44 special far better than the mag.

[fortyshooter]

Slug the bore and see what you have. Mine is .431 which is big for a cast .430 bullet!

[GunnyGene]

Guess I'm not really sure what you mean by that

Has to do with the sonic transition zone. Normally a sub-sonic bullet will be more accurate since it will never experience in-flight trans-sonic effects on stability. Conversely, a supersonic (at the muzzle) bullet will pass thru the trans-sonic region at some point during it's flight as it slows. A bullet that leaves the muzzle within the trans-sonic region may, or may not, become unstable immediately, depending on several factors such as shape, spin, etc..

All that said, given the very close range you're shooting at, there may be no discernible effect due to this phenomenon since the flight time is so short in either case, and your results may be due to something else entirely. It's just something to consider.

See this for a futher explanation:

https://www.accurateshooter.com/ballist ... bility-bc/

WOW this totally makes sense. Glad you posted this. I love learning new technical stuff. This most likely explains why my cowboy loads were all over the place -

You're welcome. Ballistics is both interesting and complicated (if you get down in the weeds of it). This particular phenomenon is of great interest to the ELR guys (1 mile plus ranges), and military snipers. For those guys, 500 yds is point blank. Both go to great lengths to optimize all aspects of ballistics - internal, external, and terminal; which makes it very expensive and requires meticulous attention to detail if you're going to be good at making 1,2,or 3 mile shots.

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/texas-ma ... ce-record/

And:

https://www.tactical-life.com/lifestyle ... mile-shot/