Thursday, May 12, 2016

Details, details (updated)

That group was shot at 100 yards.  .357 Magnum, using Starline cases, Hornady 140-grain FTX bullets, and 12.7 grains of AA#9 powder, lit by a CCI small pistol primer.

I had a couple of other groups that were going to be as good, but on four and five I'd wind up stringing them vertically a bit.  On that one I stopped at three.  Because it looked so good.

That little sucker is fun to shoot, and really likes the lighter bullets; using 150-grain and up, I can't get this level of accuracy from it.  They can be picky, can't they?
Update:
I checked back on something, and had another surprise.  The Hornady FTX load velocity was ~1520fps(was only able to chrono a couple of shots).  Back when I fired the same load through a rifle with a 16" barrel, average velocity was 1451fps.  With pistol cartridges such as .357 it seems to be the general rule that you get the max velocity with a 16" barrel; after that friction starts slowing the bullet.  Well, the mini-Sharps has a 26" barrel, yet gave slightly higher velocity than the 16".  I'm surprised, and pleased.  And I need to check into this further.


Also had one of those "WTF?" moments today.  Guy showed up with all his stuff and a brand-new Wyndham AR-10, got set up, then "Can I ask you something?"  He'd noticed the Magpul magazine was marked 7.62x51, and wondered if the Hornady .308 ammo he'd bought would work properly in this rifle... 

So we had a discussion on 7.62x51 vs. .308, and the uses thereof, and got him settled in.  Somewhat.  Also had a brand-new Burris scope on it, had done no boresighting, so took a bit to get him on paper.  Not a new shooter from what he said, but not big on the technical and prep(as in 'get it so it'll be on the target somewhere) end.

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