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Posted: 8/18/2014 1:00:23 PM EDT
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Today, the family and I shot a bunch of ammo over a chronograph. Various loads, handgun and rifle. Here is the data, and I would like some feedback.
For the .380, .357 and .45 Unique powder was used. .38 SPL was Titegroup .30-30, .223, .243 were all IMR 4895 and are quite accurate .30-06 is H4350 and is quite accurate. Everything was thrown through my RCBS Uniflow powder measure, and I check about every 10 rounds. I am satisfied within .1 grains for the pistols and .2 for the rifle rounds at that throw. For the rifles, appropriate hunting accuracy is acceptable. I can routinely shoot 1.25 inch groups and down to .75 groups from my .30-06. The .223 today was about .75 inch and the .243 was a bit bigger. All are repeatable. I mainly wanted to shoot the chornograph to check my loading techniques. .380 Ruger LCP 95 Speer TMJ 3.9 Unique (had trouble getting the chrono to read this) 740 766 781 760 677 AV - 745 ES - 104 AD - 40 My evaluation on this is that the Unique hangs up sometimes and a slight variation may cause the velocity extremes due to the small powder volume overall. 45 ACP Springfield XDS 5.5 Unique 185 LSWC 706 813 771 686 781 792 790 758 753 764 AV - 761 ES - 126 AD - 39 Evaluation for me here is the same as with the .380, I am thinking the extreme ones were from a bad throw. I have a lot of these loaded (some 230 grains as well), and don't plan to pull them as everything shoots fine, and not problems with cycling in this or my 1911, and plenty accurate for MOBG (minute of bad guy). 38 SPL 125 gr Meister RNFP 4.0 Titegroup Ruger GP 100 (one bad reading) 913 900 921 924 908 917 900 924 879 AV-910 ES - 45 AD - 15 Very satisfied with this. Titegroup metered like butter. Plan to stick with this load as long as I can find it, and may change the .45 and .380 over in the future when I get rid of the less than 2 lbs of Unique I have left. 357 GP100 8.7 Unique 125 Sierra JSP (only 6 shots) 1226 1288 1317 1279 1246 1269 AV - 1271 ES - 90 AD - 32 Pretty good, and I think it may be a little better than the .380 and .45 due to a larger powder amount so a .1 or so difference in charge weight won't have as much effect on velocity as with a charge half the size. I may look at a ball powder here as well. .223 NEF (pre Rem) 25.0 IMR4895 50 Sierra 1330 3113 3146 3199 3105 3146 AV-3142 ES-94 AD-37 Not sure about that one high one, but I did shoot a 3/4" group today with this load, and it kills varmints with authority. No plan to change, and I have a bunch loaded. .243 Mossberg ATR100 95 SST 32 IMR 4895. Loaded to get my daughter started in shooting, plan to have my FIL shoot this in September on Antelope, although it is a little low on the velocity side. Shot a sub 1" group today. Also have a lot of bullets to test with this gun, from 60 to 95 grains. 2618 2608 2643 2646 2662 AV-2635 ES-54 AD-22 Very pleased with the string. As my daughter gets older, plan to load closer to max velocities. She can't hunt deer for 4 years anyway, so going to stick with the varmint bullets for now. .30-06 Sears 53 150 Speer Hot Cor Spz, 57 H4350 2853 2868 2801 2823 2860 AV 2841 ES 66 AD 28 Very pleased here as well. Have a bunch loaded. Kills deer and antelope quick, no reason to change and no plans to change. 22" barrel, and 2 grains under the max in Speer 13. I think a 24" barrel near max could turn 2950 to 3000 easy. .30-30 Marlin Texan 18" barrel 26.5 gr IMR 4895 170 Speer HCFP 1762 1720 1674 1653 1669 AV 1696 ES 109 AD 45 Again, like the .223 a bit confused for the ES, especially with how well the .243 did with only slightly larger charges. It just may have been one little fluke to get in there an extra bit of powder, but still well under max, and no problems at all. Have killed bear, lion, badger and beaver. No plans to change at all. Thanks for any input. |
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Id look at COL and crimp. Setback could cause changes as could inconsistent crimp caused by your technique or trim length. Most reloaders report better accuracy with no crimp if its safe to do so. You didnt list col not that it matters to us but I wonder how diligent you are with checking it as you load. Ive noticed on my press col tends to creep a bit as I load a string. Its .001s at a time but it does trend up or down it seems. Could be my press getting warmer with use or just my press wearing.... anything... if you load 100s at a time it could matter. Lastly... different headstamp brass will have different volume and affect velocity like this. If you are loading mixed, this is almost certainly the issue.
Im no expert.... just how I would read the data and self critique if it were me. Id also be interested in chrony technique. Perhaps it wasnt reading right as it seems you are new to using a chrony maybe you had it set up wrong somehow? Also, the data strings seem to have trends as opposed to random spread. The values go up steadily, go down, go back up maybe, but with what looks to be a trend. Perhaps look at how you shot, same time between shots? Was it partly cloudy such that at various times you were in full sun and others under a random cloud? The more I look at the data and the trends i pointed to earlier, I feel as though the loads are not causing a higher ES, it may be conditions or the chrony itself. |
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"Unique can give wide results based on where the powder is in the case when firing. Either against the bullet or against the primer.
This may be more promenent with larger cases such as 44 Special or 45 Colt than 38 Special. Try tipping the barrel up ( powder positioned towards the primer ) or down ( powder positioned by the bullet ) before each shot and do it the same for the string. " Old school advice. IMHO, this alone , given good consistent case charging practices... will help lower your SD and ES with the Unique reloads. |
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Thanks for the feedback everyone. The .38, .380, and .45 are all mixed brass. I did not consider that in the velocity differences.
For the autos functionality is most important. I have factory loads for SD. The .357 is for hunting and it shoots well enough for that purpose. The .38 loads are for light practice for the 357. All the other guns are hunting guns. I need them to be repeatable accuracy wise. I have had the chrony for as long as I have reloaded but got hung up on velocity and forgot about accuracy. Spent the last few years concentrating on accuracy and have specific loads for each purpose and decided to see what additional info the chrony might tell me. |
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