was just a matter of working with the wrong team to meet the goal. After a little over $2000 in smith work, barrels and reamers I think it's time to call it a draw and run before I keep throwing money at it.

Maybe I'll call the next project the B.O.A.T. (Break Out Another Thousand) :chuckle:
Title: Re: Sneak peak at the 27 Boondoggle
Post by: Jolten on May 06, 2019, 08:18:59 PM
How about a a 6mm GOAT. (Great out another thousand). And I'll give you $200, a snickerdoodle, and a 6pack of your choice for the broken 28" platform ;)
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