Curl,

I didn't even attempt to chronograph shots while shooting at a target because I'm certain that doing so will throw off the regulation. The chronograph worked perfectly, I just didn't have six cartridges so that's why there were only five velocities reported. After the last shooting session, I lost my first case but that was my fault I'm pretty sure. When I was resizing the cases, I heard a cracking sound as I ran the last case into the resizing die. The mouth split for about 1/4" starting at the mouth and I know why. I had annealed those cases before the forming operation but not afterwards. I had thought that the cases were moving by such a small amount between firing and resizing that work hardening wouldn't be a problem but I figured wrong! If I had annealed again after forming, that case probably would not have cracked. Now I think that I'll anneal after every firing just to be safe. I want these cases to last as long as possible for obvious reasons.

Regarding the power of this rifle, it is indeed very similar to the 10-bore Paradox. The hole size is smaller but the amount of lead and the muzzle velocities are about the same--at least with my current load. With proper regulation, the velocities and /or bullet weight might need to increase. One thing that I'm sure of is that the powder that I'm using is not the equal of Curtis's & Harvey's number 6. We found that out during our Express rifle tests. Another thing with this rifle is that I'll bet that you can use a very wide range of projectile types in it. With a 27" twist, it will stabilize a bullet that is around 2" long! Steel-cored as well as explosive projectiles are possible and may have been one of the reasons for this unusual design. Explosive projectiles would have been very effective against tiger and other thin-skinned game and lead-sheathed, steel-cored projectiles of this weight could have been used against elephants, gaur or other "iron plated monsters" as Captain Forsyth referred to them. I, of course, have no direct experience so this is purely conjecture. Since volumes 1-9 of the Holland & Holland day books were destroyed during the London bombings of WWII, we will probably never know. I still hold out hope that I'll uncover some writings of Prince Esterhazy that might shed some light on this subject but barring that happening I'm almost certainly out of luck in this respect.

I really wonder if better regulation could be achieved with that fine-grained Olde Eynsford 2F powder that seems to be so elusive. I might try the coarse-grained version that I have just to see if there is any difference at all between it and the 1-1/2F Olde Eynsford that I have been using so far. One thing is clear and that's that I need a bit more recoil to achieve proper regulation. Fortunately, this rifle is so well designed that this doesn't worry me. It handles very well during recoil and doesn't exhibit any nasty tendencies. My fingers haven't been banged around yet. The 8-bore cracked my middle finger bone because of the trigger guard! So far, the "Bone Crusher" name seems to refer to the intended target and not the shooter

Regards,

Jim