Okay, now that I have the Pitbull, what do I shoot in it? What do I shoot for practice and what do I carry for the best defense loads?
Here's my first trip around the reloading bench:
For max defense, I'm using the Hornady "Hornady Action Pistol" (HAP) bullet, a tight-jacketed JHP of 180 grains. First, I'm building loads around it because I have some, and second, I'm bearing in mind that this IS a Snubbie revolver I'm loading for, and so I will lose some oomph with the cylinder/barrel jump AND with the short barrel, so I need to work for penetration as the primary wounding effect of the round, not expansion. I had similar considerations with the 44 Bulldog, if you recall.
So, at the bench, I have these fine Hornady bullets, actually two different bullets. The second one is the classic Hornady JHP, their XTP, in the 155-gr weight.
Last night, though, I loaded only for the Hornady 180-HAP.
Three loadings, one powder. I'm sold on Unique for a fast powder. Old School, yes, but it works. PITA to measure because it comes in large flakes, but a fine powder.
I set up to reload.
First, it's so cold here I had to turn on TWO propane heaters to take the chill off my Survival and Reloading Shed. Late Spring, yes, but as it began to warm up, I worked up 60 once-fired cases, the usual Range Brass, from the Sheriff's Tactical Range. I used my new RCBS Carbide dies in my ancient RCBS (pre-Rock Chucker) press. The brass was done soon enough, so first, I loaded the maxi-rounds with 6.0 grains of Unique. Twenty of those, just enough for 4 cylinders-full. Next, I went down to 5.5 grains of powder, another 20, then finally, 5.0 grains. The comparison between these rounds will tell me where to fine-tune the final product.
The 6.0 might be close to SAAMI max for standard-pressure, but they won't be up to +P max, so I should be all right.
|
JHP |
6.0 gr |
Unique |
1,020 fps |
1.125" |
CCI SP |
guest |
Speer Gold Dot bullet. Gun used was a Colt Z40 with a 4.4" barrel. Velocity was a 10 shot average. Extreme spread was 27 fps.
|
No pressure listed, but another listed load with MORE Unique, 6.4 grains, is from the Alliant tables, and they are unlikely to list a load which is over SAAMI max, in fact, theirs lists well below SAAMI max of 35,000 CUP.
JHP |
6.4 gr |
Unique |
1,065 fps |
1.125" |
WSP |
Alliant |
Suggested starting load: 5.8 gr
Pressure: 33,800
|
(Both these loads are from Handloads.com, using a search term of "180" only)
When I go to the range next week, I'll take these, and some Remington Green Box 180's for comparison. I don't do penetration tests myself, but if I meet the guy with the chrono there, the velocity ought to tell the tale on what I've brewed up so far. I'll probably shoot 5 of the $$pendy Hornady Gold Dot Personal Protection rounds as another baseline, since it's the closest thing to a purpose-built factory round for this gun that I've found so far.
Of course, I will need beaucoup loading/unloading drills if I'm to depend on this revolver for personal defense. I've noticed that small but definite positive force is required to PUSH each round into each chamber, to get it by the little spring-loaded tab in the star which holds it in place. I need to dig up a .357 speedloader for my SP-101 to see if it will work with Fotay rimless. The chambers in the loader ought to be big enough, considering that the .357 is rimmed, so the question is whether the star mechanism of the HKS speedloader will retain the bullets in it, then to see how much force would be involved to get by all 5 of those spring-retainers at once.
Ah, I love a good mystery!