Today I shot my first few batches of ammo that I loaded/reloaded from start to finish and here is what I found.
I started off with 9mm rounds that used once fired brass and were loaded with a Hornady 124 gr. FMJ-RN bullet powered by 3.7 grains of titegroup and ignited with a Winchester small pistol primer.
My groupings were very good. Better than the typical Federal 115 grain range ammo I typically use.
[/URL]
The ammo fed and ejected well, no problems there.
I couldn't really tell a difference in felt recoil, sound or muzzle flash between the Federal factory ammo and my loads but my rounds seemed to group a little tighter.
I did notice that my rounds were kind of dirty - A good bit dirtier than Winchester white box factory ammo. That isn't a big deal but I wonder if that is typical of titegroup or perhaps I did something wrong? Dirty or not, I like this recipe and will make a few hundred more.
I also loaded about 100 rounds of .41 mag. using a Sierra 210, semi jacketed hollow point. I used 17.2 grains of Alliant 2400 and Winchester large pistol primers in unfired starline brass.
For whatever reason this round kicked pretty hard. The max loading is 19 grains of 2400 but the way this felt at 17.2, I wouldn't want to go any higher. That being said, I could and did shoot it one handed and I was able to group pretty good considering my low skill level especially with revolvers.
The gun spit quite a bit of fire but not much smoke. It was surprisingly clean or at least I felt it was. The barrel heated up a LOT after 24 rounds which was about all I wanted to shoot.
I carefully examined each spent case and noticed no signs of excessive pressure. The edges of the primers were still as rounded as they were when I installed them. there was no evidence of "flowing" in the primer pockets (does that even happen on handguns?) and the primer strikes looked normal so I'm guessing my pressures were within the allowed range.
I'm going to keep these rounds for hunting or euthanizing pumpkins but I'm going to load the next batch a bit cooler for range use.
Anyone have a good ".41 Special-ish" type loading they could suggest?
I appreciate any input you could give.
I started off with 9mm rounds that used once fired brass and were loaded with a Hornady 124 gr. FMJ-RN bullet powered by 3.7 grains of titegroup and ignited with a Winchester small pistol primer.
My groupings were very good. Better than the typical Federal 115 grain range ammo I typically use.
The ammo fed and ejected well, no problems there.
I couldn't really tell a difference in felt recoil, sound or muzzle flash between the Federal factory ammo and my loads but my rounds seemed to group a little tighter.
I did notice that my rounds were kind of dirty - A good bit dirtier than Winchester white box factory ammo. That isn't a big deal but I wonder if that is typical of titegroup or perhaps I did something wrong? Dirty or not, I like this recipe and will make a few hundred more.
I also loaded about 100 rounds of .41 mag. using a Sierra 210, semi jacketed hollow point. I used 17.2 grains of Alliant 2400 and Winchester large pistol primers in unfired starline brass.
For whatever reason this round kicked pretty hard. The max loading is 19 grains of 2400 but the way this felt at 17.2, I wouldn't want to go any higher. That being said, I could and did shoot it one handed and I was able to group pretty good considering my low skill level especially with revolvers.
The gun spit quite a bit of fire but not much smoke. It was surprisingly clean or at least I felt it was. The barrel heated up a LOT after 24 rounds which was about all I wanted to shoot.
I carefully examined each spent case and noticed no signs of excessive pressure. The edges of the primers were still as rounded as they were when I installed them. there was no evidence of "flowing" in the primer pockets (does that even happen on handguns?) and the primer strikes looked normal so I'm guessing my pressures were within the allowed range.
I'm going to keep these rounds for hunting or euthanizing pumpkins but I'm going to load the next batch a bit cooler for range use.
Anyone have a good ".41 Special-ish" type loading they could suggest?
I appreciate any input you could give.
