Dog Town Bullets

[lakota]

I tried loading the Dog Town bullets I ordered from Midway and I am going to send them back. After a few of them dropped down into neck sized cases, I measured them with dial calipers. the 10 I measured ranged from .200" to .202". Not one of the ten measured out to .204". At $9.99 per 100 I guess I got what I paid for.

Scott.

[Silverfox]

Too bad they didn't work out for you. Do you think there's a possibility your sizing die could have had some problems on those casings where the bullets dropped down into the casing? What kind of a neck sizing die were you using? Also, in my experience, many less expensive dial calipers will not give you precision reading out to the third decimal and beyond. I would suggest that you try a high-quality micrometer instead.

[WrzWaldo]

lakota,

How many do you have? I've never had any problems from the few boxes I have shot.

WW

[Silverfox]

lakota-- Someone sent 20 of the 34 gr. Midway Dogtown bullets to me a while back and I just went down to my reloading room and measured the diameter of the shank on 5 of them with my Mitutoyo tubing micrometer and measured the shank on all 20 of them with my digital caliper. The measurement I got on the 5 with the mic was .204" and with the digital caliper was .204". The ones I have seem to be extremely consistent in diameter.

If I were you, I'd contact Midway and either ask for a refund or replacement bullets. If you are going to have to return them, try asking for a return shipping label so you don't wind up paying for the shipping. Good luck

[lakota]

I measured them with Lyman Dial Calipers. My neck sizing die is a Lee Collet Die. I can take two cases size them both and a Dog Town will fall right down into the case, while any of the other bullet brands I have(Sierra, Nosler, Berger, Hornady) all are hard to start by hand and then seat snugly. I was hoping these would work out, they are a nice price.

[greystone]

I have only Bergers and Dog Towns on hand right now. All the Dog Towns that I have measured come in at .203-slightly undersized but everyone is the same while the Bergers do measure .204. I haven't had any problems with the Dog Towns in FL sized cases and have found them to be very accurate. Certainly beat my expectaions anyway! I'm gonna load up on these things. Got some once fired brass now that I'll neck size to see what happens. They work for me

[lakota]

I have only Bergers and Dog Towns on hand right now. All the Dog Towns that I have measured come in at .203-slightly undersized but everyone is the same while the Bergers do measure .204. I haven't had any problems with the Dog Towns in FL sized cases and have found them to be very accurate. Certainly beat my expectaions anyway! I'm gonna load up on these things. Got some once fired brass now that I'll neck size to see what happens. They work for me

Let me know what happens with neck sized brass. All I have is a neck sizer right now, but I want to get a FL sizer when I have a couple extra bucks.

[Ahab]

Hmmm, I ran out to my reloading room and "miked" a dozen or so of my Dogtowns. All were .204. Guess you got a bad batch. I too use the LEE collet neck sizer.

[greystone]

I opened my second box of Dog Towns today. The ones I measured were all at .203. I also measured my Bergers again at the same time and they were all at .204. I've been playing around with some Dog Town loads and they can be very accurate. It will take more time to get everything figured out. Today I loaded some Dog Towns and Bergers in FL sized cases. Paid very close attention and thought the Bergers slipped into the cases with just a little more effort. I won't neck size until I get this batch of brass once fired. That won't be too long tho.

[greystone]

I have only Bergers and Dog Towns on hand right now. All the Dog Towns that I have measured come in at .203-slightly undersized but everyone is the same while the Bergers do measure .204. I haven't had any problems with the Dog Towns in FL sized cases and have found them to be very accurate. Certainly beat my expectaions anyway! I'm gonna load up on these things. Got some once fired brass now that I'll neck size to see what happens. They work for me

Let me know what happens with neck sized brass. All I have is a neck sizer right now, but I want to get a FL sizer when I have a couple extra bucks.

I'm also using a Lee collet die and just neck sized some of my once fired cases. I loaded up 21 cases test rounds with Dog Towns without any problems. You can tighten down you die a little and that might help but if they vary as much as you say they do then I would send them back too.. BTW just out of curiosity I opened a third box and they all measure .204-at least the ones I checked. Dave

[Joker]

What loads and COAL are you all using for the dogtowns? I tried to seat them at around 2.24 or above an they seam to fly all over. Any suggestions?

[jo191145]

Joker

The past two or three weeks I've been working with the 35 Bergers and Win 748.
I've been using the 34 Dogtowns for economical foulers as I want five minimum down the tube before I start.
They've been shooting quite well as arbitrary foulers.
I'm loading them with 29.2gns of 748 at 2.235 COAL. Velocity averaging around 3950.
The 29.2 is what works well with the Bergs and the length is what my seater sets them to according to the Bergs.
I suspect another .1-.2 gns of powder would be in order for the 34's.
Work up to this load as its max or a touch above according to book data and never leave rds loaded with 748 cooking in the sun.

I'm using Nosler FL sized brass and Fed 205 Match primers.
An old lot of CCI-450 primers shot real nice but a new lot did not do so well.
A very old lot of Winchester primers works well also but I trust the newer 205's for competition.
BR-4's and Rem 7.5's were pathetic.

So far the 34's are running at a rough average of .5 moa at 200yds as foulers. Depending on the primers used and how clean I scrubbed the barrel.
The last group I shot with the 35's and Fed 205's was .408 at 200. Good enough for me.
When I get time I'll try tweaking the 34's.

[Joker]

Thanks. I had some loaded with 25.5g of 10x win brass and Fed205 primer but i think my COAL was too long. I think i will lower my COAL and see what happens, if not will try your load. Thanks for the help.

[glenn asher]

I had excellent results with the Dogtowns in South Dakota last week. They did what you'd expect, anyway, killing rats isn't hard work. I pushed them down the pipe with 27.3 Benchmark, and oddly enough, they shot to the same trajectory as the 32 VMs and NBTs which were moving along at about the same velocity (roughly 3940 or so). I managed to keep the same sight picture all with all three bullets all the way out to 300 yards, too. I was having so much fun, I forgot to complain about them not feeding thru my Savage's magazine worth a hoot.

I had enough trouble with a Lee Collet Die. that I just threw it away, didn't even try to send it back. Never again, period. I'd adjusted it, turned down the collet, everything I could think of, and it never held the bullets in the cases firmly enough. After several attempts, I just gave up and tossed it. Lesson learned, no serious harm done.

[Varmint Laser]

As an aside, every Lee Collet Die I have ever used needed to have the mandrel reduced in size. Usually by .0005 in order to hold a bullet properly.

I am using a bushing die for the 204 and like it mucho better.
Scott