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9 Posts
Hi All,
I live in California where it's nearly impossible to get decent self defense ammo for my S&W 686 with 4" barrel. The pandemic hasn't helped the situation either. So I thought I would reload my own. I decided to go old school and try to duplicate the 1450 fps 125gn semi jacketed hollow point load that was famous back in the day for being a lethal man stopper. I have the bullets and some powders that will get the job done (like H110), but I was hoping for some folks to share their tried and true formulas to get the velocity out of my 4" revolver with a minimum of flash and clean burning. None of the reloading manuals I've checked used a 4" revolver barrel with 1:18 3/4" twist. I think this is important because the cylinder gap in a revolver will bleed of significant pressure unlike the test barrels used my the powder and bullet manufacturers. I know I'll have to fine tune any load for my revolver, which has considerable mileage on it, but I was hoping to start off in the ballpark. I chronographed factory C357B ammo some years back in this revolver and average velocity was about 1430 on average if I recall correctly. I was thinking about using VV N110 because their published speed range is phenomenal and the powder is supposed to be clean burning and low flash, but again the test barrel didn't factor in the correct rate of twist or cylinder gap so I have no idea where to set my initial powder charges. If anyone has a recipe for pushing a 125gn Semi JHP to 1450 out of a 4" revolver I'd appreciate seeing it. Please also include type of primer used and COL. Thanks in advance for any help and stay healthy all.
I live in California where it's nearly impossible to get decent self defense ammo for my S&W 686 with 4" barrel. The pandemic hasn't helped the situation either. So I thought I would reload my own. I decided to go old school and try to duplicate the 1450 fps 125gn semi jacketed hollow point load that was famous back in the day for being a lethal man stopper. I have the bullets and some powders that will get the job done (like H110), but I was hoping for some folks to share their tried and true formulas to get the velocity out of my 4" revolver with a minimum of flash and clean burning. None of the reloading manuals I've checked used a 4" revolver barrel with 1:18 3/4" twist. I think this is important because the cylinder gap in a revolver will bleed of significant pressure unlike the test barrels used my the powder and bullet manufacturers. I know I'll have to fine tune any load for my revolver, which has considerable mileage on it, but I was hoping to start off in the ballpark. I chronographed factory C357B ammo some years back in this revolver and average velocity was about 1430 on average if I recall correctly. I was thinking about using VV N110 because their published speed range is phenomenal and the powder is supposed to be clean burning and low flash, but again the test barrel didn't factor in the correct rate of twist or cylinder gap so I have no idea where to set my initial powder charges. If anyone has a recipe for pushing a 125gn Semi JHP to 1450 out of a 4" revolver I'd appreciate seeing it. Please also include type of primer used and COL. Thanks in advance for any help and stay healthy all.