New-to-me Rossi M92 44Mag, low-velocity Red Dot loads

[Kestrel4k]

Edit: new results w/ Hornady .430" swaged HP & Red Dot

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24" octagon barrel; Marbles tang sight & Lyman globe front.

I've got a thing for 'quiet' - have been shooting suppressors recently but certainly not going to chop & thread this beauty. So the next best thing is to see how low it can go. :)

Before I do any serious load development for it, I grabbed some old leftover 240gr .429 SWC's (no gas check); don't know anything else about them.
Distance was only 25 yds as I was only just messing around; 4-shot groups were done with each load 'cuz that's all I had to work with.

Red Dot:
5.5 grs: 970 fps avg, 0.68" c-c
5.0 grs: 930 fps avg, 0.87" c-c
4.5 grs: 870 fps avg, 0.70" c-c
4.0 grs: 825 fps avg, 0.50" c-c
3.5 grs: 720 fps avg, 0.50" c-c
3.0 grs, 630 fps avg, 0.65" c-c

No vertical stringing at all, with the two 0.50" groups being nice little cloverleafs.
Velocity standard-deviations were reasonable for such low-pressure loads IMO (@ 7 to 21 fps) until the lowest load, @ 29.
So a good place to stop - pretty quiet shooting this morning. :)

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Edit: To add new results (i.e. from post #9)

More cleaning out of old components and figured to test the Hornady .430" swaged SWC-HP (http://www.hornady.com/store/44-Cal-.430-240-gr-SWC-HP/) at 25 yds with the lower range of Red Dot loadings.

4.5 grs: 865 fps avg, 0.45" c-c
4.0 grs: 796 fps avg, 1.15" c-c (w/ horizontal stringing)
3.5 grs: 714 fps avg, 0.80" c-c (w/ vertical stringing)
3.0 grs, 640 fps avg, 0.45" c-c

No complaints. :)

[nockhunter]

Be carefull,,,,,,You can stick one in the barrel around the 600fps mark.

Mike

[shoot-n-lead]

I would stop with the 5.5gr group, if I were going to use this at 50yds or so.

Those are very mild loads. with very good accuracy.

[runfiverun]

4.5 grs of clays is a nice quiet light load, burns clean too.

[Buckshot]

.............I have a couple 577-450's (MkIV military & a Greener sporter) and years ago I bought a chamber insert to allow shooting 45 Colt ammo in them, Below:

http://www.fototime.com/B36421DF639D5DF/standard.jpghttp://www.fototime.com/84C2840C23E9FD2/standard.jpg

Shooting the 45 Colt through that long barreled MkIV just makes a 'POOT' :-)

Considering how far that pistol slug has to travel before it ever hits rifling (and how undersized the lead slug is) it's amazing how accurate it is:-).

...............Buckshot

[TCLouis]

Thanks once again runfiverun

I have a pound of Clays and I was wondering what I would use it for.

[Spruce]

Thanks once again for the informative post with pics, Buckshot. Interesting info.

[Groo]

Groo here
I just shot some 44 spec from my 16in r-92.
Full to the bullet with Trailboss and a 240gr plated bulet.
It went "Thunk" and put a hole in the target!

[Kestrel4k]

OP here; adding more Red Dot results, this time with the Hornady .430" swaged HP.

More cleaning out of old components so figured to test the Hornady .430" swaged SWC-HP (http://www.hornady.com/store/44-Cal-.430-240-gr-SWC-HP/) at 25 yds with the lower range of Red Dot loadings.

4-shot groups @ 25 yds to compare to the 4-shot groups of the prior test:

4.5 grs: 865 fps avg, 0.45" c-c
4.0 grs: 796 fps avg, 1.15" c-c (w/ horizontal stringing)
3.5 grs: 714 fps avg, 0.80" c-c (w/ vertical stringing)
3.0 grs, 640 fps avg, 0.45" c-c

Again, relatively low standard-deviations (13-14) until the lowest load (@ 33).

The only difference this time around was getting no leading with these swaged Hornady's (mic'd @ 0.431") vs. the light leading that I got with the misc. cast 0.429's (perhaps undersized to the bore) the first time around.