Yesterday was a range chronograph day with one of my 1911's. Among the load recipes to be tested was a 185 JHP using Power Pistol.
Looking in my chronograph notes from a couple years ago, I found that I had already loaded these bullets at 8.8 and 9.0 grains. My 8.8 notes state "need to work up" (1066 f/s). There were no notes on the 9.0 (1083 f/s); but they were tested a month after the 8.8's (Sept/Oct '13).
So I figured I'd load 12 each at 8.8, 9.0, & 9.2. I recently got QuickLOAD, and it yielded velocities nearly in line with the 2013 data. So I figured I was on the right track.
The first shot ROARED downrange at 1121 f/s. The second 1130. Third 1137. You get the idea. These things were potent, to say the least. From the first shot, I knew these were nothing like any 45 ACP round I've ever fired; and were actually a little near magnum-like in feel/sound - ok, at least they didn't sound/feel anything like a 45 ACP; that's for sure. From the first shot, I knew I wasn't going to test the 9.0's; much less the 9.2's. In the forefront of my mind, I knew that Power Pistol doesn't exactly have a reputation for being forgiving. It's highly energetic stuff.
After putting 10 shots downrange, I couldn't bring myself to shooting any more for fear of firearm damage. I was running a 20Lb spring; otherwise, I would have stopped at the first shot. This is NOT how I treat my guns.
Why so much difference between yesterday's results, and results from two years ago? I think I know what happened. In June '14, I replaced my scale (an RCBS 510 from 1984) because it was giving inconsistent readings. I think it was doing so - unnoticed - prior to June '14. Most likely, it was reading heavy (thus yielding light charges) at the time, and I just didn't know. The take-away here is to not reference any of my data from prior to June '14 - at least, not when it comes to near-max rounds.
I'll go back to the drawing board with the 185/PP loading (I have like 800 of these bullets). But I'll start at 8.2, and try 8.4 also. It's not likely I'll go further. If they run in the 1075 f/s neighborhood, I'll be satisfied. Again, I don't like beating up my guns.
The actual OAL was 1.205 (both now, and in 2013 - via plunk test). In order to tweek QL to align with the actual velocity, I had to move it down to 1.150. It's an Everglades jacketed bullet; and has a length of .540 - for those who want to QL the data for themselves.
So I got to inertia pull 26 bullets last night
That's the most I've had to pull in a long time. I take a certain amount of pride in rarely having to pull bullets. Ate a little crow yesterday.
For the record, I'm going to have a mini-light show with the pulled powder. But will re-flare the brass and re-use the bullets. The recovered brass/bullets will be loaded as a separate batch; and they'll just be a light loading of TiteGroup. They aren't going to go back into the Power Pistol rounds.
Looking in my chronograph notes from a couple years ago, I found that I had already loaded these bullets at 8.8 and 9.0 grains. My 8.8 notes state "need to work up" (1066 f/s). There were no notes on the 9.0 (1083 f/s); but they were tested a month after the 8.8's (Sept/Oct '13).
So I figured I'd load 12 each at 8.8, 9.0, & 9.2. I recently got QuickLOAD, and it yielded velocities nearly in line with the 2013 data. So I figured I was on the right track.
The first shot ROARED downrange at 1121 f/s. The second 1130. Third 1137. You get the idea. These things were potent, to say the least. From the first shot, I knew these were nothing like any 45 ACP round I've ever fired; and were actually a little near magnum-like in feel/sound - ok, at least they didn't sound/feel anything like a 45 ACP; that's for sure. From the first shot, I knew I wasn't going to test the 9.0's; much less the 9.2's. In the forefront of my mind, I knew that Power Pistol doesn't exactly have a reputation for being forgiving. It's highly energetic stuff.
After putting 10 shots downrange, I couldn't bring myself to shooting any more for fear of firearm damage. I was running a 20Lb spring; otherwise, I would have stopped at the first shot. This is NOT how I treat my guns.
Why so much difference between yesterday's results, and results from two years ago? I think I know what happened. In June '14, I replaced my scale (an RCBS 510 from 1984) because it was giving inconsistent readings. I think it was doing so - unnoticed - prior to June '14. Most likely, it was reading heavy (thus yielding light charges) at the time, and I just didn't know. The take-away here is to not reference any of my data from prior to June '14 - at least, not when it comes to near-max rounds.
I'll go back to the drawing board with the 185/PP loading (I have like 800 of these bullets). But I'll start at 8.2, and try 8.4 also. It's not likely I'll go further. If they run in the 1075 f/s neighborhood, I'll be satisfied. Again, I don't like beating up my guns.
The actual OAL was 1.205 (both now, and in 2013 - via plunk test). In order to tweek QL to align with the actual velocity, I had to move it down to 1.150. It's an Everglades jacketed bullet; and has a length of .540 - for those who want to QL the data for themselves.
So I got to inertia pull 26 bullets last night
That's the most I've had to pull in a long time. I take a certain amount of pride in rarely having to pull bullets. Ate a little crow yesterday. For the record, I'm going to have a mini-light show with the pulled powder. But will re-flare the brass and re-use the bullets. The recovered brass/bullets will be loaded as a separate batch; and they'll just be a light loading of TiteGroup. They aren't going to go back into the Power Pistol rounds.
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