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Posted: 10/10/2009 5:52:28 PM EDT
| For a short barrel revolver can you use faster burning powders to get more velocity? Has anyone done any pressure tests? |
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Max. chamber pressure occurs only fractions of inches of barrel travel. For a given caliber, projectile, and powder, the optimum load for a 2" barrel is roughly going to be the same for a 5" barrel. By optimum, I mean the MAP is not exceeded and the muzzle velocity is maximized. You can change to a faster burning powder, but it will not help that much. As an example, for a 44 mag 240 grain Speer Gold Dot, changing from 2400 to Bullseye and readjusting powder quantity to stay below the MAP results in slightly lower speed for the Bullseye in both the 2" and 5" barrel.
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Use published load data.
A short barrel revolver is a compromise and muzzle velocity wouldn't be my first concern as it's going to be used up close where bullet speed is high with about any load used. I'm more concerned about the fireball around the muzzle and cylinder. |
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Probably not. Most snubs are chambered in lower pressure rounds so the velocity loss is not as bad as you might imagine anyway.
What faster powders will get you is much less fireball though. For example a slow powder like Blue Dot in .38 special will make a huge fireball, but H. Universal will not. Velocities will be about the same. (actually I'm moving more and more to using H. Univ. for all my non-magnum handgun loads) |
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