Marlin 1894 45 Colt POI with various loads
Hey guys I am wondering if anybody here has shot a wide variety of loads from their 1894s and if so, how far apart do your loads hit at 50 yards?
I don't know what load I want to settle down with in my new rifle and I just installed a new, tall front sight from Skinner and a used Skinner peep that I had laying around.
I am interested in 200s at 44-40 speeds, 250s subsonic, 250s at 1700+ fps, 300s at 1600 fps and maybe the NOE 350 at 1300-1400 fps.
In your experience, how far apart will these different loads hit at 50 yards? Do the heavier bullets shoot higher like you would expect? I saw one guy say his Lee 300 hits lower than the Lee 255 at 50 yards.
I am asking because I don't have a heavy bullet mold yet and I want to leave enough adjustment in the peep to shoot standard pressure loads and heavy bullet +p if possible. I wonder if I should trim my front sight so my NOE 265 hits POA with the peep in the middle, towards the bottom or towards the top of its adjustment range.
I have only shot about 60 or 70 rounds out of the gun so far and it is looking encouraging offhand at 25 yards. Subsonic 250 HPs and rootin' tootin' Lil' Gun loads seemed to hit about the same spot and maybe an inch lower for 200s at 1200 fps, but I haven't had a chance to really shoot it for groups yet.
So far I have shot 23.5 grains Lil' Gun with the NOE 265 WFN HP and the Lee 255-rf (~1700 fps), 6 grains of Titegroup and American Select with the NOE (~950 fps), 10.8 grains Power Pistol with the Lee 255-rf (~1400 fps), and 7.5 grains Red Dot with the Lee 200-rf (~1200 fps) and they all seemed to hit close to each other at 25 yards offhand, but that doesn't say too much.
Let me know what you know! I am really interested in the NOE 350 HP, especially if one of you guys have had luck with a Skinner peep having enough adjustment to run the 350 gr at 1300-1400 fps and more standard types of loads like a 200 at 1250 fps or a 250 at 1000 fps
Thanks