Originally Posted by
SecondChance
Let me ask you this. Why would you want to determine what the max loads are for either bullet when you have the loads from the loading manuals in front of you? Those listed are what your max load is. Out of the 30near loading that I load for myself and others, I cant think of 1 that shoots a load that is listed at or even near the max load. I have found in my 40+ years of loading that most weapons are going to reach their accuracy potential in the 2/3rds-3/4qtr throttle range. All the max loads do is what I call the 3W Killer. Kills your weapon, your wrist and wallet!!!! How are you going to determine what the max load your weapon can handle, it blows up? Plus, the animal does not die any faster or deader!!! And once you find a load that groups consistently without blowing your gun up. Why not just load that particular load and not have to remember where other loads will print. 1 load, 1 ballistic chart to keep track of.
Okay, going to try to sort this out. First, I was never going to go above the maximum loads for those particular bullet/powder combinations listed in published loadbooks. I stopped at the maximum official loads even though they weren't showing any of the danger signs. I truly doubt that sticking to published loads from reputable sources are going to blow my gun and myself up. I once made handloads for another gun that were a bit too warm for comfort. Once. I haven't ever done so again, because I know what signs to look for. That gun is also still intact, by the way.
Just because some loading manual gives a particular powder/bullet combination, it doesn't mean that load is technically safe in my gun. That's what happened in the scenario I described above. That's why I always work up to the maximum load in increments, like I did with my 300 pistol.
You mention hotter loads as if they're going to kill my wrist and wallet. Two extra grains of powder per round won't break the bank. My wrist couldn't tell the difference between 62 and 65.5 grains. In fact, my 14" Model 460 and CVA Optima pistols kick far worse than the 300, yet I shoot them just as much with no problems.
In any case, the 150 grain Winchester factory loads I used as a comparison are hotter than my handloads. Those averaged 2950 fps, and they tended to stick a little in the chamber when I went to extract them.
You mentioned accuracy. I outright stated my groups improved as the loads got warmer, although that could just as easily have been on me. In any case, I don't usually test for accuracy unless one load's groups absolutely horribly. The fact is, I'm not quite good enough with pistols yet to determine which load is marginally more accurate. At 100 yards, 1.5" groups are about the best I can do at this point. At the ranges I intend to shoot, it really doesn't matter whether a particular load groups .25" tighter or looser as long as I hit well within the kill zone with every shot. A dead deer is a dead deer, after all.
That said, I have noticed that the smaller standard deviation I get, the more accurate a load seems to be. I look for the groups with the smallest standard deviation, which in this case are my hottest loads.
Why make two loads? Because A-Max bullets are less than half the cost of the Barnes bullets, my local store has a lot more of them than the Barnes, and apart from hitting higher they should have a nearly identical flight path. Plus, their light construction would make them a great coyote bullet.
I honestly don't know what I did that got y'all so worked up.