The cardinal sin of load developing is to change more than one thing at a time but on a whim I changed everything but the bullet and brass. LGS had some Accurate #5 which is a powder I've never tried before so I picked up a couple pounds of that. The 250 XTP's were loaded over 11.4 grains of #5 with CCI 300 primers and crimped with the Redding profile crimp. Disregarding the black spots, that gray cluster at the bottom of the fifty yard plate is ten shots with the above load while standing and using a hastily fashioned rest. No flyers there but now I need to backtrack and isolate the cause of the early issue. I didn't take the chrono but would guess around 1250 or so. Also tried five shots with the XTP over 296 and WLP's crimped again with the profile crimp and no picture but 5 shots under an inch. The 296 charge was from the Lyman 51st manual and was the starting charge for Rugers and Contenders with pressure well below the Henry's limit.
So...a couple of takeaways here. I was impressed with Accurate #5 and Win 296 and I like the Redding profile crimp. It doesn't flex the case mouth as much as a roll crimp so it would seem that claims of extended case life might be valid. Now back to the loading room. Next trip to the range I'll take the chronograph and some decent sandbags.
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I cast for .45 Colt and .454 revolvers and have several bullet molds, among them the Lyman #452424 255 gr. SWC, the RCBS 270 SAA SWC and RCBS 300 gr. SWC GC. Good molds and nice bullets... BUT...too long to cycle through the H012. The Lee 200 and 255 RF's cycle fine as does the Lee 300 gr. gas check. For deer hunting in the deep woods I'm sure the Lee 300 gr. would hit like a truck without having to lean too hard on velocity. The next project is to get reasonable accuracy at 50 yards with the 200 and 255 Lee's on the plate rack. I've got Red Dot, Unique, AA5 and BE86 which should all work for light plinkers.