Thank you.
Well, wife's retirement project of building two large buildings for the turkeys came to an abrupt stop when the family who got some of her turkeys ended up trading the remaining 10 turkeys for rabbit meat and cash (Wife is shuffling her project priorities and now wants the back corner of acreage full of Blackberry bushes cleared for possible new site for chicken/turkey buildings and/or greenhouse - So I drove 1.5 hours today to buy a like-new DR Trimmer mower at less than half price to clear the Blackberry bushes starting tomorrow).
A break in project work gave me a chance to do some reloading and load development/comparison range test for the Aug-Sep Popular LEO Pistol Challenge -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...10-shot-challenge.853691/page-2#post-11194785
Although I got new progressive glasses (I noticed right eye vision was blurry), I am now diagnosed with Glaucoma (with a touch of cataract in my left eye) and started taking eye drops which made the corrected vision blurry again.
(I tell you, LIFE HAPPENS).
I have wanted to do a comparison test of IMR Target and Sport Pistol, two powders which produced very small 25 yard 10 shot groups with my JR carbine and 9mm barrel so I loaded up my reference W231/HP-38 and Promo loads using RMR 115 gr FP Mini Match Winner to 1.085" (To accommodate my aftermarket barrel with short leade) along with Target and Sport Pistol:
- W231/HP-38: 4.8 gr was chosen as it is my reference powder charge I use with FMJ/RN loaded to 1.130"
- Promo: 4.0-4.2 gr was chosen as it is my reference powder charge I use with FMJ/RN loaded to 1.110"-1.125"
Also, I am happy to report measurements were made using new-to-me Brown & Sharpe micrometer which replaced the Starrett micrometers I sold -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...endence-from-work.853305/page-3#post-11186045
RMR 115 gr FP Match Winner is the "Mini" version of 124 gr FP Match Winner and multiple bullets' diameter measured at .3555". Bullet length ranged from .523" to .526" with most measuring .523" to .524". Due to .3555" diameter of the bullet, .378" taper crimp was used with sorted WIN (Winchester) brass which did not experience any bullet setback when loaded from magazine in Glock 22 and KKM 40-9 conversion barrel using MagPul G17 magazines. S&B Small Pistol primers were used.
Range testing was done at 15 yards and since I forgot my Caldwell Steady Rest NXT, I used a 30 cal plastic ammo can to rest the dust cover of the pistol. I decided to shoot some rounds with GSG 1911 22LR to warm up and I immediately noticed my right eye trying to focus on the front sight then going blurry
(I tell you, choose your parents carefully and DO NOT GET OLD). Thank goodness for point shooting as I was still able to place my fast shots into 1/4 sheet copy paper targets. After shooting several magazines through GSG 1911 22LR, I proceeded to shoot the Glock 22/KKM 40-9 barrel.
As my vision of front sight oscillated through varying degrees of blurriness, I tried to maintain the same sight picture as much as possible. (Grrrrrrrr - Definitely looking forward to finishing the prototype pistol/carbine machine rest for accuracy testing). Promo load was shot first to warm up the barrel followed by W231/HP-38 as shown below.
To maintain what little testing consistency I had going, I taped the 1/2 sheet copy paper targets in the same spot. My dismal W231/HP-38 "pattern" was followed by tighter Target "group" and larger Sport Pistol "pattern" similar to W231/HP-38. This was a surprise. Despite my vision issue, tighter group using the same pistol/magazine/lousy shooting platform of ammo can meant Target load was more accurate than Sport Pistol load.
I should have tested 4.8 gr of Sport Pistol as it produced smaller group than 4.5 gr load during my previous load development with RMR 115 gr FMJ loaded to 1.130". I plan to retest 4.8 gr load using Caldwell Steady Rest NXT on the next range trip.
Since IMR Target "group" gave me some hope, I shot GSG 1911 22LR next for some verification and got the below "group". I am using Federal Walmart 36 gr CPHP 550 round Value Pack (Red Box) as this ammo produced the largest groups (when I tested with 10/22 Take Down) and using it up for point shooting drills/training -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-thickness-for-accuracy.850634/#post-11113638
This was also a surprise as Federal 36 gr CPHP bulk packs (525 or 550 round packs) have not been accurate for me out of 10/22 Take Down. I am going to shoot more accurate CCI Blazer Lead RN, Aguila Lead RN/CP RN and Armscor CPHP ammo on my next range test with GSG 1911 22LR.
So for now, looks like I will be shooting the Aug-Sep Popular LEO Pistol Challenge with Target load unless I identify a more accurate powder/load.
BTW, Brownells emailed me that my backordered Fusion Firearms complete 1911 9mm slide was shipped so I should be able to convert my railed 45ACP Sig 1911 to 9mm soon for testing, perhaps with the scope mount.
Next powders I will be testing are Vectan Ba 9 1/2, Shooters World Clean Shot, Vectan AS, Shooters World Auto Pistol, W244 along with N320, N340, Titegroup, WST, WSF, Unique, Power Pistol, AutoComp, CFE Pistol and BE-86.