Barrel as a Case Gauge?

[stainless1911]

BTW, I am very grateful for all the help thus far.

I have a pound and a half of WST left, someone told me that 231 was better, so I tried it, but could you recommend a charge for the WST that I could use until it's gone?

[geargnasher]

If I go with HS-6 WDWW, how much charge should I use. I have an OAL of 1.140

And If I were to try to copycat the Winchester PDX-1 JHP 165gn, what should I do? I like those rounds in my gun, they feed perfectly, they shoot straight, and I have shot them into and through different things, sometimes recovering the bollets, and have been very impressed with the results. I think I will continue to carry these PDX-1 rounds for SD. I have noticed that they do flatten the primers though, that raises some questions.

They flatten primers because they are probably running over 22,000 Copper units of pressure, or possibly it's aggravated by the excessive headspace that is natural to automatic handgun platforms with straight-walls, the primers can back out a fraction upon initial ignition and then get really swaged into the corners of the pocket when full chamber pressure is reached. I wouldn't worry about it with factory ammo unless you get really bad impressions from the chamber machining marks on the brass, or bulged case heads.

As for HS6, it's a good choice based upon what my gun and tests showed, and I would start with Lyman's data which shows seven grains starting load with a 175 grain boolit. My particular combination of gun/components showed pressure signs at 8.2 (under book max of 8.4), and 8.0 was still pretty stiff, keep that in mind as you work up. I settled on 7.6 grains at about 1020 fps in my M&P, of course your results will vary. HS6 meters extremely well and is a good, consistent powder of the perfect loading density for the Lee 175 TC boolit seated at 1.118" 7.6 grains almost touches the boolit base, 8.0 grains is ever-so-slightly compressed. You are using a longer COAL, so there should be plenty of room. Watch the compression thing, it will make your pressures increase dramatically.

One more thing, HS6 is typical of the slower pistol powers in that it doesn't burn really cleanly until it gets to a certain pressure range, so for lighter loads it will leave partially burned bits of powder grains in the cases, chamber and barrel. When it starts burning clean, your pressures are right for the powder.

Gear

[stainless1911]

Thanks.

I was having that problem with unburnt powder when I was running WST.