Distinguished Revolver loads that don't suck?

First topic message reminder :

Ok revolver lovers,

I consistently shoot worse with my revolver than my other guns--and I always shoot DR legal loads.

My buddy lent me his machine rest to use for developing my ammo.  It's not good!

If I shoot 148gr HBWCs in my gun they group <2" with a random flier a couple inches out of the group, but when I shoot LSWC or LRNs through it, I get some pretty big spreads.  5-7"!  There doesn't seem to be any consistency from cylinder to cylinder either.  One set of 6 shot has cyl 1 with a flier.  The next string has cyl 1 in the group but cyl 5 is a flier.  And every string had a lot of vertical stringing.

I switched to factory loads (ok Blazer 158 LRNs but it was the only DR legal stuff I could find) and it was about the same.

Is this about normal?  Are my expectations just too high?

That was a lot of help and interesting reading.I will try the bullseye first and switch to 231 if I don't like the results.

Len

I've been following this thread while I try and work up something for my DR revolver myself. S&W M-14.

so far I'm playing with WW231 and Trail Boss. Using a 158 gr RNFB swaged commercial bullet.

I shot a few groups from 25 y that showed promise from my Lee Pistol Rest (like Rob's), and today moved on to do some 50 yd testing.

The first trial involved no crimp as they were going to be single loaded in my #3 chamber.

any ideas on the vertical stringing on the trail boss bullet?
4.1 GR TRAILBOSS


4.0 WW 231

Those are pretty good groups.  Try tightening the crimp just a bit so the holding force is consistent and try it again.

thanks, that's what i'm thinking too.

Just remembered a forum discussion with Lee Jurras discussing vertical stringing in his testing at Super Vel.  He wrote that he saw significant vertical stringing when he did not prepare his loads with new brass.  He was shooting longer ranges but the idea may be valid here too.  Bottom line would be that when you load your match ammo drag out a few new cases for that slow fire ammo.

interesting, but Lee J was pretty much working at the other end of the reloading spectrum...

Just for grins if I shoot hand loads I'll be building my match 50 yard ammo with new brass.       FWIW These days Lee is in Arizona building rifles.  He still only uses new brass to prepare his handgun ammo.

I might have some Star unfired around here...

Rob Kovach wrote:

Bill, my machine rest work that I'm doing was to try to figure out which cyl I should use for the long line--but the groups weren't consistent enough for me to come to any conclusion yet.  I think I will wait until it gets warmer.  I think I will try shooting 10 from cyl 1, 10 from cyl 2 and so on...then measure my groups.

Been watching this thread somewhat...
Some info regarding the precision with which S&W controls the chamber locations on the cylinder C/L circle.
I modified many S&W cylinders in the past, with bronze bushings, in place of the standard gas rings.. This modification decreases the clearance that is present in the factory design. When done precisely, it allows/aids in controlling end shake, and cylinder to barrel gap  to the absolute minimum. The smooth, precise rotation, from the increased bearing surface, plus tightening of groups, is very noticeable. To align the bearing axis, with the axis of the chamber line centers, and this is a MUST, or the modification will not work, the chamber line centers must be known.. In locating these centers on numerous S&W cylinders, I have never found one chamber to be off in relation to the others. There are many areas where S&W revolvers can be criticized for poor machining and lack  of precision, but chamber axis C/L is not  one, at least from my observations..
I am not saying you don't have a problem.  Although, it was commonly stated during the revolver era, that one chamber would be off, and everyone needed to determine which chamber it is.. Mostly myth.. 
Jerry

in my case, I have one throat that suffered damage in a past lifetime. it clearly throws one low.

also, when I got the m-14, it had .006/.020 cylinder/barrel gap. creating a huge gas leak on the starboard side. I had the barrel, umm, "replaced" and now it's .002-.003.

My gun never had any trauma, but when I did my testing, cyl 2 always was up and to the right of the group compared to the other 5 cylinders, and cyl 6 always produced the best groups for ammo testing.  I use cyl 6 for slow fire, and everything but cylinder 2 for timed and rapid.  Works great with that Remington ammo.

That gun is very fun to shoot now that i can call the shots.

Shot a few American Eagle 158s through my 14-3  today.  Looked promising.   Need to make sure I can get my hands on more before I get in to deep.

You might also try the Magtech 158 gr rn loading. they've worked decent in my 14-2.

Other factory ammo that I have had good success with was the Mag-Tech 158 RN.

Kermit Workman wrote:Other factory ammo that I have had good success with was the Mag-Tech 158 RN.

I had an old box of 158 grain RN Mag-Tech sitting around and last night gave it a try with my M-14. To say I was shocked at the good accuracy I got out of this ammo would be an understatement. I usually shoot Federal American Eagle but this Mag-Tech shot equal to or better than the AE. Not bad for cheap ammo but I'm not sure they make this ammo anymore. It would be a shame if they don't!


Virgil

I've had good luck with the Remington UMC referenced throughout the thread, but I used NSK's reloaded DR ammo to complete my Distinguished trek.  I'm not affiliated with NSK, other than as a customer and friend, and never rest tested the ammo, but I shot a lot of good scores with it and the price always seemed good.

158 RN RCBS mold with 3.5 WST and also 4.0 Unique have proved very accurate at 50 yards. The WST load runs 750 fps in a 6 inch revolver and gets about 80 fps velocity spread, but is still accurate.

I went with 4.0 Unique in hopes to reduce the extreme spread on velocity, I have not chronoed this one but it shoots great also.

All SWC's have shown to be a black hole of accuracy at 50 yards, no matter what velocity I push them at.

Rob,
  I had a problem similar to your only having one cylinder that fired a decent group at 50 yds in a model 27. I think I tried most of the suggestions on this post but "no joy". I found a nice load using BE and 158gr L-RN that it is easy to get clean scores on the short line. I didn't want to settle for a single shot SF pistol since I often shoot 2 or more shots when I settle down on the long line. I finally gave up and took it to a gunsmith. The front of the cylinder was out of square and had to be lathed. Now I have a uniform gap and much much better group.

Ghillieman wrote:
All SWC's have shown to be a black hole of accuracy at 50 yards, no matter what velocity I push them at.

The Zero 158 LSWC over 3.3WST in a Starline case with firm roll crimp at 50yd is less than 2" for me in a RR.  Mixed brass opens the group up and gives me the odd flyers.

I found a re-load that shoots as well or better in my DR pistol as my store bought ammo. I used it for the long line this weekend and used the store bought (UMC) for the short line. I have found that if I try to load the bullet too slow then the recoil dynamics were throwing my groups all over the place. Putting the pistol in a rest and shooting it by hand were not telling the same story. I have settled on 5.2gr of Power Pistol behind a Magtech 158 gr RN with a heavy roll crimp and a COL of 1.536.

Len

Thanks for that, Len!

I might brew up some of those an see how they work for me.

Zero new 158 RN or swc . got a win in Georgia state match last week with them.

I also won State championships last weekend with my new load. Oregon probably had less shooters then Georgia but it still felt good to get a win.

Len

Great Len. We had 10 non dist.