Ran the powder ladders to day with my Redhawk 44 mag I have a 2x6-32 pistol scope on it and I shoot it off a sand bag on the bench.
In 45 shots of 5 shot groups the groups ranged form 4.5 to 1.25 @ 50yds
was using 240XTP and H110 the best group was 23.4 gr.
Both the 180 and the 200 XTP will group @ 1 inch when I am shooting good but we had a gusty wind today.
Just how good do standard revolvers do ? Should I expect more ? My rifles all do better. Lee
There was a time when i shot 50 to 100 rounds of full power loads through my 44 mag. each and every week. At that time i was shooting my best, and 1" groups at 50 yards with a standard revolver with hunting loads was very good groups.
In the 70's i worked up a load of 23.0 of H110 useing my own hard cast 250 grain bullet. I used that bullet and load for competition, practise, and all of my hunting. I harvested a lot of meat for my freezer with that load, includeing moose. I also won a lot of long range matches with it too.
A couple of years ago, i harvested a very nice whitetail buck with that same load, useing one of the same revolvers!!!
Sounds like its about as good as I am going to get. Are other 240gr bullets like a flat point in the same brand likly to shoot good with the same load or some thing close to it? Lee
I don't like jacketed bullets in a 44 revolver. They wear the revolver out faster, require more powder for the same velocity (compared to hard cast bullets) and aren't any more accurate than a quality cast bullet. I don't use them, because i don't see the need to do so....
The only way to know how "any" bullet will shoot in your firearm is to try them in "that" gun....
-My lead furnace has been idle for a long time ;not as much fun as it was before the arthritis got bad. The only lead bullets I have at the moment are swedge,and to soft to load up. I hsve about 35 or 40 molds and mabe will get ambitious and make some before long. Lee
Ran the powder ladders to day with my Redhawk 44 mag I have a 2x6-32 pistol scope on it and I shoot it off a sand bag on the bench.
In 45 shots of 5 shot groups the groups ranged form 4.5 to 1.25 @ 50yds
was using 240XTP and H110 the best group was 23.4 gr.
Both the 180 and the 200 XTP will group @ 1 inch when I am shooting good but we had a gusty wind today.
Just how good do standard revolvers do ? Should I expect more ? My rifles all do better. Lee
If you can shoot inside 1.5" @ 50 yards, that's very good indeed! The 50-yard 10 ring is twice that big!
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"Bitte, trinks du das Wasser nicht. Dahin haben die Kuhen gesheissen."
You are doing very well if that is a stock Ruger. Normally a S&W out of the box is slightly more accurate, but costs more. If you want better accuracy go with a Performance cener Smith. The Perfomance Center Smith is the least expensive way to shot MOA at 100 yards. To get your Ruger to do that you would need to contact Bowen(which is expensive, but real nice). It sounds to me like you got a real nice Ruger, Tom.
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West by God Virginia.
We need to stop using these terms today, "Sniper Rifle", "Tactical", "Assault Weapon".
I must beg to differ a bit. handguns do not lack accuracy, they lack shootability. A little wiggle goes a long way. Some friends and I took a good mechanical rest one day and fired guns from snub nose revolvers to 22 inch carbines. With a dead solid mechanical rest, the two inch revolvers would shoot some very good groups even at 100 yards. I owned a Ruger GP-100 that would shoot groups of three inches and less every time out from just a good setup of sandbags this at 100 yards. Its hard to shoot a handgun without a dead solid rest but they will shoot very well if you can hold them. However from field shooting conditions, the others are right. You are doing pretty well with the groups you are getting.
You might try using a different (powder,primer,bullet)or try changing the seating depth of your bullet. Your 1.25 load is good so keep that one and try changing your components (1 at a time) to see if the gun groups better with the changes. Sometimes a minor change works. My Super blk Hwk has grouped under 2" consistantly at 50 yds using 300 gr XTP bullets seated out to the last crimping groove andpushed with 2400 and CCI primers.At100yds it will group in the high 3's to low 4" range. My gun seams to prefer the heavier bullets cast or jacketed over the lighter ones, you just have to experiment. The lightest bullet it shoots well is the 240gr XTP or Gold Dot again using 2400 and It actually groups a little better at 100yds3.5 to 4" depending on how well I'm shooting.
Anyway just my 2 cents.
What isGood for a revolver?
