OK, continuing from post #38, I went to the range today before doing Easter shopping.
The test rounds were loaded using mixed range brass. They were separately resized/deprimed on a single stage press and hand primed using Winchester SP primers. OAL used was 1.135". All shots were fired off hand at 15 yards out of Glock 22 using Lone Wolf 40-9 conversion barrel. Due to the limited number of test rounds, I moved from the usual 5 round shot group to 3. For load data, I referenced currently available powder manufacturers' load data with Lyman's #49 except VihtaVuori N320 (I used the data from an older guide).
Since I was testing various powders, I decided to use a 10 point scale with the felt recoil of 115 gr FMJ with 4.8 gr of W231/HP38 charge as 5 (this load's felt recoil is comparable to Winchester White Box). Actual powder used was W231.
Reference load - Winchester 115 gr FMJ RN
I increased the 115 gr FMJ RN reference load to full 4.8 gr I normally use and the shot group improved from 3.0" to 2.0"-2.5". Felt recoil was mild and all the spent cases landed behind me and to the right (Let me state that since I shoot a lot of 40S&W loads, 9mm factory loads feel "mild" to me and that's why I decided to use the 0-10 scale for comparison). This level of accuracy is anticipated from this load and pistol/barrel used.
Bullseye - 3.5 gr and 3.8 gr:
This was a surprise. The 3.5 gr load produced light recoil (3) and 2.0" shot group! When I shot the 3.8 gr load, it produced mild recoil (4) and shot group just over 1.0"! I never got this small of shot groups from FMJ or any other plated bullets I have used with Bullseye before.
Titegroup - 3.8 gr and 4.0 gr:
This was anticipated as Titegroup is favored by many match shooters. I normally recommend W231/HP38 to new reloaders as Titegroup has very "tight" load range. 3.8 gr load produced mild recoil (4) and 2.5" shot group (I pushed the last shot so I could have gotten a smaller group
). 4.0 gr load produced similar felt recoil (5) of 4.8 gr W231/HP38 load and 1.5" shot group.
Unique - 4.6 gr - 4.8 gr:
I was trying to load maybe 4.5 gr and 4.8/4.9 gr, but due to variations in the powder drops I decided to use one charge range that varied from 4.6 gr to 4.8 gr. Oh well, .2 gr variations has been my experience with Unique. This "variable" load produced 2.0"-3.0" shot groups with mild/moderate felt recoil (5-6) that seemed heavier than the reference load. BTW, I decided to stop at 4.8 gr as the longer base of the HBRN bullet would seat deeper and almost would compress any higher powder charge.