Hello
Purchased a new Performance Center 5" 686-6 Plus and have been putting it through some paces. One of the areas of curiosity is how it will shoot 158gr Lead RN 38 Specials.
First I picked up some new factory ammo, the new Remington Wheelgun, and Winchester, 158gr Lead RN loads. Along with some older factory loads that were still around here, the Federal American Eagle and Remington-UMC 158gr loads. I posted a complete pull-down of these loads over here;
38 Special Fed American Eagle 158gr Lead RN - Factory Ammo pull-downs - 10mm-firearms.com
38 Special Winchester 158gr Lead RN - Factory Ammo pull-downs - 10mm-firearms.com
38 Special Remington 158gr Lead RN Wheelgun - Factory Ammo pull-downs - 10mm-firearms.com
38 Special Remington-UMC 158gr Lead RN - Factory Ammo pull-downs - 10mm-firearms.com
Here is a pic showing all four together comparing a 4" barrel against the 5" barrel;
I was especially curious why Winchester would load bullets that were so grossly under sized... In fact all of them didn't load bullets that were a full .358" in diameter.
It would seem that the factories are doing all they can to keep pressures as low as possible while still providing a product that meets velocity standards. Just a guess..
Loaded some test rounds using the Magtech 158gr Lead RN in nickel R-P brass. The Magtech bullet diameter is .3575" to .3581". Two new powders were included, IMR Target, and Winchester's 244, along with a few popular favorites. I wanted to do more of a side-by-side two load ladder comparison using identical powder charges, five rounds each, were possible and to compare against the factory loads in the 5"barrel.
This was just one shooter, one gun, and one afternoon..
Well as per usual, the gun has its likes and dis-likes..
Range conditions were ideal. Temps never deviated from 59-60*
I've never loaded WSF in application before, and was pleasantly surprised at the small groups, but velocity was rather slow in keeping with published data.
Been wanting to compare Zip, HP-38 and 231 with equal charges.. That is on the far right.
The 231 target (27) does have five rounds. Two holes are actually doubles.
The tightest group were turned in with 231, 244, WSF, and N-320.
The tightest Standard Deviations turned in with 244, Bullseye, and BE-86.
Here is a graph to help visualize all this and see where the factory loads fall in.
That Rem-UMC load velocity is still hard to duplicate with 3.8-4.0 grs. of canister grade powder.
Velocity data taken from an Oehler Model 33; Skyscreens centered 8' from muzzle.
All the loads were hand weighed.
Here is a historical compilation of all the 158gr data I could find included on one chart;
Hope this was at least interesting, maybe helpful.