45Super H&K Mark 23: Ported vs Non Ported Barrel Part 2

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In bringing you 45Super vs 10MM across the chronograph and clear ballistics gel results here many of the range fans made it very clear yes the barrel lengths were the same but in no way was it even close to a level playing field. I love the passion of my online friends.

So I went on another mission to find something capable of handling the 45Super rounds with a 6inch barrel do you all know how hard of a mission this is? Kidding aside I knew someone with a H&K Mark 23, but I didn't even need to place a call to him he called me and said look come and get it or meet me at the range as he was just as interested in "leveling the playing field"
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K&K Mark 23 A Freak of Innovation

Specifications: H&K Mark 23

Caliber: .45 ACP
Capacity: 12+1
Barrel Length: 5.87″
Slide Length: 8.9″
Overall Length: 9.65″
Overall Length w/Suppressor: 17.9″
Height: 5.9″
Width: 1.53″
Weight w/ Empty Magazine: 39.4 oz.
Weight Loaded (12+1): 51.0 oz.


As you can see by the stats above the Mark 23 is one beast of a polymer handgun. The looks to me mimic that of a Desert Eagle and the ergonomics is quite surprising for it's size. The grip texturing is just that nothing fancy but does provide enough grip for any hand size. The trigger well something left to be desired there though the reset is short and positive the trigger pull weight is 6 pounds SA and 11pounds DA. I have some revolvers that are better than this, to be fair those revolver triggers have been smoothed up and worked over by competent hands.

Durability was the reason I believe the US Military adopted such large yet somewhat easy to shoot pistol. During testing 30,000 45ACP +P rounds were fired through this thing before it started to show real signs of wear. Testers were able to feed this thing 6000 rounds before any malfunctions occurred. The testing regimen of this pistol was and is still talked about to this day. What's interesting to me is the fact that not many speak about it's accuracy. In testing .5 groups consistently from 25 meters. What do you say perfect platform for the 45Super huh?

Chronograph Results: Let's Not Forget About The Mission
The mission was to compare the exact same 45 Super rounds I had tested in the some what rare Springfield V16 45 Super.

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Chronograph Results


Ammo used

Underwood 45 Super 230gr JHP Item 624

Revolverguy Handloads 45 Super Hornady XTP 185gr, Power Pistol 10.8gr, COAL 1.250(This load was proven safe in my testing with these firearms though I recommend not using this load without starting from a safer place of 15% below and working up in your firearm monitoring for signs of pressure)

Springfield V16 Underwood 230gr = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1109FPS, 36 Extreme Spread, 13 Standard Deviation

Springfield V16 Revolverguy Load = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1292FPS, 62 Extreme Spread, 21 Standard Deviation

H&K Mark 23 Underwood 230gr = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1151FPS, 13 Extreme Spread, 5 Standard Deviation

H&K Mark 23 Revolverguy Load = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1363FPS, 84 Extreme Spread, 33 Standard Deviation

By the numbers you can see that the Non Ported Barrel of the Mark 23 turned in on average 56.5FPS more velocity than the ported barrel of the Springfield V16. Is it enough to make a difference comment, let's talk about it, tell me what you think.

Live Action




 
Nice video as usual RG.

I used to be big into porting and compensators back in the 90’s. Even with wearing double hearing protection I decided the benefit of a little less recoil wasn’t worth the extra noise for ME. Especially at indoor ranges.
 
that high es may be a setback issue on that tiny 185 grainer you are shooting. just a thought. great video, as usual.

murf
 
Great vid. You just gave me another reason not to get mine ported, Recoil can be easily, IMO, managed with practice.
 
I wish I had a Glock 21L to go side - by - side with the Heckler & Koch Mark 23, to make some comparisons...

ETA: Know what, I forgot - I actually DO have the parts for one at hand...
 
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Very cool, I've loaded a lot of .45 Super and loaded them hot. My setup was a G21 Gen4 using a KKM 4 port barrel (5" effective barrel length). The comped barrel was used mainly for two reasons, one is better chamber support and second was to help slow down the slide speed, which becomes a concern with the heavier loadings. Some of the best powders depending on goals are Power Pistol, 800X and Longshot. Since you have Power Pistol I will share what I got using some different weights.

185gr XTP @ 1.240" worked up to 12.0gr, 1,420 fps avg, 17 fps ES from the 5" bbl
200gr XTP @ 1.260" worked up to 11.5gr, 1,330 fps avg, 8 fps ES from the 5" bbl
230gr XTP @ 1.240" worked up to 10.0gr, 1,201 fps avg, 7 fps ES from the 5" bbl
250gr XTP @ 1.190" worked up to 9.0gr, 1,128 fps avg, 38 fps ES
280gr WFNGC @ 1.180" worked up to 8.0gr, 1,065 fps avg, 24 fps ES
Also a pretty good defensive load is a 250gr Gold Dot using 8.0gr loaded to 1.215", game me 1,031 fps (8 fps ES). It's not terribly fast but that bullet doesn't like much speed and just a bit over 1K fps is perfect for it, expands BIG.

800X gives the most velocity, about another 200 fps but as you probably know, doesn't meter well. Power Pistol meters well and is very consistent I've found. Great for more power but not the best for full power. Nonetheless Power Pistol is one of the best options out there overall.

The larger .452" revolver style bullets can be seated longer depending on your barrel. Because the style of bullet is very blunt, as they're not designed for semi auto usage, it may come into contact with the rifling before being able to get a longer OAL. I ended up having the throat extended in the my KKM barrel so that I could load the heavier bullets out to a more proper ~1.250" OAL, even loaded up to 300gr (1100+ fps).

One reason I started playing the real heavy bullets was really two fold, one more weight is more penetration and a lot of them have large frontal areas (meplats) that can deal big damage and two, normal .45 ACP bullets can only handle so much velocity before they start breaking apart and start suffering from lower penetration numbers. The .452" revolver bullets are typically stronger and can handle more velocity. That's why I'm not too surprised when a typical .45 ACP designed bullet doesn't hold up too well to more velocity.
 
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Very cool, I've loaded a lot of .45 Super and loaded them hot. My setup was a G21 Gen4 using a KKM 4 port barrel (5" effective barrel length). The comped barrel was used mainly for two reasons, one is better chamber support and second was to help slow down the slide speed, which becomes a concern with the heavier loadings. Some of the best powders depending on goals are Power Pistol, 800X and Longshot. Since you have Power Pistol I will share what I got using some different weights.

185gr XTP @ 1.240" worked up to 12.0gr, 1,420 fps avg, 17 fps ES from the 5" bbl
200gr XTP @ 1.260" worked up to 11.5gr, 1,330 fps avg, 8 fps ES from the 5" bbl
230gr XTP @ 1.240" worked up to 10.0gr, 1,201 fps avg, 7 fps ES from the 5" bbl
250gr XTP @ 1.190" worked up to 9.0gr, 1,128 fps avg, 38 fps ES
280gr WFNGC @ 1.180" worked up to 8.0gr, 1,065 fps avg, 24 fps ES

800X gives the most velocity, about another 200 fps but as you probably know, doesn't meter well. Power Pistol meters well and is very consistent I've found. Great for more power but not the best for full power.

The larger .452" revolver style bullets can be seated longer depending on your barrel. Because they style of bullet is very blunt it may come into contact with the rifling before being able to get a more normal OAL. I ended up having the throat extended in the my KKM barrel so that I could load the heavier bullets out to a more proper ~1.250" OAL.

Share the Longshot loads, too!
 
that high es may be a setback issue on that tiny 185 grainer you are shooting. just a thought. great video, as usual.

murf
Murf nice tip cycle a few by hand on the range to check setback but I did not check the next one in the chamber after firing one.
 
Very cool, I've loaded a lot of .45 Super and loaded them hot. My setup was a G21 Gen4 using a KKM 4 port barrel (5" effective barrel length). The comped barrel was used mainly for two reasons, one is better chamber support and second was to help slow down the slide speed, which becomes a concern with the heavier loadings. Some of the best powders depending on goals are Power Pistol, 800X and Longshot. Since you have Power Pistol I will share what I got using some different weights.

185gr XTP @ 1.240" worked up to 12.0gr, 1,420 fps avg, 17 fps ES from the 5" bbl
200gr XTP @ 1.260" worked up to 11.5gr, 1,330 fps avg, 8 fps ES from the 5" bbl
230gr XTP @ 1.240" worked up to 10.0gr, 1,201 fps avg, 7 fps ES from the 5" bbl
250gr XTP @ 1.190" worked up to 9.0gr, 1,128 fps avg, 38 fps ES
280gr WFNGC @ 1.180" worked up to 8.0gr, 1,065 fps avg, 24 fps ES
Also a pretty good defensive load is a 250gr Gold Dot using 8.0gr loaded to 1.215", game me 1,031 fps (8 fps ES). It's not terribly fast but that bullet doesn't like much speed and just a bit over 1K fps is perfect for it, expands BIG.

800X gives the most velocity, about another 200 fps but as you probably know, doesn't meter well. Power Pistol meters well and is very consistent I've found. Great for more power but not the best for full power. Nonetheless Power Pistol is one of the best options out there overall.

The larger .452" revolver style bullets can be seated longer depending on your barrel. Because the style of bullet is very blunt, as they're not designed for semi auto usage, it may come into contact with the rifling before being able to get a longer OAL. I ended up having the throat extended in the my KKM barrel so that I could load the heavier bullets out to a more proper ~1.250" OAL, even loaded up to 300gr (1100+ fps).

One reason I started playing the real heavy bullets was really two fold, one more weight is more penetration and a lot of them have large frontal areas (meplats) that can deal big damage and two, normal .45 ACP bullets can only handle so much velocity before they start breaking apart and start suffering from lower penetration numbers. The .452" revolver bullets are typically stronger and can handle more velocity. That's why I'm not too surprised when a typical .45 ACP designed bullet doesn't hold up too well to more velocity.
SDGlock nice velocities though dangerous, these loads are WAY over max and what even Triton one of the 45Super manufacturers used becareful please.
 
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