[Brian Carlson]

Okay guys here is a question that I have been wondering about. I have a Ruger Bisley 45 Colt. I had John Gallagher (in Jasper, Alabama) open up the cylinder throats to 0.4525" and he did a Taylor throating on the forcing cone and tuned up the action and trigger. I had a 2x scope on earlier for load development and it shot many groups under 1.5" at 25 yards and even several under 1". It did seem that it preferred some powders and charge weights over others. However, I am wondering if it is really as critical in load tuning to get just the right amount of powder and type of powder. Certainly getting a good bullet fit is important (I am using 0.452" 250 RNFP bullets from Laser-Cast and Mid-Kansas for my light load). With the rifles that I am used to shooting choosing the right powder and then the exact amount (0.2 to 0.5 grains) can make a big difference in accuracy with a rifle due to barrel vibration harmonics. Is it realistic to think that with a revolver that one of these powders (231 or Titegroup or Universal Clays or Unique etc) would give better accuracy than any other? Then if for example Universal Clays was best is it likely that the gun would shoot smaller groups with 7.0 grains than it would with 6.8 or 7.2? Hopefully you get my drift here. Basically with a revolver do you all find that tuning the load is that big of a deal (choosing the optimum powder and amount) or so long as you have a proper bullet fit does the gun just shoot good with all kinds of different loads. Mainly I am referring to light loads. I know that H110/296 does best at top pressures. Thanks, Brian.

 

[Brian Carlson]

Marshall, I had been using 10.0 grains of Universal Clays behind the Mid-Kansas 250 rnfp bullet and it was shooting pretty well but for a light load it was still more than I wanted in the way of recoil, especially for my wife to start out with. So I reduced powder down to 7.0 grains. Some groups are really good, others lousy. I am not sure if it is me or the load (still trying to figure out how to use these open sights and shooting technique) but I do notice that with the 7 grain load there is often a fair amount of unburnt powder compared to the 10 grain load. Is it unlikely to have an accurate load if there is often unburnt powder? Maybe 8.0 grains would be better? Thanks, Brian. P.S. I see you are shipping bullets now and wonder if I could get some of the 0.452" 345gc bullets that I ordered last fall?