I finally had to get out and test today, since Nevada is going into "Winter Mode" with wind, cold temps and what ever, coming down the pipe , with this being the last day to reach 58 degrees with a lot of 40's to fallow.

My total test came to 28 loads for this 130 grain HST JHP out of my revolvers and I have to say it was very interesting on how the bullets flew with all the different powders and fps, involved.

Most of my loads had Factory OAL of 1.18" +/- or 1.22" with a few loads at the long 1.43" for a crimp on the bullet's "Canellure, for a few test, to see if this might be the way to go.
Cases at 1.155" OAL are best for the 1.18" OAL , since shorter cases need to be checked for the correct bullet seating, before crimping.

During my test the lowest velocity came from 2400 at only 546 fps...... with the highest from HS-6 at 1018 fps , which was my 2nd shot out of the little J frame and the other un-fired loads were taken back home and dismantled !!

If you need a full power load with this bullet in the little J frame, My M49 snub nose liked several powder that kicked out 850 fps. There is no reason to go any faster, since it just adds recoil and this bullet only needs 800 fps to expand 100% of the time, out of a 2" barrel.

As to case volume;
I really wanted a powder that would do 824 fps with a 100% case volume but it was not to happen with the powder that I have on stock.
Blue Dot at 100% volume with a 1.18" OAL and 7.0 grs did 940 fps. 6.5 grs did 859 fps but it had a ES79 and poor accuracy in my revolver.
Red Dot at 850 with a 75% case volume of 3.6 grs. cut the group in half and was twice as close to POA.

This last test was as low as I could go to try and get the 824 fps factory loading and also get a good ES that kept the speed above 799fps for bullet expansion, 100% of the time.

For SD work, I need all five (5) bullets to expand, 100%of the time. I had a lot of loads hit 800 fps but there were too many load below 780 fps.
Lucky Gunner had a S&W 342 (.357) that shot factory ammo that did 782 fps and 1 of the 5 failed to expand.

So here is a picture of my sixth test with the Federal 130 gr. HST bullet, for those that might want to use it.
The BE86 load is the lowest FPS that will work 100% of the time out of "My" snub nose and the ES is not too shabby, either.
Enjoy.

Ed, thanks again for your info. I like it when it cools down here. Lifting of High fire warnings and snow along our foothills. Makes for great shooting weather!

Good to see you are staying busy. I enjoy seeing the results of your efforts. I may get busy when I get my order of 125gr .357 Plated FP`s next week. 1st test will be with A5 trying to get close to no more than 1200. Im shooting .357 in a 4" 686.
Company says 1250 max for that bullet. We shall see.
Jim

....an anomaly or were all of the 2400 rounds that low???

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

The problem with this loading, was that the bullet is new & there is NO DATA on it !!

Since there was no data, there was no starting point with powders and what pressures were going to pop up. One reason I used the 686 L frame for three test loads, to be on the safe side, with the first test.

Was the 2400 powder that slow........
why, yes it was.
My first "Guesstament load" with 2400 powder was with 6.7 grs with the short 1.18" OAL, that was a 75% volume load, with the seated bullet.
The low fps was.... 546 and the high at 602 for a Ave. of 573 fps.
My top load tested at 8.7 with a 1.22 OAL kicked out 715~840 ES 125.... for only 803 fps for a .966& case volume loading.
I tossed the towel in on this powder, since it was not doing well in the ES department, plus the other powders that did better with half the amount of powder and better accuracy. I saw no need to try a 9.0 gr , 100% volume load, but you never know....

IF the ES had not been 125.......... and like the 10.8 that BE86 got,
I might have given it one more try.

Stay safe.

PS;
Here is a picture of 2400 powder shot out of my 686 6" S&W revolver. This is a 6" barrel...............not a short 2" snub nose.

The 9.0 grain load is a 100% case full of powder with the 130 gr. HST bullet seated at a OAL of 1.18", with powder thrown off "My" scale, in a 38 special case.
I posted this on the site but here it is again for you to study.

Red Dot will beat out 2400 with just a 75% case volume of powder vs a 97% case of 2400 in a 2" barrel.

It all depends on the OAL and if you crimp the 1.18" loads, which can up your fps. However a crimp may not improve your accuracy.
Tight groups..........

Thanks, again, Ed! The Unique around 4.5gr looks OK to me...

Cheers!

P.S. You've got the 40°'s, we have no power since 5:45 A.M.
But it's in the low 50°'s, so who cares?

Just wait a minute, there pardner..............
we just had our power go off also.
Plus we have a major fire in the S/W area of Reno that is burning up homes, with the 45 mph winds !!

One final note on my loads....

Some people are interested in ES of their loads and I noticed something tonight as I was going over my test and data.
It seems that this 130 gr. deep seated bullet is better with faster burning powder for a better ES than slower burning powders.

With my test with a OAL of 1.22" I had these results;
Red Dot 3.5........... 798fps.......... ES 32
Green Dot 3.8........ 806 .................. 49
w231 4.2 .............. 805 .................. 53
Unique 4.4 ............ 798 .................. 79
2400 8.7 .............. 803 ................. 125

It is interesting but I have good accuracy from high ES loads, just wanted to post this data, for the heck of it.

I changed my mind and will do four more test.
These will be with the short "Factory" OAL of +/- 1.18" that this
130 gr bullet was set up at by the factory.

I will give the 2400 powder one more try at a 100% case volume load and will do three other powders that did well in my test, to see if there really is a top dog in the group.

This test will have a light crimp on the bullet to help out with FPS, with the minimal powder charges, with hopes of finding a load that is close to POA and also 830 fps.

I will be loading a OAL of 1.18" with a light crimp with;
Green Dot.... 3.8
BE-86.......... 4.8
Blue Dot ...... 6.3
2400 ........... 9.0

I really want one of these loads to step forward and show that this bullet
is capable of good accuracy for a SD loading.

Later.

Sorry to keep harping on 2400, but I use a lot of it.

Do you think magnum primers might help with the ES?

I don't use magnum primers and get ok results out of my .357 with 2400 but I don't think I've clocked a spread in a LONG time.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

Nevada Ed—one of the things I most enjoy on the forum, even as a non-reloader, are posts like yours with meticulous testing and research. The one question I have, because I have read so much back and forth on expansion testing in magazines and on the forum, is what/how did you test expansion and why do you think that testing would transfer into the same expansion in tissue and bone assuming, God-forbid, one was to get in a self-defense shooting?

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Possum—The other white meat!

I had wide ES results in some .357 loadings. I added a light taper crimp to the process and ES was reduced dramatically.
I do not recall if I ever paid much attention to ES in .38spl and have only roll crimped those.
As far as OAL, I too have tested to see if seating depth affected velocity. Even a small difference in OAL caused a consistent 50 fps difference in my .357 chrony tests.
Magnum primers could very well add 10-15% increase in test averages. Have read that, have to compare them when I can.
Jim

That's very useful info for me.

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"He was kinda funny lookin'"

I did not test expansion on this bullet, since there are four gel test
on youtube, showing that this bullet will expand, in their test, with even a Bologna meat package.

As for testing with a magnum primer, those were used up six months ago. Right now I am down to 68 cci and 42 federal small pistol primers.

Things are not looking good in this part of the country.

I am hoping that there really is a Santa !!
Later.

Thanks for the updates on your load development. I haven't had a chance to do any load development for this bullet yet but will definitely use your data when I do to confirm.

Do you have any CFE Pistol powder on hand? it burns a little slower than W231 but meters about as nice, I don't think it will fill the case like you want but it has plenty of other advantages.

Yes, I do have CFEp on hand and it is a great powder in my 9mm and 38 & 357 magnum revolver loads.

It is between w231 and BE86 in its energy but does very well in the medium target loads in the 9mm and full loads in the 357 with a 125 gr. JHP.

However, with the case fill and volume department, I chose not to use CFEp and Bullseye powders, since I did not gain anything,from all the other powders that I tested, that had over a 50% case fill,with the 130 gr JHP.

I don't mind saving it for the 9mm where I get great accuracy
with a 115 fmj. 125 coated and 147 plated in a 3.5 & 5" barrel.

Some thoughts on this bullet considering that there is no published data:
Seating depth dramatically changes pressure. You cannot use data for normally seated 130 grain bullets or extrapolate between 125 & 135 grain data. Be very careful!
In my experience, these bullets shoot low and to the right, similar to what Nevada Ed has posted.
It seems, at least for me, that the medium burn rate powders such as BE-86, Power Pistol, or possibly Unique work best for this bullet.

Ed and I have arrived at 4.8 grains of BE-86 loaded to 1:18” overall length as a good load for the 130gr HST in a short barrel revolver. It reaches our velocity goal with reasonable short range accuracy for self defense. I’ve tried 5.0 grains of BE-86 but only got a modest gain in velocity which tells me that I’m at the high end of pressure limits with this load.

This has been a fascinating experiment and look forward to anyone else’s reports on this project!

Attached Images

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What distance are you fellas shooting to judge accuracy?

Well lets just start that the target is at lest,

behind where the chrony is set up at...........

which should work for a close SD encounter.

(see fine print in post #5 )

Ed: O.K. If it's "10 feet" to Chrony, target at what...? Then a target @ 7 yards w/b another 10' , or so...?

A typical self defense distance... Well, for practice, anyway?

What is MINUTE OF BAD GUY, anyway?

Cheers!

Ok, ok.............

but first, you have to remember that I am driving out into the rural areas of NEVADA.........

and with other shooters in this one area, where shooting is allowed, I don't always get to set up in the area that I want and have to find another area to set up and also find an area that has a clean area free of sagebrush and large enough to set up my equipment, on hopefully almost , level ground, in the near by foot hills.

Most of my targets are from 14 to 20 feet from the muzzle, for my snub nose data.

That's what I was looking for.

For me "Minute of bad guy" is being able to consistently hit torso at 25 yards or less. Head at 3 yards or less. I use my old dept. qualification course as my standard.

The Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act (LEOSA) qualification for retired LEO's is even easier with torso hits at 15 yards or less and head at 3 yards or less consistently. Snubbies just make it that much more interesting.

As I read this an older NCIS episode was playing in which Gibbs asks the young savant (who is being held by the bad guy with a gun to her head) what the odds are for Zeva making the head shot...

She replies with something like "Full moon, 62°, 15 feet, a relative humidity of 58%... I'd say 97.4%."

Take the shot!

BANG!

Anyone have any more updates on what loads they've come up with for the 130 grn. HST? I've been trapped at home. Been reloading for several calibers but no range time.

I will not be doing anymore tests with the 130 HST until I can find
a box of 1,000 primers.

I used the last primers on a 9mm outing with the kids, that wanted to go to the range for some fun time, during these times.

I can still load 12 Ga. and large rifles though.

Happy Holidays to all and a great New year.
Stay warm.

I finally had an opportunity to develop a load for the 130 gr HST in 38 Special. I settled on 4.3gr of HP38 with the OAL similar to the commercial loadings. I did a test earlier to get the velocity over 800 fps and was getting an average of 839 fps with 4.2gr of HP38. The groups were so so out of a 3" revolver.

I returned to the range with 4.3gr and was getting a better group at 7 yards.

It's amazing how 1 grain of powder could make such a difference, especially in a .38 Special case but it does.

Very good shooting!

I know it's hard to believe but I can't remember ever loading a bullet lighter than 140gr for the .38 Special. 140gr, 148gr, 150gr 158gr, 170gr, 180gr and 200gr but nothing lighter...

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SWCA #3437