scooter123
Member
I'm putting this in a new thread so that everyone can get a heads up concerning the use of SR7625 for 38 special. Bullet in use is a Plated Hunting Shack 125 grain plated that is a near exact match for a Ranier or Berry's of the same weight. The one single key difference is a cannelure groove but I don't consider that critical.
IMO this is not a good combination for 38 special and I cannot recomend using SR7625 for this bullet/caliber combination. The problem is that there is too much volume in the 38 spl. case to insure good ignition and the bullet is light enough that you don't get a fast enough rise in pressure to insure a complete burn.
What I found with chronograph testing was a bit alarming. Loads at tow different overall lengths were tested, one at the 1.455 inch length recomended for the Hornady XTP and another at 1.425 inch.
First, this combination was VERY position sensitive at either length. With the 1.455 inch length point the barrel straight up and tap the cylinder and the velocity came in at 700 fps. out of my 4 inch 67-1. Point the barrel straight down and tap the cylinder and the velocity came in at 400 fps. That is a 300 fps. difference in velocity and it percentages it's a 43% loss.
The only data you'll find for this combination features a Hornady XTP bullet that is 1/32 inch LONGER than the typical plated bullets many of us use for range ammo. After catching on to this I loaded up some loads 0.03 inch shorter than the IMR data and that did improve things a bit, barrel up velocity increased to 740 fps and barrel down velocity was 500 fps. Better but still too much position sensitivity.
I'll also note that I believe that data was likely developed by Hornady and I question if it was even tested in live fire. I thinks it's distinctly possible that this particular load was generated as a computer projection. They list using a 7.7 inch barrel which is distinctly an oddball length for a 38 and the velocities listed are a LOT faster that what could be estimated using some barrel length/velocity tables. According to those tables I should have been seeing 850 fps from my 4 inch barrel with the 5.0 grain load I was shooting.
The bottomline is this DO NOT USE SR7625 for the 38 Special. There is just too much risk of squibbing the barrel.
PS; Another load tested featured 5.6 grains of Unique and that worked very well. Velocity from my 67-1 clocked in at 850 fps and consistency was excellent with no position sensitivity I could measure. As much as I hate the idea of having to hand weigh each and every load of 38 spl. it's hard to complain about the results using Unique. Means I'll probably have to spend another 300 bucks on hardware and get that RCBS powder trickler scale combo I've been eyeing.
IMO this is not a good combination for 38 special and I cannot recomend using SR7625 for this bullet/caliber combination. The problem is that there is too much volume in the 38 spl. case to insure good ignition and the bullet is light enough that you don't get a fast enough rise in pressure to insure a complete burn.
What I found with chronograph testing was a bit alarming. Loads at tow different overall lengths were tested, one at the 1.455 inch length recomended for the Hornady XTP and another at 1.425 inch.
First, this combination was VERY position sensitive at either length. With the 1.455 inch length point the barrel straight up and tap the cylinder and the velocity came in at 700 fps. out of my 4 inch 67-1. Point the barrel straight down and tap the cylinder and the velocity came in at 400 fps. That is a 300 fps. difference in velocity and it percentages it's a 43% loss.
The only data you'll find for this combination features a Hornady XTP bullet that is 1/32 inch LONGER than the typical plated bullets many of us use for range ammo. After catching on to this I loaded up some loads 0.03 inch shorter than the IMR data and that did improve things a bit, barrel up velocity increased to 740 fps and barrel down velocity was 500 fps. Better but still too much position sensitivity.
I'll also note that I believe that data was likely developed by Hornady and I question if it was even tested in live fire. I thinks it's distinctly possible that this particular load was generated as a computer projection. They list using a 7.7 inch barrel which is distinctly an oddball length for a 38 and the velocities listed are a LOT faster that what could be estimated using some barrel length/velocity tables. According to those tables I should have been seeing 850 fps from my 4 inch barrel with the 5.0 grain load I was shooting.
The bottomline is this DO NOT USE SR7625 for the 38 Special. There is just too much risk of squibbing the barrel.
PS; Another load tested featured 5.6 grains of Unique and that worked very well. Velocity from my 67-1 clocked in at 850 fps and consistency was excellent with no position sensitivity I could measure. As much as I hate the idea of having to hand weigh each and every load of 38 spl. it's hard to complain about the results using Unique. Means I'll probably have to spend another 300 bucks on hardware and get that RCBS powder trickler scale combo I've been eyeing.
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