What did you do at your reloading bench today?

[DsGrouse]

There seemed to be a lot of room left in the win 244. I looked it's max pressure up on a number of tables. I didn't feel like i was getting anywhere near the listed pressure table.

I took a look at some modeling software, in put my data:
Case length, case volume, specific barrel length, and diameter, etc. The exact bullet, and it's psi numbers came back 20% less than the listed numbers.

I ran the calculations for an increase of powder by .2 grains (the smallest amount my little rcbs seems to be able to differeniate)

It lists a velocity quite a bit higher than I was achieving through the henry, ( nearly 120 fps) on a 5.2 grain win 244 load.


The Henry does seem to be a bit tight of a bore, and jacketed bullets do go slower than advertised in the loading manuals. My primary focus was the PSI, between 5.2 and 5.6 grains of win 244 I increased (according to the model 3,390 psi) From 24,058 to 27,448. Well below it's Pmax-25 percent total.


So, what were the results? On the 5.2 were 890 fps.

5.4 grains brought the following. average of 911.0 and a STD DEV or 1.3 and a spread of 4



Cases, a mix of new and used brass




Now, on to the 5.6 grains of win 244. Spread of 121 (probably should throw number 1) STD DEV 44.3
When I take out the first shot, it's an average of 1008.8 fps, spread of 37. and std dev of 14.9

[DsGrouse]

A bit of an update, I stepped it up to 5.8 grains of win 244, and hit the 1025ish fps I wanted.

The cases



Chrono..



GRT data

[DsGrouse]

I've been hanging out on the GRT discussion board (discord) and have recieved help putting my load together for the henry. I've got the 5.6 and 5.8 grains loads matching my chrono velocity. Bullet jump and initial pressure are calibrated. So, here is the edited data, showing a better representation of pressures for this load up, in my rifle. (obviously do your own research)

[JVogler]

Got a new bullet from Bayou bullets 357 diameter 138 grain wadcutter. 2.7 grains of Winchester 244 in a 38special shell was the best load of the recipe. Austerity has hit the reloading bench. Looking for loads that use small amounts of powder. Winchester 244... a little goes a long way.

[DsGrouse]

Yep

[rickhem]

So not really at the loading bench today, that was last night. But I wanted to load up more of the 158XTP-FP bullets to get a good level of confidence in their performance on paper. This has shot well for me in the past using Lil Gun at the load published in Handloader many years ago. It's over current published listings, so I'll not post the charge. When I got everything set up, and I'm using my Square Deal as a single stage, the Lil Gun in the powder hopper was dropping at slightly under what it was last time. I weighed what it was dropping and it was 0.3 grains under what I had it set for last time. No reason why, except perhaps that the hopper wasn't very full, so less head, and a correspondingly decreased charge weight. Anyway, I just decided to go with that and see how it shot.

Today I got out my .357 BBS and these were the first three shots I fired. Distance was 50 yards, and that orange sticker is 1¼" in diameter. Works out to just a hair under ¾". That was good enough that I decided to stop there and leave a winner. I'll get this out a few more times between now and deer season, fire a shot or three, and gain confidence that it's still hitting point of aim for me. Knowing that the rifle shoots like this really adds confidence in those woods shots where you have to pick your lane through trees and branches. That slightly reduced charge turned out to be a happy accident for sure! I loaded 20 rounds, so I've got 17 more to play with between now and deer season.

[DsGrouse]

Nice! I have some of those 158 xtp fp's. That is a great grouping. I loaded 25 of the 180 grn xtp's using the same load i posted above. I'm curious as to how they will do

[rickhem]

I have yet to try the 180XTPs, but that'll happen eventually.
My chrono gave me an average of just over 1900fps on these, which I'm pretty happy with. I was going to send a couple down to the 100 yard target, but would have had to move the chronograph screens, so I just quit with those three for that day. I had a few other rifles to get to and different loads for those to test.

If I'm looking at a trend for loading/shooting the XTP bullets, it seems that my rifle likes heavier and longer bullets, so the 180s should satisfy both of those criteria. I'm interested to hear how they work for you.

[DsGrouse]

I have yet to try the 180XTPs, but that'll happen eventually.
My chrono gave me an average of just over 1900fps on these, which I'm pretty happy with. I was going to send a couple down to the 100 yard target, but would have had to move the chronograph screens, so I just quit with those three for that day. I had a few other rifles to get to and different loads for those to test.

If I'm looking at a trend for loading/shooting the XTP bullets, it seems that my rifle likes heavier and longer bullets, so the 180s should satisfy both of those criteria. I'm interested to hear how they work for you.

I'll try to get some time to do a few groups today. I need to rebuild my range, but for now, I might be able to cobble together a placard for some paper targets and put it at 70 yards.

[The Happy Kaboomer]

Started doing a batch run of 38 spl's on one of my Dillons.