Jbar4Ranch
11-02-2006, 10:49
Some time back, I broke down a few factory Speer 325 grain .50AE loads, weighed, and examined the powder under magnification. It appears to be 32.5-32.6 grains of H110, which is the max load of H110 (32.6) that Speer lists in their manual. It's definitely not Li'l Gun, and looks more like H110 than W296. Under magnification, the only difference I can see between the oft-claimed identical powders, 110 & 296, is that 296 has a somewhat shiny appearance, while 110 is noticably duller. The granules appear identical, and the color is the same, but 296 has a gloss finish, while 110 is semi-gloss. :supergrin: When I first bought my DE, I tried a couple boxes with Speer's 325 grain UCHP with 32.5 grains H110 and CCI-350 primers, and a couple more boxes of 300 grainers with the same 32.5 grain H110 load. At 25 yards, the Speer factory load and both handloads printed nice sub-2" groups centered about 7" high. At 50 yards, all three loads grouped 5 shots into between 3 3/4" and 4", but groups were centered about 18" high. At 100 yards, all three loads grouped 5 shots into between 4" (Factory load) and 7 1/4" (300 & 325 gr handloads), but groups were centered about 24" high. The same charge of W296 produced the same results, and point of impact was virtually identical with either weight bullet. MRI claims the factory sights are regulated to point of aim at 100 meters (110 yards)... I don't t'ink so! It was at about this point that I decided I needed a taller front sight, and modified the sight accordingly. After raising the heighth of the sight considerably, groups at 25 yards were centered about 1" high, groups at 50 yards were centered about 2" high, and groups at 100 yards were centered and about 3" low. Chrono's velocities with the Speer 325 gr UCHP and 32.5/H110 were more less exactly what Speer claims for their 325 grain load, about 1325-1330fps, while the 300 grainers were a tad faster at about 1350-1355 fps.
A few days later, I loaded up a couple boxes with 23.3 grains of AA #9, CCI-350 primers, and an even split of Speer's 325 grain UCHP and 300 grain Gold Dot. The reason I settled on 23.3 instead of 23.0 or 23.5 is that's what the #25 rotor from my RCBS Little Dandy rotor set throws. This is a noticably milder load than the factory loads and the factory duplication loads I posted about above, but still cycled the action reliably. Surprisingly, there was no real difference in point of impact at 50 or 100 yards. (I didn't shoot at 25 yards this time) Five shot groups at 50 yards measured from 2 1/4" to 4 1/2", center to center, with the 300 grain Gold Dots, about the same as with the H110/W296 loads previously tested. Groups with the 325 grain UCHP were in the five inch range, but opened up to a full foot across at 100 yards, while the 300 grainers printed virtually identical groups as the H110/W296 loads. There is no noticable daytime muzzle flash with the AA #9 load, and I didn't have a single ejected case whack me in the forehead, as is common with factory and full power H110/W296 reloads. The H110/W296 loads had a large and very noticable fireball, even in broad daylight, and I would be hit in the forehead by the ejected empties at least one out of four times. I can't find any chrono data on my AA#9 loads... maybe I've never checked them...?
A few days later, I loaded up a couple boxes with 23.3 grains of AA #9, CCI-350 primers, and an even split of Speer's 325 grain UCHP and 300 grain Gold Dot. The reason I settled on 23.3 instead of 23.0 or 23.5 is that's what the #25 rotor from my RCBS Little Dandy rotor set throws. This is a noticably milder load than the factory loads and the factory duplication loads I posted about above, but still cycled the action reliably. Surprisingly, there was no real difference in point of impact at 50 or 100 yards. (I didn't shoot at 25 yards this time) Five shot groups at 50 yards measured from 2 1/4" to 4 1/2", center to center, with the 300 grain Gold Dots, about the same as with the H110/W296 loads previously tested. Groups with the 325 grain UCHP were in the five inch range, but opened up to a full foot across at 100 yards, while the 300 grainers printed virtually identical groups as the H110/W296 loads. There is no noticable daytime muzzle flash with the AA #9 load, and I didn't have a single ejected case whack me in the forehead, as is common with factory and full power H110/W296 reloads. The H110/W296 loads had a large and very noticable fireball, even in broad daylight, and I would be hit in the forehead by the ejected empties at least one out of four times. I can't find any chrono data on my AA#9 loads... maybe I've never checked them...?