joe i
01-19-2013, 09:05 PM
I've been chasing ES and SD issues with my handloads and Beretta 85F .380. My loads are both Missouri Cast 95gr LRN's, and Berry's 100gr plated RN over 3.0 grs of 231, loaded to 0.968" OAL. I'm building these on a Dillon 650. OAL variation is pretty minor -- about .004" with the cast and .002" with plated. The Dillon measure is throwing +/- 0.1 gr. Case dia. at the crimp is 0.372 -- I'm only removing the bell. I didn't touch anything on the press when I switched from cast to plated.
PLATED:
When I ran 3 10-shot groups of plated bullets with unsorted headstamps over the chronograph, I got ES's of 119, 149, and 145. The SD's were 41, 46, and 44. Velocity avg were 827, 819, and 793. To me this is unacceptable. I sorted out some Win headstamps with plated bullets and got an ES of 78 with SD of 26 (avg velocity 814 fps).
MISSOURI CAST:
I had more of these, so I spent more time sorting headstamps and chrono'ing in 10-shot batches to see how much the headstamp mattered with no other changes. I didn't ever run an unsorted batch with cast. Here were the results:
-Sorted for Win stamps, in two tests I got ES/SD/vel of 56/18/880 fps, and 66/24/875 fps.
-Sorted for R-P stamps, in 2 tests I got ES/SD/vel of 85/27/833 fps, and 88/31/820 fps.
-Sorted for F-C stamps, in 1 test I got ES/SD/vel of 92/30/877 fps.
-Sorted for "FEDERAL" stamps, in 1 test I got ES/SD/vel of 60/21/909 fps.
-Sorted for PMC stamps, in 1 test I got ES/SD/vel of 68/24/885 fps.
I was shooting from 10' behind the chrono, and noticed unburnt powder on it as well as unburnt powder in the chamber and bore of the pistol after nearly every group. A notable exception was that the "FEDERAL" batch didn't show any unburnt powder flakes at all, and also had the highest velocity noted.
When I loaded these, it was in random order with no attention paid to headstamp, but headstamp clearly affects the outcome both in average velocity and in consistency. Obviously I haven't conducted exhaustive testing here, but the results were interesting nonetheless.
I'm interested in hearing from other .380 shooters with similar or differing experiences, as I don't know anyone else who reloads this caliber and I'm not sure what to expect from it in terms of consistency. It'd be nice not to see unburnt powder in the bore and chamber after every string, too.
PLATED:
When I ran 3 10-shot groups of plated bullets with unsorted headstamps over the chronograph, I got ES's of 119, 149, and 145. The SD's were 41, 46, and 44. Velocity avg were 827, 819, and 793. To me this is unacceptable. I sorted out some Win headstamps with plated bullets and got an ES of 78 with SD of 26 (avg velocity 814 fps).
MISSOURI CAST:
I had more of these, so I spent more time sorting headstamps and chrono'ing in 10-shot batches to see how much the headstamp mattered with no other changes. I didn't ever run an unsorted batch with cast. Here were the results:
-Sorted for Win stamps, in two tests I got ES/SD/vel of 56/18/880 fps, and 66/24/875 fps.
-Sorted for R-P stamps, in 2 tests I got ES/SD/vel of 85/27/833 fps, and 88/31/820 fps.
-Sorted for F-C stamps, in 1 test I got ES/SD/vel of 92/30/877 fps.
-Sorted for "FEDERAL" stamps, in 1 test I got ES/SD/vel of 60/21/909 fps.
-Sorted for PMC stamps, in 1 test I got ES/SD/vel of 68/24/885 fps.
I was shooting from 10' behind the chrono, and noticed unburnt powder on it as well as unburnt powder in the chamber and bore of the pistol after nearly every group. A notable exception was that the "FEDERAL" batch didn't show any unburnt powder flakes at all, and also had the highest velocity noted.
When I loaded these, it was in random order with no attention paid to headstamp, but headstamp clearly affects the outcome both in average velocity and in consistency. Obviously I haven't conducted exhaustive testing here, but the results were interesting nonetheless.
I'm interested in hearing from other .380 shooters with similar or differing experiences, as I don't know anyone else who reloads this caliber and I'm not sure what to expect from it in terms of consistency. It'd be nice not to see unburnt powder in the bore and chamber after every string, too.