Ransom testing a Model 66

[mike campbell]

**********

 

[colt_saa]

Mike,
When doing your testing did you use all 6 chambers?

Or was every shot in each group shot out of a single chamber?

 

[mike campbell]

All 6 were used at least once.

There were one-shot flyers in the first few groups. So I marked one chamber with a Sharpie. I loaded the marked chamber plus the next 4. For the next five I skipped the marked chamber. As I noted in the last pic, it was 2 fully loaded cylinders .... no bad chamber.

 

[Nevada Ed]

A 125 XTP at 782............................

My lowest was 842 fps before accuracy feel apart but it
was not with the powder you were using.

X-lite loads are fun to shoot but I still feel a lot more comfortable
when my jacketed bullets are going at 945fps out of any of my weapons.

Mighty fine targets for that far away !!
That 66 is a keeper.

 

[Bullseye 2620]

It's great to see someone take the time and spend the energy to determine exactly what their gun/load combination is inherently capable of. A lot of bullseye shooters spend upwards of $2,000 to get a gun capable of shooting sub-2-inch 10-shot groups at 50 yards, and some spend that and still don't get that level of accuracy. For example, Logan and Jess Clark sell their 5-inch bullseye wad gun for around $2,000 and only guarantee 2-1/2 inches at 50 yards.

What a great gun. Thanks for your post.

 

[oddshooter]

I haven't tried the 4.5gr of vv n310. Pretty slow fps, with good accuracy.

I've used quite a bit of the 5.5gr n340 with 1.5" accuracy @25yds up around 700fps +. Very, very clean shooting.

I love the Vihtavuori. You get what you pay for.

That ransom rest is a great device for getting consistent readings on your groups. But I'm still in love with getting my fingers around that grip. Accurate, lab testing type results are great; but shooting for small groups is a joy.

Here, I love the ransom rest showing the inherent accuracy of that new 66.

Prescut

 

[fredj338]

God report.

 

[Duckford]

It's great to see someone take the time and spend the energy to determine exactly what their gun/load combination is inherently capable of. A lot of bullseye shooters spend upwards of $2,000 to get a gun capable of shooting sub-2-inch 10-shot groups at 50 yards, and some spend that and still don't get that level of accuracy. For example, Logan and Jess Clark sell their 5-inch bullseye wad gun for around $2,000 and only guarantee 2-1/2 inches at 50 yards.

What a great gun. Thanks for your post.

I remember an article from the Rifleman from way back included in my old NRA Handloading book about testing to maximize the accuracy of the 38 Special 148 grain wadcutter, ordering many different commercial cast bullets, factory swage, and casting their own, using different primers, changing crimps, and using an array of weapons to test each load with several S&W and Colt revolvers and target 1911's.

What surprised me out of the results was that the 2.8 grains Bullseye was the best load, no more, no less, and that some of the poorer wadcutters could average as poor as 6 MOA, or 3 inches at 50 yards. Out of their bench machines many handloads could average 4 MOA out of standard combat revolvers. Most interestingly, the best factory swage bullets could average 3 MOA, and the very best averages at extreme could swing as low as 2.5 MOA, better than some worn out milsurp rifles with poor ammunition. Shooting a 2 inch group at 50 yards out of a machine rest is indeed impressive, but then again if someone says their Ransom and $300 police surplus Model 10 with high end handloads shot 1.5 inch groups, they might just be telling the truth. Sounds like the boys with their $2000 fun guns need better ammunition, it ain't all the gun.

Very good post by OP, this kind of information is very interesting.

 

[Troystat]

Looks like a nice shooting revolver.