ligonierbill
New member
Had some fun today at the range testing some cast bullets in .41 and .44 Rem Mag. For the .41 I had Oregon Trail "True Shot" 265s; for the .44 Cast Performance 320s. Both are gas checked. Shooting a 6 1/2" Blackhawk and a 7 1/2" Redhawk. Results:
.41 RM/265 OT/CCI 350/20.0 H110 (a bit below Hodgdon's max)/COL 1.712
1,323 avg/7.3 Std
.44 RM/320 Cast Perf/CCI 350/21.6 H110 (also below Hodgdon)/COL 1.707
1,341 avg/7.7 Std
I was getting about 40 fps more at max, but the Std was higher. Not worth the powder, in my view. As always, the Redhawk was a pleasure to shoot. The lighter Blackhawk was actually a little livelier on recoil, but not a knuckle buster. The .44/320 performs essentially identical to Cast Performance 325s in my .45 Colt Blackhawk. The .45 Blackhawk, however, is definitely a knuckle buster.
One note on the .41 Blackhawk: I had some trouble chambering these long 0.411 bullets, and my throats are definitely not uniform. Seems to be a characteristic of the Blackhawk. I had the chambers trued in my .45, and I think I will do the same with the .41. A couple rounds I had to try several chambers before I found the "big" one that took it. In all cases, the empties dropped right out. No problem there.
So, other than interesting and fun, what do these results mean? If you're into the "big meplat cast vs. JHP" debate, maybe a data point. For me, besides I need to get my .41 cylinder to a smith, simply more practice. When I get better than the guns (fat chance), I'll know which load to use.
.41 RM/265 OT/CCI 350/20.0 H110 (a bit below Hodgdon's max)/COL 1.712
1,323 avg/7.3 Std
.44 RM/320 Cast Perf/CCI 350/21.6 H110 (also below Hodgdon)/COL 1.707
1,341 avg/7.7 Std
I was getting about 40 fps more at max, but the Std was higher. Not worth the powder, in my view. As always, the Redhawk was a pleasure to shoot. The lighter Blackhawk was actually a little livelier on recoil, but not a knuckle buster. The .44/320 performs essentially identical to Cast Performance 325s in my .45 Colt Blackhawk. The .45 Blackhawk, however, is definitely a knuckle buster.
One note on the .41 Blackhawk: I had some trouble chambering these long 0.411 bullets, and my throats are definitely not uniform. Seems to be a characteristic of the Blackhawk. I had the chambers trued in my .45, and I think I will do the same with the .41. A couple rounds I had to try several chambers before I found the "big" one that took it. In all cases, the empties dropped right out. No problem there.
So, other than interesting and fun, what do these results mean? If you're into the "big meplat cast vs. JHP" debate, maybe a data point. For me, besides I need to get my .41 cylinder to a smith, simply more practice. When I get better than the guns (fat chance), I'll know which load to use.
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