Back testing again - well sort of

[vaalpens]

Over the last few months me and the wife have relocated and bought a house. Needless to say, with all the planning, work, work around the house, and COVID-19, not much time was left for reloading and testing my reloads.

Last week i finally made time to test some of my loads I created in November 2019. They have been sitting for a few months.

So on Friday I went out to the Umatilla National Forest and tested my loads. Things did not go very smoothly since I was out of practice. I left my chrono at home, left my rest at home, and my chair lost a nut. With all this I decided to push ahead and test my loads, even without the chrono.

Following are my results without velocities:

I did not see the accuracy I was expecting with W244 and this bullet, but it could be due to my lack of shooting lately. Some of the loads showed some promise, but I think i will need to retest these loads and decided based on chrono numbers and grouping if one of these combinations will work for me.

357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.2gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.48"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.3gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.32"
Test Date: 08/07/2020


357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.4gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.16"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.5gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.35"
Test Date: 08/07/2020



357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.6gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.15"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.7gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.64"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.8gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.55"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

357sig, P229, 3.9"
Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, W244, 5.9gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.56"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

These .40 pulled bullets sometimes surprises me and I see a very good grouping. This time is was no different with the excellent .53 grouping. W244 is definitely one of my go-to powders now since it works well in most of my cartridges.

40SW, P229, 3.9"
Case: RP
COL: 1.125"
RMRPulled, 180gr, FMJRNFP, W244, 4.5gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.24"
Test Date: 08/07/2020


40SW, P229, 3.9"
Case: RP
COL: 1.125"
RMRPulled, 180gr, FMJRNFP, W244, 4.6gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.53"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

40SW, P229, 3.9"
Case: RP
COL: 1.125"
RMRPulled, 180gr, FMJRNFP, W244, 4.7gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.89"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

40SW, P229, 3.9"
Case: RP
COL: 1.125"
RMRPulled, 180gr, FMJRNFP, W244, 4.8gr, CCI500
Grouping @ 15yd: 1.61"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

 

[Demi-human]

Good to see you again.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Glad your back, Good to hear from you again.

 

[kcofohio]

I'm in agreement with others, good to see you back. Crazy year.

I have some of those 147 gr. loaded up in 357 SIG with CFE-P. Hoping to get out soon and test them.

Last time I went to the range, I had the Chrony, but forgot the tripod.

 

[lordpaxman]

Welcome back. Always make the most at the range, regardless of what got left behind! I’ve found 244 to be an excellent powder, meters and burns well for mid-range loads. Velocities were a tad higher than a 231 equivalent load.

 

[murf]

welcome back. nice shootin. was going to suggest a bunch of dry-fire practice, but from the pics it doesn't seem necessary.

murf

 

[vaalpens]

Good to see you again.

Thanks! Glad to be back.

Glad your back, Good to hear from you again.

Thanks! Glad to be back.

I'm in agreement with others, good to see you back. Crazy year.

I have some of those 147 gr. loaded up in 357 SIG with CFE-P. Hoping to get out soon and test them.

Last time I went to the range, I had the Chrony, but forgot the tripod.

Thanks for the comments. I also forgot the tripod, but did not need it.

My second best grouping 147gr load for 357sig is actually with CFE-P. This is the load:

357sig, P229, 3.9"​

Case: Speer
COL: 1.140"
RMR, 147gr, TCFPMW, CFEpistol, 6gr, CCI500
Average: 1064
ES: 19
SD: 7.4
Force: 369
PF: 156
Velocities: 1065, 1057, 1059, 1076, 1064
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.5"
Test Date: 11/20/2018

Welcome back. Always make the most at the range, regardless of what got left behind! I’ve found 244 to be an excellent powder, meters and burns well for mid-range loads. Velocities were a tad higher than a 231 equivalent load.

Thanks. One reason why I tried W244 was the posted loads for 357sig, in addition to the other cartridges. I have found accurate loads for 40s&w and 357sig, and is still in the process of fine tuning 9mm and .45acp loads using W244.

welcome back. nice shootin. was going to suggest a bunch of dry-fire practice, but from the pics it doesn't seem necessary.

murf

Thanks for the comments. The dry fire practise probably would have helped a bit. I did use a rest at the end of the day, but I switched between a range bag ammo can until I was comfortable.

 

[JimKirk]

Yeah I wondered where you had wandered off to....

 

[vaalpens]

Yeah I wondered where you had wandered off to....

Thanks Jim. We basically moved away from the heat in Phoenix, made a detour in WA, and settled in ID. Probably need to update my avatar again.

 

[2011redrider]

Thanks Jim. We basically moved away from the heat in Phoenix, made a detour in WA, and settled in ID. Probably need to update my avatar again.

Where abouts in Idaho? We just bought a house in Bonners Ferry on 7 acres with a large shop. Think you will be glad you moved to ID vs WA for the gun law differences! Its time to vacate CA!

 

[vaalpens]

Where abouts in Idaho? We just bought a house in Bonners Ferry on 7 acres with a large shop. Think you will be glad you moved to ID vs WA for the gun law differences! Its time to vacate CA!

Thanks. had to look up where Bonners ferry is. It must be nice up there. We bought a place in Lewiston, ID.

 

[2011redrider]

Thanks. had to look up where Bonners ferry is. It must be nice up there. We bought a place in Lewiston, ID.

You can drive to RMR now!
Its 30 miles from Canada and have plans for a range, not many neighbors and no HOA;s either. Nice small town of about 2500 people.

 

[kcofohio]

Beautiful country up there in Idaho, especially the more north you go.

 

[vaalpens]

You can drive to RMR now!
Its 30 miles from Canada and have plans for a range, not many neighbors and no HOA;s either. Nice small town of about 2500 people.

That is true, but with everything going on and how busy they are, I can wait. I have enough bullet for now, but will have to visit RMR at some point. We are also planning on driving up to Canada once everything settles down.

Beautiful country up there in Idaho, especially the more north you go.

That is true/

 

[vaalpens]

I keep record of all my loads and tests. So looking at my data, I now realized why I tested this specific W244 loads for 40s&w 180gr pulled bullets. It seems I wanted to validate my previous 4.6gr load results, so I just bracketed the load and only did 4 loads. I definitely think the W244 4.6gr is a very accurate load with these 180gr pulled bullet. Following are all my results for this specific 4.6gr load:

40SW, P229, 3.9"
Case: RP
COL: 1.125"
RMRPulled, 180gr, TMJFN, W244, 4.6gr, GINEXSP
Average: 797
ES: 0
SD:
Force: 254
PF: 143
Velocities: , , , , 797
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.26"
Test Date: 10/26/2019

40SW, P229, 3.9"
Case: RP
COL: 1.125"
RMRPulled, 180gr, FMJRNFP, W244, 4.6gr, CCI500
Average:
ES: 0
SD:
Force:
PF:
Velocities: , , , ,
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.53"
Test Date: 08/07/2020

40SW, P229, 3.9"
Case: RP
COL: 1.125"
RMRPulled, 180gr, FMJRNFP, W244, 4.6gr, CCI500
Average: 854
ES: 31
SD: 11.7
Force: 291
PF: 153
Velocities: 838, 862, 869, 854, 851
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.9"
Test Date: 05/05/2019