Ok, so here's the range report. Both the Lee Real 300gr and the Mini 435gr were lubed with SPG and these target pics are all at 100 yards, from a bench of course.
In this pic the hole to the far right was shot using 100gr FF. The second shot of 100gr FF was a million miles away. So, scratch the 100gr load. I then used 110gr GOEX FF on the three remaining Lee Real bullets I had and got the 4-3/4" three shot spread. For 100 yards it's "deer kill" accurate.
Then I went to the 435gr Mini lubed with SPG. While the 300gr Lee's grouped a bit to the right, these Mini's hit more POA. Using 100gr GOEX FF as a charge these came in at the 4.25" respectable "deer kill" at 100 yards as well. Now, the odd\interesting\maybe slightly scary thing about these Mini's is the fact (as my previous post stated) that they darn near "drop" down the barrel with very little force. Of course being that these Mini's have that "hollow base" provides them with rifle engagement once the "boom" enlarges the base.
Now, my experiment was not quite yet done with the Mini's. I have a Lee Universal Expander die that came with two expander "Plugs". So, what I did was took three Mini's, placed the base over the free-standing expander plug and gave the Mini a "hit" to drive the base into the expander....and thus enlarging the diameter of the base. It isn't a hard hit to accomplish this and the Mini's then had friction when ramming them down the tube.
I used the same 100gr FF GOEX for these....but the results were quite different. As the picture shows, a three shot group spread to a unimpressive 7.5" group at 100 yards. Now, being that my "hammer" taps were not consistent on each Mini may account for the larger spread. Or it may be the Mini's just don't like being smacked. I'm thinking when I hit 'em it may have caused a non-concentric base to form, and the bullet left the barrel a bit off or lopsided. I dunno.
I am concerned with just how easy these Mini's drop and of course, my concern is the Mini will work away from the seated charge when the rifle is bounced around in hunting season. And we all know the negatives of how that works. In any event, that's the range report. Well....that and I'm darn near outta FF powder!!