Jim in Houston wrote:Hoot wrote:At the range today fire forming .284 cases, I took some experimental loads that seemed too good to be true for an accuracy load.
Here's the recipe:
Hornady 450b Once Fired Brass, Tumbled, Sorted by length 1.694"
Flash Holes and Primer Pockets normalized
Standard resizing using the Hornady decapper
Deburred mouth inside and out
CCI BR4 primers
35gr Alliant 2400
225 FTX Bullet seated to 2.15 OAL
Hornady Taper Crimp to .477
No expander die
Average Velocity for 10 rounds = 2222 fps
Standard Deviation 5.6 !!!
Little to no sooting
No signs of case distress. Supra-Web diam .5005"
75 deg F Altitude 1000 Ft. RH 65%
5-shot groups at 100 yd
1.125"
0.975"
Best 4 of 5
.625"
.750"
I didn't really feel like I was in the zone. These just flew magnificently. I swear it was like I could do no wrong. Highly recommend.
Hoot
Looking through the 225 FTX Going the Other Way Too thread, the above recipe seems to be the "final" word on loading the 225 FTX into the Bushmaster 450 brass? Just asking.
Absolutely not Jim. We need more folks on the benches, with good optics or lead sleds, developing better loads, with more kinds of bullets and powders. Actually, if someone else reports the same results as I got, maybe, just maybe, Eric will one day add them to the database and we'll have a central, easy to find, repository that has more than 2 year old, or older data .
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I just stopped when I got a load that I liked, which is not Alliant 2400. That was just an experiment and it's kind of ok with the 200s. My go-to load is 38gr of Lil Gun. I believe that 2400 is too fast for this caliber with bullets above 200gr. The idea being to find a powder that:
A) fills the case all the way
B) burns at or above 98% about the same time the bullet leaves the barrel.
C) cycles the action
D) reliably delivers good groups.
Of course, the rules change as your barrel length gets closer to pistol class. The FTX's are so good at lower velocities, I have not spent much time pursuing as high a velocity as could be achieved. More along the lines of mild to shoot and accurate. Get the FTX's where you want them to go and they'll do the rest. The 200 and 225 are after all, pistol bullets. The 250 is more velocity sensitive.
When all is said and done, the frontal area is the same. I rather hit CXP2 game with a 200 FTX going 2500 fps than a 250 going 2200. As I'm fond of saying, "I'm not trying to kill two abreast." At those velocities, the 200 has more ME and TKO factor. The only reason the 225s get the call is because for some mysterious reason, Hornady charges half as much for them.
Now with armored game like hogs, the rules change. I have no experience with armored game. I also don't shoot people for a living, so I have no interest in barrier penetration.
By all means. Test and Share.
Hoot