I was checking some loads for the .44 mag Redhawk today. The primary load I was planning on for deer season is the 200 grain Nosler hollow point over 27.5 grains of H110, which the Hodgdon "magazine" data shows giving 1806 fps in an 8 3/8" barrel. This gave me the expected small group - I cover the group with two empty cases side by side - about 2 inches high at 50 yards, as the gun is sighted in to do.
The second load was the Hornady 240 grain XTP, same primer, 24.0 grains of H110. The Hodgdon "magazine" shows the Nosler 240 grain HP hitting 1522 fps, so I figure the Hornady bullet is probably pretty close.
Based on data from other manuals, I estimate my gun, with roughly an inch less barrel, is giving me about 300 fps less velocity for each load. The interesting thing is that the 240 grain load gave me a group of just about the same size - again covered by two empties side by side - and printing 5 inches higher on the target at 50 yards. I guess more recoil impulse could explain it, but I cannot honestly say I noticed any real difference in recoil. The sound was different - the 240 grain load sounded more like a crack than the boom of the 200 grain load through the muffs.
I also shot some 200 grain XTPs over 24.0 grains of H110, getting a larger group that printed about 2 inches above the Nosler load of the same weight bullet described above.
Before shooting I would have bet the 24.0 grains behind the 200 grain bullet would have printed lower, and the 240 grain bullets lower still.
Based on some rough calculations, a 300 fps difference in velocity between bullets fired horizontally should mean about 3/4 inch less drop for the faster one at 50 yards.
Any ideas about why this "upside down" behavior occurred and why the vertical difference is so large? Does recoil explain it all? The primers all came from the same box, the powder from the same box, and the cases were all the same, freshly tumbled and fired the same number of times. The groups were shot from the same rest within a time period of about 30 minutes or less.
While you're puzzling over this one, which load would you use for Whitetails in the 150 to 200 pound range, the 200 grain Nosler moving at an estimated 1500 fps or the 240 grain XTP moving at an estimated 1200? I don't expect to have a shot beyond 75 yards where I hunt.
__________________ Teach
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The 240gr. bullet is exiting the barrel a little later than the 200gr. The additional time is allowing the barrel to rise slightly more, producing higher groups. I find the same thing with my Super Blackhawk. The 240gr. lead loads print exactly the same as 240 factory loads, with their being some 400 fps difference.
tom
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Remember that Teach',if you have a fixed sight SD handgun that shoots consistently high try lighter/faster bullets.If it shoots low try heavier/slower bullets.Often poi can be corrected with no change to handgun. ,,,sam.
The 240gr. bullet is exiting the barrel a little later than the 200gr. The additional time is allowing the barrel to rise slightly more, producing higher groups. I find the same thing with my Super Blackhawk. The 240gr. lead loads print exactly the same as 240 factory loads, with their being some 400 fps difference.
tom
That certainly explains it. It is recoil related after all, but not in the way I might have thought. Thanks, guys.
So, which load would you use? I figure the velocity at 50 yards hasn't dropped off much, maybe 50 FPS. Will the exposed lead hollow point of the Nosler moving at about 250 to 300 fps faster, give more, less, or the same expansion as the wider cavity surrounded by the "pre-petalled" jacket of the XTP? Right now, I'm thinking the XTP will expand at least as well as the more traditional hollowpoint of the Nosler, but I only have the hype of Hornady's XTP advertising to base that on. Do they work as well as claimed?
__________________ Teach
Taxpayers voting for Obama are like chickens voting for Colonel Sanders.
Teach
