Those who often reload probably know there are around 5 to 8 different manufacturers of smokeless gun powders, who all together produce nearly a hundred different types of smokeless powders, if not more than that. The powders they produce range from very slow burning (magnum) to very fast burning, and its not too difficult to find out where each powder ranks in terms of their burning rate. So taking all that into account, I would assume it must not be too difficult to use handloading in order to tweak a certain load for a specific barrel length, or for the use of a suppressor.
Lets say for example you have an AR-15 in .223 Remington with a 10" barrel. With most factory loaded ammo you would lose a lot of velocity and energy if you would fire it from such a short barreled AR-15, making it pretty ineffective. But if you have a reloading handbook, and you would compare the reloading data mentioned for the .223 Remington with the chart listing the different smokeless powders and their burning rates, it wouldn't be too hard to find out which uses the fastest burning powder, and thus would be likely be the most efficient out of such a short barrel.
The same thing goes for using a suppressor. The less gas volume coming out of the muzzle end of the suppressor, the lower the temperature of those gasses, and the longer it takes for those gasses to exit the suppressor, the less sound it would produce. So again I would assume that by customizing your loads to a specific barrel length you plan to fire that load out of, the more efficiently you would be able to suppress it, right? I know that the most important contributor to the sound of a gun shot is the sonic boom, and that's something you won't be able to do much if anything about, shy of loading it subsonically. But the other factors you can control, by using a powder which is most suited for the intended barrel length. If you have a suppressed AR-15 in .223 Remington with a 16" barrel, you would probably want to use a moderate to fast powder, correct? And if you would use the same setup but with a 20" barrel, you would want to use a slower burning powder with a more moderate burning rate?
So my question is, does anyone here have any experience with putting this to the test, and did you notice much if any difference? Were you able to really optimize your handloads by loading for a specific barrel length, or some other variable?
Lets say for example you have an AR-15 in .223 Remington with a 10" barrel. With most factory loaded ammo you would lose a lot of velocity and energy if you would fire it from such a short barreled AR-15, making it pretty ineffective. But if you have a reloading handbook, and you would compare the reloading data mentioned for the .223 Remington with the chart listing the different smokeless powders and their burning rates, it wouldn't be too hard to find out which uses the fastest burning powder, and thus would be likely be the most efficient out of such a short barrel.
The same thing goes for using a suppressor. The less gas volume coming out of the muzzle end of the suppressor, the lower the temperature of those gasses, and the longer it takes for those gasses to exit the suppressor, the less sound it would produce. So again I would assume that by customizing your loads to a specific barrel length you plan to fire that load out of, the more efficiently you would be able to suppress it, right? I know that the most important contributor to the sound of a gun shot is the sonic boom, and that's something you won't be able to do much if anything about, shy of loading it subsonically. But the other factors you can control, by using a powder which is most suited for the intended barrel length. If you have a suppressed AR-15 in .223 Remington with a 16" barrel, you would probably want to use a moderate to fast powder, correct? And if you would use the same setup but with a 20" barrel, you would want to use a slower burning powder with a more moderate burning rate?
So my question is, does anyone here have any experience with putting this to the test, and did you notice much if any difference? Were you able to really optimize your handloads by loading for a specific barrel length, or some other variable?