I thought I'd drag my three Smith 686's out to the range and chronograph some of my more common loadings. I have three 686's: a 3", a 4", and an 8-3/8" safe queen.
Just for fun, I wanted to see how different barrel lengths performed in the real world. All are 10-round samples.
First on the list, was a Hornady 180gn XTP, under 13.3gns of W296. R-P non-nickel brass. CCI 550. The max in Hornady 9th is 13.7 grains. I never worked this loading beyond 13.3. I'm out of W296, out of 180 XTP's, and not getting any more of either. So that's that.
686+ 3": 973 f/s
686 4": 1055 f/s
686 8": 1020 f/s
It is noteworthy that the 8" bbl yielded less velocity than the 4". I believe it may have been different had I continued to work this load up farther. I don't have much experience with the heavy 180's, but my gut tells me that the W296 was just starting to come into its own at 13.3 grains. A bigger charge may have yielded a more favorable result through the 8".
Next, we have a Speer 158gn UCSP (UniCore Soft Point - fancy name aside, it's your basic jacketed soft point), with gobs of W296. It's a recipe that I have been loading for decades and is in compliance with Speer #10; but not Speer #14. In the context of this post, the charge weight isn't important and we all need to do our own load workups for safety. Mixed nickel brass; CCI 550.
686 3": 1153 f/s
686 4": 1242 f/s
686 8": 1278 f/s
Results are what I expected, but only because I've chronoed this recipe a few times over the years. I have always thought the 8" bbl would do a little better here. But it didn't; and hasn't over the years.
Next on the list, we have again the 158gn Speer UCSP; with a quantity of 2400 slightly above the Speer #14 max. 2400 is new to me (replacing W296) and this load work up is fairly new. At this charge level, there are no signs of pressure. It shoots nice. I'm very pleased with it; as it's exactly what I want/expect from a full-throttle 158/357 mag round. And I plan on keeping this slightly above published max as my "set" load (which is out of character for me). R-P non-nickel brass; CCI 500.
686 3": 1157 f/s
686 4": 1239 f/s
686 8": 1239 f/s (same as 4" - not a typo)
I was rather surprised that the 8" bbl yielded no velocity gain. I suspect that peak velocity would be through a 6" bbl - just a guess. The barrel/cylinder gap, coupled with the high-friction of the large jacketed bullet, kills any velocity gain by the longer barrel. Again, just my guess.
Moving to another 158 UCSP load that I commonly shoot. And that is 9.0gn of HS-6. Mixed brass; CCI 550 (all my 357Mag/HS-6 loadings get mag primers). I load and shoot a lot of these. They're short of full-power; but are still plenty potent and are fun to shoot.
686 3": 1068 f/s
686 4": 1137 f/s
686 8": 1128 f/s
The 8" bbl yielding a lower velocity here doesn't surprise me - by design. This loading was purpose built to be "balanced and proper" thorough my 3" & 4" bbl 686's. HS-6 is an intermediate speed propellant and in this application, it is pretty much exhausted by the time the bullet is much past the 4" mark inside the barrel.
Finally, I moved to a lighter Speer 125 UCHP. Under it is another pet load of mine - 9.2gn Unique. Again, an intermediate propellant, so the 8" results were not surprising.
686 3": 1284 f/s
686 4": 1376 f/s
686 8": 1362 f/s
It may seem that my 8-3/8" 686 doesn't perform well. But I also chronographed four factory defense rounds today, and the 8" really shined. Most of them were lighter bullets under (presumably) slow powders. Since I didn't load them, I will post those results under the Revolver section of TFL.
It was a long day at the range. Shooting a lot of full-power rounds. Tore a layer of skin off my thumb, and blistered my trigger finger. Small sacrifice for all this awesome information to share
.
Just for fun, I wanted to see how different barrel lengths performed in the real world. All are 10-round samples.
First on the list, was a Hornady 180gn XTP, under 13.3gns of W296. R-P non-nickel brass. CCI 550. The max in Hornady 9th is 13.7 grains. I never worked this loading beyond 13.3. I'm out of W296, out of 180 XTP's, and not getting any more of either. So that's that.
686+ 3": 973 f/s
686 4": 1055 f/s
686 8": 1020 f/s
It is noteworthy that the 8" bbl yielded less velocity than the 4". I believe it may have been different had I continued to work this load up farther. I don't have much experience with the heavy 180's, but my gut tells me that the W296 was just starting to come into its own at 13.3 grains. A bigger charge may have yielded a more favorable result through the 8".
Next, we have a Speer 158gn UCSP (UniCore Soft Point - fancy name aside, it's your basic jacketed soft point), with gobs of W296. It's a recipe that I have been loading for decades and is in compliance with Speer #10; but not Speer #14. In the context of this post, the charge weight isn't important and we all need to do our own load workups for safety. Mixed nickel brass; CCI 550.
686 3": 1153 f/s
686 4": 1242 f/s
686 8": 1278 f/s
Results are what I expected, but only because I've chronoed this recipe a few times over the years. I have always thought the 8" bbl would do a little better here. But it didn't; and hasn't over the years.
Next on the list, we have again the 158gn Speer UCSP; with a quantity of 2400 slightly above the Speer #14 max. 2400 is new to me (replacing W296) and this load work up is fairly new. At this charge level, there are no signs of pressure. It shoots nice. I'm very pleased with it; as it's exactly what I want/expect from a full-throttle 158/357 mag round. And I plan on keeping this slightly above published max as my "set" load (which is out of character for me). R-P non-nickel brass; CCI 500.
686 3": 1157 f/s
686 4": 1239 f/s
686 8": 1239 f/s (same as 4" - not a typo)
I was rather surprised that the 8" bbl yielded no velocity gain. I suspect that peak velocity would be through a 6" bbl - just a guess. The barrel/cylinder gap, coupled with the high-friction of the large jacketed bullet, kills any velocity gain by the longer barrel. Again, just my guess.
Moving to another 158 UCSP load that I commonly shoot. And that is 9.0gn of HS-6. Mixed brass; CCI 550 (all my 357Mag/HS-6 loadings get mag primers). I load and shoot a lot of these. They're short of full-power; but are still plenty potent and are fun to shoot.
686 3": 1068 f/s
686 4": 1137 f/s
686 8": 1128 f/s
The 8" bbl yielding a lower velocity here doesn't surprise me - by design. This loading was purpose built to be "balanced and proper" thorough my 3" & 4" bbl 686's. HS-6 is an intermediate speed propellant and in this application, it is pretty much exhausted by the time the bullet is much past the 4" mark inside the barrel.
Finally, I moved to a lighter Speer 125 UCHP. Under it is another pet load of mine - 9.2gn Unique. Again, an intermediate propellant, so the 8" results were not surprising.
686 3": 1284 f/s
686 4": 1376 f/s
686 8": 1362 f/s
It may seem that my 8-3/8" 686 doesn't perform well. But I also chronographed four factory defense rounds today, and the 8" really shined. Most of them were lighter bullets under (presumably) slow powders. Since I didn't load them, I will post those results under the Revolver section of TFL.
It was a long day at the range. Shooting a lot of full-power rounds. Tore a layer of skin off my thumb, and blistered my trigger finger. Small sacrifice for all this awesome information to share
.