tnlonghunter
40 Cal.
I did some load development today for my .40. For reference, it has a 34" A-profile barrel. I tried a couple different charges and ball diameters. All powder was 3f OE, all patching was .018" pillow ticking, and all lube was moose snot. I focused on 40 and 45 grain charges with .390 and .395 balls. Overall, the .395 with 45g grouped best at 50 yds, but I wouldn't call it great. My best group of 4 shots was 2.25" inches, but with each pair touching. What I found weird was that all combinations produced a ragged hole at 25 yards. But moving out to 50 yards, groups opened up way more than I would have expected. The .390 all with 40g was something like 4". The combos of .390 and .395 with 40 and 45g were better (as noted above), but I really didn't expect to go from essentially sub-1" at 25 to over 2" at 50. Maybe I'm missing something here. The patches did not show any obvious tears or scorching (unfortunately, I was against the clock when leaving and forget to grab the spent patches). I know I need more testing, but any ideas are welcome. I do wonder whether the shorter-than-average-barrel would have any effect....