Range Results 2025-10-04

[sqlbullet]

I made some time on Saturday afternoon to test some 165 grain reloads I was working up, and also to run some of my "old standby" 180 grain and 200 grain loads with the labradar.  I was shooting my RIA 1911A2 Rock Ultra FS HC.  Gun was flawless except for twice I pushed the slide stop up.

Powder	Bullet	Weight	COAL	Charge	Exp Velocity	Exp Energy	GRT Pressure	GRT Velocity	Actual Velocity	Actual Energy
------------------------	------------------------	-------------	--------------	--------------------	--------------------	----------------------	----------------------	--------------------	---------------------	--------------------
AA7	Federal HST	165	1.255"	11	1160	493	28500	1244	1216.4	542
AA7	Federal HST	165	1.255"	11.4	1289	609	31663	1289	1263.4	585
AA7	Federal HST	165	1.255"	11.4	1334	652	35194	1334	1283.8	604
AA7	Federal HST	165	1.255"	11.8	1379	697	39146	1379	1312.4	631
BE-86	Federal HST	165	1.255"	12.2	1290	610			1263.4	585
BE-86	Federal HST	165	1.255"	8.8	1320	638			1251.6	574
BE-86	Federal HST	165	1.255"	9	1344	662			1303.2	622
Power Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.255"	9.2	1265	586	33245	1301	1249.8	572
Power Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.255"	9.6	1285	605	36909	1353	1300.4	619
Power Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.255"	10	1314	632	40891	1407	1339.0	657
Longshot	Nosler JHP	200	1.260"	8	1172	610	41715	1166	1189.0	628
Blue Dot	Hornady XTP	180	1.255"	10.9	1160	538	35904	1205	1308.6	684

I must admit I was a little disappointed in the Power Pistol and AA7 results with the 165 grain bullets. I was hoping for closer to 1400 fps without exceeding the published max.

The Nosler 200 grain and XTP 180 grain are solid results though.  And I have plenty of those. 

40 S&W Testing

I think I will save the 165 grain HST's for 40 S&W. I think 1100 fps is a better velocity for their construction profile anyway.  Here were the result of that testing, also from Saturday.  Test gun was a Beretta 96:

Powder	Bullet	Weight	COAL	Charge	Exp Velocity	Exp Energy	GRT Pressure	GRT Velocity	Actual Velocity	Actual Energy
------------------------	------------------------	-------------	--------------	--------------------	--------------------	----------------------	----------------------	--------------------	---------------------	--------------------
CFE Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.125"	Charge	1038	395	26427	1072	949.0	330
CFE Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.125"	6.0	1149	484	35373	1183	1076.2	424
Longshot	Federal HST	165	1.125"	6.8	1139	475	33002	1172	1124.8	463
Longshot	Federal HST	165	1.125"	7.3	1185	514	38938	1237	1169.0	501
Power Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.125"	7.8	980	352	27693	1140	1014.4	377
Power Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.125"	7.4	1030	389	31767	1195	1054.2	407
Power Pistol	Federal HST	165	1.125"	7.8	1080	427	36329	1252	1128.8	467
Silhouette	Federal HST	165	1.125"	5.9	942	325	24392	1039	840.5	259
Silhouette	Federal HST	165	1.125"	6.4	1022	383	29392	1111	966.5	342
Silhouette	Federal HST	165	1.125"	6.9	1101	444	35157	1179	998.8	365
W231	Lee 401-175 SWC	175	1.125"	5.2	984	376	23170	989	1018.8	403

I question the results with Silhouette.  I had two duds in those strings as well.  The brass I was using was once fired brass I got when I bought out a retiring reloader.  The brass was already primed and I think they may not be as "fresh" as I might have hoped.  I will probably re-run those test series with S&B small rifle primers.  I would love to get close the published or GRT velocities for that powder as it is readily available in my area, and not too spendy.

Barrel Races and Thoughts

Finally I did some "barrel racing" pitting the 5" RIA against a Glock 29's 3.8" barrel using Magtech 180 grain FMJ.  RIA deliverd 1213 over 5 shots, Glock 29 delivered 1137.  Lost 76 fps from the shorter barrel.

Also tested the Beretta 96's 4.9" barrel against the Glock 27's 3.4" barrel using the 175 grain Lee load.  1019 from the longer barrel, 966 from the shorter barrel - a loss of 53 fps.

I would also note that the Glock 29 delivered over 100 fps more than the Beretta 96 shooting effectively the same weight bullet.  Nothing we don't know, but it is a solid reminder that a 10mm compact gun delivers full size performance.

Weather was a bit brisk, outside temp was around 60 F with a pretty strong breeze. I have finally figured out a setup that keeps my brass out of orbit. As amazing as this sounds, I came home with ALL my 10mm brass. Next time I have it set up I will get a picture of the circus needed to make that happen.

It was a good day of shooting, and it has created a fair bit of unloaded brass to process.

[The_Shadow]

You might want to place a better distinction between the two loading as 10mm and 40S&W so others are not confused by the data.  The cartridge in BOLD at the start of the paragraph!

Thanks for the range report for these...

[crockett]

While I do process and load range brass, keeping it separate from my Starline brass though, I stay clear from anything that was sizes and / or primed by others.

Who knows how long those primers rolled around in a humid Florida garage. Are they fully seated? Was the pocket cleaned? Was it reamed too much?

While a dud is not an issue, accidentally shooting another round on a squib due to a half-burned load, will leave a "mark".

[sqlbullet]

Suggested header and bold added.  Good call out.

I hear you crockett, but the midwest in me just couldn't put them in the trash.  And there were about 500 of them which is $150 even in the old days. At the peak that was over $400 in primers.

And in the mountain west I am less concerned about humidity.  I deprimed a couple and inspected them back in the day.  Pockets were a bit dirty, not reamed at all.  I don't clean my primer pockets either so I was good.  The primers had also been installed with a sealant.  I chose to view that as a positive.

[crockett]

Suggested header and bold added.  Good call out.

I hear you crockett, but the midwest in me just couldn't put them in the trash.  And there were about 500 of them which is $150 even in the old days. At the peak that was over $400 in primers.

And in the mountain west I am less concerned about humidity.  I deprimed a couple and inspected them back in the day.  Pockets were a bit dirty, not reamed at all.  I don't clean my primer pockets either so I was good.  The primers had also been installed with a sealant.  I chose to view that as a positive.

Good point, that was a very rough time. I saw primers being sold by flippers for 300 bucks, for a brick. For a moment I thought about selling my stock...

I search on local FB Marketplace and Craigslist for used reloeading gear and supplies, maybe one a year. Never found anything worthwhile. Its either old rusty junk, or they want basically new retail prices.