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I loaded some new Hornady 38 caliber 140 g Lever rounds, the new ballistic tip ones designed for tubular magazines. I loaded 25 with Lil Gun, 17 grains, and 25 rounds with H110, 16 grains. Both loads using magnum primers. I sighted them in using my Rossi 92 with 2~7X scope attached. Shot several groups of each over my chrony, and a couple of each group were inside 1.5" at 50 meters at around 1625 fps. The chrony showed that although they were within 50 fps of each other, the H110 loads printed about an inch higher. After I was through with these loads, I shot two groups of 5 shots with some Federal 158 g JSP that I had bought at Wally World. They chronied over 1800 fps and about 6" g higher than the prior loads. Again, these were 158g bullets. They also grouped inside 2", one was inside an inch except for a flier that was probably my fault.
It seems to me that every factory loaded round that I shoot in this gun are several levels hotter than anything I have ever handloaded at what were listed at or near maximum recommended loads.
And my point is.... don't know other than factory loads sure seem to be hot to me.
Your loads with the H110 and the Lil'Gun should have cranked out quite a lot more velocity for you. I'd double-check neck-tension and crimp: those slow ball powders need lots of both to do their best work. Even so, those factory loads had to be right up at SAAMI upper end, I'd guess.
The greatest patriot...
is he who heals the most gullies. Patrick Henry
I thought they would be about 100 to 150 fps faster. I'm not really fearful of blowing the gun up as the factory stuff I have shot all seem to function fine and leave no drastic indicators of problems. It just seems that all but the lead bullet rounds sure are smokin' coming out of the barrel! Especially any of the Remington stuff. This was my first experience with the Federal in 357. BTW, I experience the same with my 30-30. I have never been able to duplicate the velocity I get with a Remington 150g JSP with a Hornady or Speer bullet and a max recommended charge of any of the recommended powders.
Most factory loads that I have ever chronographed were pretty fast. That said, I have actually had some rounds give better velocity when I brought the speed down a little.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
OK, this AM I loaded some more of the 140g Hornady Lever Action rounds. I checked the latest Hornady Loading manual and they listed H110 at 18.3 g max. I decided to start at 18 and work down. I loaded 5 cartridges with carefully measured 18 grains and then went to seat 5 bullets. The first one would not seat to the canelure and crimp properly. Ended up warping the case very slightly. I pulled that round and resized the case, and backed off to 17.5 g. Even at 17.5 the bullet was compressing the powder to get the right depth. So, I pulled it and backed off to 17. That was successful, so I loaded 5 rounds each at 17, 16.5, and 16. 16 is what I was shooting yesterday that were at least 150 fps less than the factory 158g loads.
I also loaded 20 round of 158g XTP, 5 each at 13.5, 13, 12.5 and 12. 13.5 is supposed to give around 1600 fps according to the manual. That was using a Rossi 92 with 20" bbl, just like mine. We will see.
My intuition seems to tell me that most recent reloading manuals have reported more conservative loadings for a wider margin of safety.
We had no chrony, but the Monarch ammo we shot out of .270, .308 and .30/06 was hot enough after 3 shots to jamb the bolt on all 3 guns, even trying to wait about 2 minutes between shots. We're going to pull the bullets, and down load the remainder of that stuff! Monarch was the less expensive stuff we found at Academy.
piller wrote:That said, I have actually had some rounds give better velocity when I brought the speed down a little.
Hmm...ya lost me there.
Oly
Yep, think ya meant to say "better accuracy" when I brought the speed down a little.
Yes I did. Sorry, I was typing while trying to talk to PillHer and didn't pay attention to what went on the page.
D. Brian Casady
Quid Llatine Dictum Sit, Altum Viditur.
Advanced is being able to do the basics while your leg is on fire---Bill Jeans
Don't ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up---Robert Frost
