A-Square Bullets Monolithic Solids (Load data & Introduction)

JeffConn

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Hello all,

This is a first time post. I've been pouring over threads on this site (forum) for the past week after enjoying dinner at a collegue's home for dinner. He's hunted all over Alaska, the lower 48, and Africa. He and his wife's trophy room was fabulous. My wife and I listened to stories all night about his hunts, eating only what they fish & hunt for, etc. We left excited to start hunting more ourselves, and supplying our own food. Note, we live in Alaska so the hunting of large game is out our back door.

To the point. I've been shopping for a 375 h&h for the past couple weeks (and believe I've found a nice Winchester Model 70 Alaskan in 375 h&h), though have purchased reloading materials prior to purchasing a gun. I actually enjoy loading more than shooting most of the time. I purchased some older 300 gr, 0.375", A-Square Monolithic Solids, though am unable to find any loading data, either in my reloading books or online.

Do any of you have published data that you'd be willing to pass along for start/max loads for this bullet? I currently have access to H4350, a myriad of LMRP's, and R-P, Hornady, and some antique Winchester brass (this brass if for the nostalgia only as I don't plan to load it).

I'm not sure if this it is okay to ask this on this site, so if not, let me know.

Thanks,
Jeff
 
Hello all,

This is a first time post. I've been pouring over threads on this site (forum) for the past week after enjoying dinner at a collegue's home for dinner. He's hunted all over Alaska, the lower 48, and Africa. He and his wife's trophy room was fabulous. My wife and I listened to stories all night about his hunts, eating only what they fish & hunt for, etc. We left excited to start hunting more ourselves, and supplying our own food. Note, we live in Alaska so the hunting of large game is out our back door.

To the point. I've been shopping for a 375 h&h for the past couple weeks (and believe I've found a nice Winchester Model 70 Alaskan in 375 h&h), though have purchased reloading materials prior to purchasing a gun. I actually enjoy loading more than shooting most of the time. I purchased some older 300 gr, 0.375", A-Square Monolithic Solids, though am unable to find any loading data, either in my reloading books or online.

Do any of you have published data that you'd be willing to pass along for start/max loads for this bullet? I currently have access to H4350, a myriad of LMRP's, and R-P, Hornady, and some antique Winchester brass (this brass if for the nostalgia only as I don't plan to load it).

I'm not sure if this it is okay to ask this on this site, so if not, let me know.

Thanks,
Jeff
@JeffConn
Hello and welcome to AH forums . You are definitely in the right place . I do possess an old catalog of A Square ( from 1996 ) . I do not know how much it shall assist you , but I can send you some of the pages .
 
I wouldn’t shoot them if it were me, they are apparently very hard on rifling.
@Wyatt Smith
That is pinpoint accurate . The lack of bands on the A Square naval bronze monolithic solid bullets , were responsible for driving up pressures and increasing barrel strain greatly . I have personally seen one BSA ( Birmingham Small Arms ) Majestic rifle in .458 Winchester Magnum , which had the barrel rifling almost completely worn through . Due to prolonged use with 465 grain A Square monolithic solid factory loads .
 
Wyatt Smith & Professore Mawla, interesting. These may not be an ideal first load after all. It would seem to me that a bronze bullet, being less hard than steel, would not wear the rifling excessively. I can see fouling the barrel, though would not expect erosion, though it sounds as if this is common knowledge with this bullet?
 
Wyatt Smith & Professore Mawla, interesting. These may not be an ideal first load after all. It would seem to me that a bronze bullet, being less hard than steel, would not wear the rifling excessively. I can see fouling the barrel, though would not expect erosion, though it sounds as if this is common knowledge with this bullet?
@JeffConn
I have arranged for a student of mine to email me the catalog , and I have forwarded the email to you . Please let me know if you have received it .
 
@JeffConn
I have arranged for a student of mine to email me the catalog , and I have forwarded the email to you . Please let me know if you have received it .
@Professor Mawla

Yes, I received the literature, thank you very much! It doesn't include loading data, but is a great piece to have none the less.

Never assume a sales-man is telling the absolute truth it appears.
Quote from the A-Square literature your student passed along regarding the Monolithic bullet.
"... It delivers higher velocity with lower pressure and less barrel wear than ordinary FMJ "solids"."

It seems folks have found the opposite to be the case with this bullet. Again, thanks for passing that along.
 
Yes^^ you have been given good advice here.
For any monolithic copper, bronze or brass bullet or one of similar alloy, I would study the construction detail very carefully. A good example is the design ancestry of the current Barnes TSX model... a very good and proven bullet. It is a copper monolithic and is somewhat malleable yet in it's original X bullet form with a solid smooth shank, it was, IMO, a terrible failure for several reasons. It fouled heavily and it ran pressures very high, unpredictably, with certain loads and was inherently inaccurate because of those facts. It was not a "friendly" bullet the few times I tried it. Bullet companies even tried coating those smooth shanked monolithics with various materials to reduce the negative effects the design- largely without success. Remember the blue coated monolithics? After years of denial, Barnes finally corrected the problem with a solution that had been hiding in plain sight since the 1820s or earlier. A bullet with drive bands! "Think drive bands" when searching for possible monolithic bullets to try.
 
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A-Square data just for reference.

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