rcmodel
Member in memoriam
I'm in a quagmire here.
I finally found a box of Speer #4014 135 Gold Dot Short-Barrel bullets for sale.
Had to pay nearly $25 bucks for one box!
So, I loaded 50 with 5.2 grains Unique, as prescribed by Speer's current load data. Tested in gallon milk jugs of water out of a 2" S&W J-Frame and a 4" S&W K-Frame at 5'.
The 2" bullets were so NOT deformed I could have reloaded them again.
The 4" gun managed to deform the HP nose to less then bullet diameter!
And they just "feel" wimpy!
So, back at the ranch, I pulled the remaining bullets and loaded them again with 5.4 grains Unique, which was outlined in a recent Brian Pearce test in Handloader magazine. Too much snow to get up the hill to the range now, so I haven't tested them again.
But somehow, I doubt 0.2 grains more powder is going to make much difference in expansion.
Power Pistol apparently is the powder that gives the best velocity.
But I don't have any, and I don't want to buy a pound of it for the remaining 50 bullets I have left!
Anyway, it only adds 77 FPS over the 5.2 Unique load.
The part that really has me stymied is, the #13 Speer manual shows 6.0 grains Unique +P MAX with the 125 Gold Dot, but current data only 5.2 with the 135 Gold Dot.
That right there just don't seem right!
To further add to the "Old data/New data" debate, 5.5 Unique used to be +P max with a 160 grain jacketed bullet.
Not that I condone it for anyone else, but I think the remaining 50 bullets are going over 5.5 grains Unique!
Anyone tried anything else with the 135 GD .38 Spl that worked as advertised?
rc
I finally found a box of Speer #4014 135 Gold Dot Short-Barrel bullets for sale.
Had to pay nearly $25 bucks for one box!
So, I loaded 50 with 5.2 grains Unique, as prescribed by Speer's current load data. Tested in gallon milk jugs of water out of a 2" S&W J-Frame and a 4" S&W K-Frame at 5'.
The 2" bullets were so NOT deformed I could have reloaded them again.
The 4" gun managed to deform the HP nose to less then bullet diameter!
And they just "feel" wimpy!
So, back at the ranch, I pulled the remaining bullets and loaded them again with 5.4 grains Unique, which was outlined in a recent Brian Pearce test in Handloader magazine. Too much snow to get up the hill to the range now, so I haven't tested them again.
But somehow, I doubt 0.2 grains more powder is going to make much difference in expansion.
Power Pistol apparently is the powder that gives the best velocity.
But I don't have any, and I don't want to buy a pound of it for the remaining 50 bullets I have left!
Anyway, it only adds 77 FPS over the 5.2 Unique load.
The part that really has me stymied is, the #13 Speer manual shows 6.0 grains Unique +P MAX with the 125 Gold Dot, but current data only 5.2 with the 135 Gold Dot.
That right there just don't seem right!
To further add to the "Old data/New data" debate, 5.5 Unique used to be +P max with a 160 grain jacketed bullet.
Not that I condone it for anyone else, but I think the remaining 50 bullets are going over 5.5 grains Unique!
Anyone tried anything else with the 135 GD .38 Spl that worked as advertised?
rc