First shot was low in the circle just below the dot. 2nd shot was high & right. First time w/cast bullets in the fireball but not new to cast bullets. I shoot them in 30/30, 308, 30-06, 45/70 & several pistol calibers. I loaded 20 rounds & pulled the remaining 18. All checked out. I used a kinetic puller and all the gas checks remained attached when pulled. It was def. Blue Dot. Black plastic bottle, in the white box near the bottom it has CE 0519. In yellow ink, somewhat smudged is 08 LOT 258 the best I can make of it. The first shot sounded normal, sort of like a 22mag on steroids. The bolt opened fine, the case looked fine, primer looked fine. The second shot sounded somewhat like a muzzleloader going off only faster. More like a snap, bang, boom.
I've shot approximately 100 rounds of 40gr v-max's, worked up to 15gr of Lil Gun, everything was great with that load. Love the little Fireball cartridge. Headspace was set using a Remington once fired, full length sized in a RCBS sizer, then using the scotch tape method. Screw the bbl down on the cartridge snug, add a slice of tape. The bolt would close to about the 3 o'clock position. Added 2 slice's of tape and the bolt would go to about 1 o'clock. Re inserted the single slice of tape on the cartridge and tightened the nut up on the barrel. I don't think headspace is an issue because I've fired about 100 rounds previous to the cast bullet. I cleaned the barrel using Hoppe's #9 copper solvent followed by a dry patch. There was very little to none copper fouling. I talked to Douglas and they told me to send the barrel back to them & they'd check it out to see if I can still use it or if I have to hang it above my reload bench as a conversation piece.