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Finally found a 100 yard bullet for my .45 Texan

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Brian.in.MI

Brian.in.MI

Member
Feb 25, 2017
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Michigan, United States
Testing some new bullets from Nick Nielsen (NSA). He said if I know what I'm doing, they should group under 2" at 100 yards. I took it as a challenge, but had my doubts (I've tested a lot of bullets)

These things are for real. 295gn HP with a cupped base. I weighed about 20 of them and quit because they were all within 3/10ths of 1 grain (on a 295gn bullet!) 3000psi fill, hammer adjusted to shoot 730-740fps. Call it 355 FPE. This setting and fill gave the tightest shots 1-3 spread. This group was shot "tethered" but not exactly.. My CF tank got down to 3100psi so I left it attached, with the valve open. 

5 groups, averaging 1.9". The groups I "blew" were still under 3".. better than I've shot with other bullets at this distance. 
https://imgur.com/HoUim

https://imgur.com/xF2Mi

https://imgur.com/75Odo


 
STOP wasting those bullets on paper targets. Go and shoot them at some BIG GAME and get yourself some MEAT to put on your table! And send some meat my way too!
That gun can MOST CERTAINLY get the job done! Good shooting BTW!
Must have some serious movement when shot. Try shooting it like a springer using the artillery hold
and keep the cradle and hold constant.
AJ
 
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"AJ"STOP wasting those bullets on paper targets. Go and shoot them at some BIG GAME and get yourself some MEAT to put on your table! And send some meat my way too!
That gun can MOST CERTAINLY get the job done! Good shooting BTW!
Must have some serious movement when shot. Try shooting it like a springer using the artillery hold
and keep the cradle and hold constant.
AJ
Click to expand...
Ha, ironic that you mention that! Having venison burgers tonight. Killed 3 whitetail with it last season with 144gn Hornady balls. They are VERY accurate at 50yds (and fast: 9
60-970, 300fpe) but the groups fall apart beyond that. Been trying to find a bullet as accurate as those balls at 50 yards that would also group at 100. Tried a few that were "Meh" at both distances and went back to balls. These bullets are where it's at. I won't hesitate to take a vitals shot up to 100yds with these. 
 
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I will do that. Hoping to have my backyard range extended to 150 yards this summer. I'll be thrilled to stay under 3" at that distance. Examining the bullet holes, they are dead stable at 100 yards (zero wobble) so I'm pretty optimistic about 150yds. The best part is that these are hollow points. Never had great results with HP's compared with RN's. Bonus.
 
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I was testing the same bullet from Nick Nielson for him. I learned as much about the Texan as I did the bullet. I shot 3 shot groups untethered to simulate a hunting situation. My 100 yard group wasn't great with my first shot closest to bulls eye at 3000 psi fill for that's how I sighted in the gun at 3000 psi. On further inspection by Nick he said look at shots #2 and #3 which were within 1 inch of each other. He recommended filling Texan to around 2700 psi for that's where the Texan is most accurate, which makes sense after looking at groups. So the most precise shots were always shots numbers #2 and #3 because the Texan prefers a 2700 psi fill in all of my groups. Brian I would be curious if your Texan was untethered if you got the same results. Mine being lock-stock was shooting the 295 g bullet on average 810 fps and producing 428 fpe.


Nielson Bullet: They are beautifully made with the first five I weighted all 293.7 grains. They all seated nicely in breech,which Texan owners know is paramount. I could achieve two shots within an inch at 100 yards when gun was at 2700 psi. 

Texan Leaking Issue:Did have two Texans on hand to test Nielson 294 g bullet, but brother's Texan developed a leak through pressure gauge. Mine had developed the same leak through pressure gauge last summer so that may be something to keep an eye on. It's an easy 5 minute fix but you need a spare gauge and teflon tape but WARNING tank needs to be empty. Airforce did send me a free gauge.
 
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Good stuff, @Kev. Yes, I learned way more about my Texan than the bullet as well! I went through 2/3rds of its hammer adjustability at various fill pressures from 2500-3000. Was looking for the tightest 3 shot spread. Mine was dialed to shoot 144gn balls (at 2700 psi..). There was serious drama while I was tweaking the gun for the NSA's.. The MOST important thing I learned was that the Texan's hammer adjustment is NOT linear.. As in, I was slowly backing it down (and getting tighter and tighter 1-3 spreads) and it completely fell off a cliff. I had a bullet stuck 12" up the barrel. S#*T.. When I tried to shoot it out, I blew the tiny o-ring off the bottle/valve. Luckily, my .177" cal cleaning rods fit into the hollow point and I was able to hammer it back out of the breach end without touching the bore. 

It's been my understanding that the Texan self regulates to some degree, with heavy bullets via back pressure holding the valve open longer. So, I was backing the power down incrementally from the 144gn ball set up and it was awesome- until it wasn't. 

I used up all but 10 bullets by the time I was able to shoot these 100yd groups. I'm going to get my hands on more and continue fine tuning the gun and my technique. On the to-do list is cranking the power up into the last 1/3rd of its adjustment and test fill pressures there. Would love to see the same 400+ fpe you got. 

End of the day, it'll be great if NSA can share our set-up data with other Texan owners who want to try this bullet. 

Thanks for sharing your experience on this!

Brian
 
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My Texan is boosted way up in power and shoots them great as well, I am over 600 ft lbs and you can even get 700 out of them but air usage is super high.

The thing with the pressure setting is not that the Texan is more accurate at those pressures but if you fill to a lower pressure you get less PSI drop between shots. If you are tethered the gun groups great at 2K, 2.5K, 3.0K or even 3500 PSI if your spring will open the valve. Filling to a lower pressure just makes the PSI from shot to more consistent.

I just keep my power setting a bit towards the breach from the middle and leave it. If I only shot one bullet I would probably take the time to find the best setting. I put a 1000 cc bottle on my gun because of the power I am producing.

As far as distance, you can go 200 yards with no issues with this slug, I am sure past that as well but I have not shot it that far.
 
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Great info, Nick. I plan to have a 150 yard range shootable in the next 2 weeks. Can't wait to see what various NSA slugs will do at that distance. Also looking forward to really stretching out my small bore stuff. 

In this pic, the bench is at the garage you can see if you really zoom way in. Used the tractor and laser to find the 150yd line. Will have to raise the target about 8 feet to make it a level 150yds due to topography.
https://imgur.com/ESnSe
 
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