Thursday, March 12, 2015

Velocities

Today had something of a trifecta:
The range wasn't crowded,
The wind wasn't trying to blow everything away,
The battery in the Chrony as good.
So got some measurements.  Three different bullets in light loads:  the .32-caliber semi-wadcutter and wadcutter, and the 115-grain spitzer(unsized, no gas check).  Due to some of the usual "Why the hell didn't it register that?" didn't get full samples on everything, but enough to get a good idea how fast everything was traveling.

Note: if you don't see a picture, it means I messed up and either missed taking it or lost the damn thing somehow.

Breakdown:
.30-06, wadcutter, 3.2 grains Bullseye, average 903fps

.30-06, semi-wadcutter, 3.2 Bullseye, average 880fps

7.62x54r, semi-wadcutter, 3.2 Bullseye, average 945fps

7.62x54r, wadcutter, 5.0 Unique, 1180fps

.303 British, wadcutter, 3.2 Bullseye, 1180

.303 British, semi-wadcutter, 3.2 Bullseye, 880

.30-30, wadcutter, 5.0 Unique, 1200fps
That's pretty fast for that bullet, I think dropping it to three grains would work better.

.30-30, 115-grain spitzer, 2.7 Bullseye, 835fps
The five at the bottom, that's the drop at 50 yards with the sight set for full-power cast loads.

.30-30, semi-wadcutter, 2.7 Bullseye,  914fps
Aimed at the bullseye above, that 15 grains lighter weight made a difference in drop of about two inches.

.30-30, semi-wadcutter, 9.0 Unique, 1576fps (few rounds left over from previous tests, I thought was pretty hot, I was right)

I tried something new as well, heavier bullets(no gas checks) with a light load:
.30-06, 150-grain flatnose, 4.0 grains Unique: 778fps

.30-06, 180-grain roundnose, 5.0 grains Bullseye, 880fps.

The .30-06 loads, with the rear sight set at 500 yards, were all within an inch or two of dead-on elevation at 50 yards. 
7.62x54r, rear set at 500 meters.
.30-30, already mentioned.

Lost of possibilities here.  The .30-06 with the 150 bullet, I'm blaming myself for that horizontal spread, I was getting a bit tired by then.  The 180 bullet group, could hardly ask for more(especially with me doing the shooting).

The .303 loads, no pictures because of an error on my part, which we will not discuss.  Just shut up, I'll do those again later.

On the light-bullet loads, I'm wondering just how far down you could take them; may do some screwing around with that.

And that's the results of the day.

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