What did you shoot today?

[HCM]

Shot my self assembled 320 Xcompact with Romeo 2 6MOA dot. Looking to gather data on both the optic and the X compact as an option vs the P365 series.

We were shooting into the sun and the Romeo2’s added brightness vs the Romeo1PRO made a noticeable difference in how quickly I could acquire the dot.

The tan thing is a 5.56. Loving the DVO optic. I like the rifle but like the 416 /MR556 it’s heavy. Well balanced, but heavy. If it stays around it may need to be form 1’ed into an 11.5” SBR.





Also tried an Aim Surplus 40-9 conversion barrel in the Glock 23 Gen 5 MOS. Used Magtech 124 grain 9mm. With the .40 cal mag it would malfunction every 2nd or 3rd round.



A G19 mag helped but I stil had one malfunction.



Will try it with a G19 RSA and hotter ammo next time.

[Exiledviking]

Technically yesterday, but I shot the local bowling pin match and had my best ever aggregate time of 16.18 seconds for 3 strings. 5 pins at 8 yards that all have to hit the ground before the timer stops.
I was using a new-to-me STI 2011 in .38 Super Comp launching 124 gr Montana Gold JHPs at 1400 feet per second.
Well, I'm now a fan of compensators on high velocity pistol rounds. The .38 Super Comp is awesome. It didn't feel or look like the dot moved when I was firing it. The only thing holding it back was the loose nut behind the wheel...

[kwb377]

Took my recently-acquired 1100 out to function and pattern test. I haven't decided whether to call it "The Dictator" (as it looks like something captured from a despot's palace) or "Elvis" (it's glitzy and an American classic).

I've had several personally owned and agency issued 1100's and 1187P's. I owned a cut-down 18" 1100 since @ '92, and my initial LE agency was carrying 20" 1100's when I started in '93 before switching to 18" 1187P's in the late 90's. When I transferred to the State circa '08, I was issued a 14" 1187P until my retirement from full-time in 2018, and owned a personal 18" model for a while.

All that to say...the 1100's were finicky on ammo selection. None would function with anything under @ 1350fps. My agency issued 2 3/4" Magnum loads for duty...which made for a miserable officer-survival course I attended where we shot 100 rounds of shotgun one morning with agency supplied ammo and academy supplied 870's with rigid plastic buttplates. The 1187's were about the same...they would sometimes function with reduced recoil Federal 00 (1145fps), but not enough to consider them reliable with it.

With all that in mind, I ordered @100 rounds of Federal Power Shok 00 (1345 fps) to run through it (couldn't find any full-power LE FC). I also ordered @ 50 rounds of Federal 127LE full-power slugs (1600 fps). I have a sizable stash of 132LE 9 pellet low-recoil (1145fps) and 127LE reduced recoil slugs (1300 fps) on hand that I feed all my other guns (the 1301 will eat anything) and wanted to see if it would cycle any of those.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this particular 1100 fed all the reduced recoil rounds with no issues. I put @ 200 rounds through it yesterday and it continued to eat and spit everything out like a champ despite being filthy at the end. I'm assuming that whoever did the barrel trim and Cerakote must have also opened up the gas ports accordingly.



Slugs off-hand @ 50 yds. The full-power 127LE's were printing just a tad low...the reduced-recoil slugs pulling left was my fault.

[BobM]

My daughter and I put a few cylinders through my 43C, now she wants one. We also put a few through my Bearcat. She put a couple magazines through her Shield. I then had her run the timer while I shot the Prep Time and Armada drills with my Shield Plus. I explained the “shooter ready, stand by” before hitting the button. She said she was just going to surprise me which cracked me up.

[gringop]

After trying these 240gr Acme powder coated LSWC bullets and reaching max loads with Universal (1337fps) and HP-38 (1419fps) that still won't cycle the action, I dipped into my stash of precious Blue Dot. All 3 loads cycled just fine but but holy tumbling keyholes at 25 yds.



The highest load, 16.2gr, had 2 that didn't tumble but 3 that did. The Xring shot got my hopes up.



gun cal load avg SD notes
Ruger 44 carbine 44 Mag 240 gr Acme LSWC 14.2 gr Blue Dot 1477 12 All shots tumbled, keyholed
Ruger 44 carbine 44 Mag 240 gr Acme LSWC 15.2 gr Blue Dot 1548 17 All shots tumbled, keyholed
Ruger 44 carbine 44 Mag 240 gr Acme LSWC 16.2 gr Blue Dot 1605 34 3 out of 5 shots tumbled, keyholed



All told, I fired 15 rounds and the barrel leaded up pretty well, even with powder coated hard cast bullets.





The piston had a nice layer of lead deposited.


After cleaning.




The culprit.



I will start working back down the Blue Dot loadings to try to find middle ground between bullet tumbling hot loads and fail to cycle weak loads. One thing is for certain, Blue Dot produces a lot more gas than Universal and HP-38.

Gringop

PS. I know that JHP bullets will probably perform well with these loads, my goal is to get a general practice load that will work the action and still have enough penetration for hogs and deer. I've got some gunshow JHP reloads that do 1630fps. I just need to get a load that works for the 150 of these ACME bullets that I have left.

[awp_101]

@gringop, with everything leading up are you sure there’s not a bullet size vs bore size issue coming into play as well?

[gringop]

@gringop, with everything leading up are you sure there’s not a bullet size vs bore size issue coming into play as well?

I'll probably try to slug it tomorrow. ACME Bullets says .430 on the website, checking with my calipers shows .430 to .431.
From ACME "These bullets are cast from 92-6-2 alloy (BNH 16) and are then coated with Hi-Tek coating"

My 20 year old box of Hornady 240gr JHP says .430 on the box and measures .430.

Gringop.

[BobM]

After trying these 240gr Acme powder coated LSWC bullets and reaching max loads with Universal (1337fps) and HP-38 (1419fps) that still won't cycle the action, I dipped into my stash of precious Blue Dot. All 3 loads cycled just fine but but holy tumbling keyholes at 25 yds.



The highest load, 16.2gr, had 2 that didn't tumble but 3 that did. The Xring shot got my hopes up.



gun cal load avg SD notes
Ruger 44 carbine 44 Mag 240 gr Acme LSWC 14.2 gr Blue Dot 1477 12 All shots tumbled, keyholed
Ruger 44 carbine 44 Mag 240 gr Acme LSWC 15.2 gr Blue Dot 1548 17 All shots tumbled, keyholed
Ruger 44 carbine 44 Mag 240 gr Acme LSWC 16.2 gr Blue Dot 1605 34 3 out of 5 shots tumbled, keyholed



All told, I fired 15 rounds and the barrel leaded up pretty well, even with powder coated hard cast bullets.





The piston had a nice layer of lead deposited.


After cleaning.




The culprit.



I will start working back down the Blue Dot loadings to try to find middle ground between bullet tumbling hot loads and fail to cycle weak loads. One thing is for certain, Blue Dot produces a lot more gas than Universal and HP-38.

Gringop

PS. I know that JHP bullets will probably perform well with these loads, my goal is to get a general practice load that will work the action and still have enough penetration for hogs and deer. I've got some gunshow JHP reloads that do 1630fps. I just need to get a load that works for the 150 of these ACME bullets that I have left.

Those are pretty neat I think. I sort of looked for when when Ohio started allowing straight wall cartridge rifles for deer hunting.

[revchuck38]

After trying these 240gr Acme powder coated LSWC bullets and reaching max loads with Universal (1337fps) and HP-38 (1419fps) that still won't cycle the action, I dipped into my stash of precious Blue Dot. All 3 loads cycled just fine but but holy tumbling keyholes at 25 yds.

Did the Universal and HP-38 loads also tumble? IIRC, those Rugers had a 1-38" twist and were pretty persnickety with lead bullets. Ken Waters' first .44 Mag article in Handloader in '68 used a full-stocked Ruger and did okay with a 232-grain LSWC over 12 grains of Unique, apparently including function.

If it were me, I'd save those SWCs for use in my OMSBH and try to find some .44 caliber plated bullets for the rifle.

[gringop]

Did the Universal and HP-38 loads also tumble? IIRC, those Rugers had a 1-38" twist and were pretty persnickety with lead bullets.

Therein lies the rub, those earlier sessions were not shot at paper, just in the general area of a hanging steel plate to keep centered in the chrono. I wanted to get the load working before getting a final zero on the Romeo5.

It's possible that they were tumbling but I can't be sure. After having chrono issues on the previous 40 yard range, my new chrono procedure is to use the Bullseye 25/50 range position with no overhead cover. Chrono worked perfectly there.

Double checking online confirms these old Rugers had a 1:38 twist. I'm guessing the softer lead can't spin up enough to stabilize.

If I can't make it work with lead, I will get some "Value" priced jacketed 240s for it, I see Powder Valley has Zero Bullets JSP 240s for $80/500.

Gringop