Anyway, here is a list of CBA competitors who agg'd 1.100" or better at the 2016 Nationals. I'll refer to these shooters as the "serious competitors." Obviously it is an incomplete list of serious competitors because not all of them attended the 2016 Nationals and some who did attend may have had an off day. Nonetheless the list should serve to give us an idea of state-of-the-art CBA practices.
1) Nearly all serious competitors use a 30 BR. Why not a 6PPC like the jacketed boys? Well, one serious competitor did use a PPC, and he does well at 100 yards, but the 75 - 80 grain bullets he shoots are disadvantaged at 200 yards due to wind drift.
2) The average rifling twist was 12.3 inches. Even though the traditional twist for 30 caliber is 10 inches, serious competitors have moved to slower twists. IMHO, they need to keep moving, to 13 or 14 inch twists, with a Miller Stability Factor of 1.3 - 1.5.
3) The average bullet RPM was 118,000. I can accept that because the laws of physics tell us that our imperfectly balanced cast bullets will wobble more as they are spun faster, and I know from personal experience that it's challenging to get consistently good accuracy with cast bullets at 160,000 - 200,000 rpm.
4) While my chart did not include alloys, nearly all serious CBA competitors use linotype. I would suggest that switching to heat treated reclaimed shot would be just as accurate, if not more so, plus the denser alloy would increase their bullet's G1 ballistic coefficient by about 0.010.
Next step, let's assume that 118,000 RPM is a valid limitation. Let's also assume that a Miller Stability Factor of 1.3 is optimal for the ranges involved (jacketed benchrest favors a SF=1.3. A higher SF requires higher RPMs which hurts accuracy). For now we'll stick with linotype spitzer bullets, even though I prefer reclaimed shot. What combinations of twist, RPM, and velocity will yield 118,000 RPM and SF=1.3?
According to our chart, a 130 gr. at 2950 fps would do the job, but few casters are comfortable with 2950 fps, so let's limit ourselves to a modest velocity that has been proven capable of competitive accuracy -- say, 2300 fps. At 2300 fps, our chart says we should shoot a 180 gr. lino spitzer from a 14" twist.
This Mountain Molds spitzer weighs 185 - 195 gr. depending on the alloy. Stability factors in a 14" twist at standard atmospheric conditions:
-- lino @ 2100 fps, SF=1.28
-- lino @ 2200 fps, SF=1.30
-- lino @ 2300 fps, SF=1.32
-- reclaimed shot @ 2000 fps, SF=1.31
-- reclaimed shot @ 2100 fps, SF=1.33
-- reclaimed shot @ 2200 fps, SF=1.35
-- reclaimed shot @ 2300 fps, SF=1.37
Note that the denser alloy has a higher stability factor -- yet another reason to use reclaimed shot rather than linotype.
The ~190 grain spitzer has a calculated G1 ballistic coefficient of 0.34". I'm skeptical of calculated BC's, in real life the BC is almost always lower. Nonetheless let's look at wind drift using the calculated BC and assuming a 10 mph wind:
2000 fps, 100 yards = 1.6", 200 yards = 6.7"
2100 fps, 100 yards = 1.5", 200 yards = 6.2"
2200 fps, 100 yards = 1.4", 200 yards = 5.8"
2300 fps, 100 yards = 1.3", 200 yards = 5.5"
While unimpressive by jacketed standards, that's respectable drift for a CBA load.
To sum things up, I suspect CBA competitors could gain a little accuracy -- and by "little" I mean a few hundredths -- by replacing their 12" twists with a 14" twist.
All that said, if I am ever able to shoot in CBA matches I'll probably use something different than everybody else just to prove that it can be done.
