Ammo report/ chrono: .38/.44sp/.45acp

[ROB]

I had some ammo I had meant to chrono while vacationing in eastern WA, but fire danger was high and no shooting was advised in the valley.

Luckily, things were slow today at the local bullseye range, so the rangemaster was kind enough to let me set up my prochrono.

Ammo was .38sp selections from Remington Golden Saber and Sig's V-Crown stuff, both 125gr jhp +p. 

Guns used were;

Taurus's 'No View' with a 1.41" barrel

Ruger LCR .357 1.875" barrel

S&W 242 2.5" barrel

Colt Police Positive 4" barrel

....so four barrel lengths from four big name shooters.

In .44sp, I used Buffalo Bore's 200gr hardcast wadcutter 'manstopper' load

Guns used were Ruger's new model Bisley Flattop 4.6" barrel and the S&W 629-5 3" barrel .44mag.

In .45acp, also a hardcast lead 255gr flat point from Buffalo Bore.

Guns for that were the Kimber CustII with a 5" barrel and a S&W 325sc with a 2.75" barrel.

 

Results

SIG V CROWN +p 125gr .38sp

Taurus (no) View 1.41" bbl: 787fps avg (5shots)

Ruger LCR .357 1.875" bbl: 867fps avg

S&W 242 2.5" bbl: 903fps avg

Colt Police Positive 4" bbl: 929fps avg

Not really impressed with this stuff for being 'plus p'. It felt like Blazer brass 125gr std pressure ammo.

REM GOLDEN SABER125gr +p

Taurus (no) View 1.41": 830fps avg

Ruger LCR .357 1.875" : 839fps avg

S&W 242 2.5": 953fps avg

Colt PPS 4": 1011fps avg

Although still watered down IMO, this load is generally consistent and ventures into usable velocities from even the ultra short Taurus. The LCR .357 actually faired better with the Sig load, oddly.....357 guns often lose a little with .38 loads vs similar .38sp chambered guns IME, but usually this Ruger runs right along side my .38sp J frames.

 

[Eric]

You have some great looking pistols there, man. Thanks for the chrono data. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

[ROB]

Going to .45acp, I was curious to see how this ammo faired in the 1911 with it's shorter OAL. Buffalo Bore advertises this at 955fps from a 5".

In the Kimber, this load was right at 950fps average over 5 shots, but nosed up when feeding on the 3rd round and required a bump to the slide on the fifth...so probably not something I'd carry in this gun. But right on the money, velocity wise.

In the 2.75" 325sc, velocity averaged 876fps, moonclip extraction was a little sticky but punched out. No bullet creep was experienced over those five shots....but recoil was good and stout.

A load like this wouldn't be a bad choice in the boonies if angry people eaters were a concern.

 

The Buffalo Bore .44sp wadcutter was the main reason I wanted to chrono, just an intriguing load.

From the 3" .44mag 629, this clocked 946fps avg velocity...very comfortable shooting in the N frame.

From the Bisley Ruger .44sp, 1004fps avg vel. 

For accuracy, I took one five shot attempt at 25yrds with the Ruger, just over 3"

Seems like good ammo, hits advertised numbers and accurate.

 

[ROB]

19 minutes ago, Eric said:

You have some great looking pistols there, man. Thanks for the chrono data. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

Thanks! Least I could do.

[TeaDub]

Very cool. Almost 20 years ago I had an entry level Oehler. It was picky on lighting at my indoor range. I no longer have it. Recently I was able to try a new, radar based one. That thing was awesome.

It allowed me to check real world velocities on my carry choices from my 642 and 638. Speer 135 short barrel and the same Remington you list. It also proved to me the old saying of checking our actual guns and not assume velocity. My 638 has a cylinder gap almost 3 thousandths larger than my 642 (.008 vs .005) so I assumed it would be much slower. Not so much. It only lost about 10 fps, and was consistent. Both were above the claimed numbers from Speer so I'm happy.

[ROB]

Very true, every gun is an individual. I never get very good performance from that 135gr Gold Dot, for whatever reason I always get big velocity swings and typically right around 840fs in my 442-2. It *just* gets adv velocities when going to 2.5- 3" guns. I wish they'd tack another 100fps on it....

I carry Buffalo Bore stuff in .38sp especially, they load it up stout.