I went to the range today and did some shooting of the 12" Contender barrel chambered in the .356 GNR. The range is at 589 feet above sea level with temperatures of 80 F with a tail wind of around 10 mph and less.
I set up the Chrony at 10 feet from the muzzle with no accuracy testing. I just wanted to see what the gun would do over the screens. Testing for accuracy will be done at a latter date.
First load:
Andy's custom loaded CPE 180 grain LBT lead bullet load.
Average velocity: 1889 with a spread of 41 fps.
Second load:
158 grain Hornady XTP bullet over 23 1/2 grains of H110, R-P brass, CCI magnum primer.
Average velocity: 2091 fps with a spread of 61 fps.
Third load:
125 grain Sierra JHP bullet over 24 grains of H110, CPE brass, CCI magnum primer.
Average velocty: 2210 fps with a spread of 75
Fourth load:
180 grain Hornady XTP bullet over 23 grains of H110,CPE brass, CCI magnum primer.
Average velocity: 2009 fps with a spread of 42.
So that was my shooting session for a Sunday afternoon. I plan to do some more shooting in the near future with an idea. I would like to see what the Hornady FTX bullet in 140 grains would do out of that gun. I suspect that it would achieve a muzzle velocity of around 2100 fps with a maximum load of H110. I would also like to see what Hodgdon's Lil Gun will do out of that specialty barrel. I know that it generally performs better in straight wall cased rounds like the 44 magnum but I have not seen any information on Lil Gun in this specialty round. I am just a tad concerned about pressures.
Hopefully the next time I have a chance there will be some data on Lil Gun and the Hornady FTX bullet.
