interesting article in shooting times

this month's Shooting Times(April issue) has a interesting article on Bullseye loads for a 1911 45.. the author was using some time tested BE loads and bullets with various powders to see how they shot in his 1911( not a BE wad gun)

He used 

Nosler 185 JHP
Zero 185 JHP
Hornady HAP 185
Hornady 185 XTP
Sierra 185 FPJ
Sierra 185 JHP

powders included BE, 700x, N310,n320,  Hodgdon Clays, Titegroup, WST and W231

he used Federal match, Winchester and CCI standard primers with Starline brass.


of the non standard bullets the XTP performed well with limited examples( much better than HAPs)..followed by the Sierra JHP. Most loads tested the Nosler and Zero bullets

he used a Ransom rest at 25 yards which was ok given his non BE pistol..( it did have a Kart barrel installed)

N310 performed very well as expected as did BE.. interestingly WST did not work in his pistol very well.

the surprise for me was W231..  very good groups with all loads and a Zero bullet

in general Winchester and CCi primers performed better. a lot of velocity difference between CCI and Winchester with the same loads.. Winchester was obviously hotter.



All test were 15 rounds with the exception of one 30 round group  using 4.2 of N310 and a zero bullet..( 1.70" group)

if you can pick up a copy of the mag it's not a bad article with lots of load results ( around 50 or so)

Thanks for the heads up.

Who wrote this article?

Brad Miller



Zero info on the author..

I just finished reading the article.  My chief takeaway is that it pays to experiment with powder and charge weight for best accuracy.  Many of us pick a load based on the consensus of what we hear.  It may not be the best for our particular pistol. Don’t be afraid of a hotter load (within reason) for the long line.  For practice and the short line, recoil management dictates a lighter charge.  It also indicates that the best accuracy range seems to be in the 725-800 fps range for these bullets.  Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the 185 SWC match ammo was loaded at 775.

All that said, don’t get too wrapped around the axle doing load testing. More is learned shooting good ammunition at Bullseye targets than shooting test loads trying to find the perfect ammunition.

Only 50 yard machine rest testing is interesting to me regarding bullseye pistols and ammo. This is in no way meant as an insult to you. Just about any decent bullet and load will shoot X ring at 25 yards out of a decent pistol. Most gun rags have shortened the ranges at which they test pistols (Guns & Ammo an exception where they test at 25 yards, still). I questioned an editor about it and basically he wrote me that they lowered the standard to appease the less skilled readers. He said that when they test and get good accuracy results at 25 yards that they get a lot of feedback from shooters who say that it is impossible to get 2-3" groups at that distance from a defensive pistol. It's a sign of the times.

+1 on the 50ys testing!

When I first got into bullseye and was doing load development at 25yds a High Master told me, "even lubed rocks will hold the X ring at 25yds".  Now all my final testing is done at 50yd.  I have found several loads that shoot small groups at 25yd and yet they must be unstable because the groups really opened up by the time they make it to the 50yd line.

- Dave

A couple of points,  first it wasn’t a bullseye shooter shooting a bullseye pistol.  And second, the author may have been told to shoot at 25 yards.  Also, only ONE group of 15 was fired per load and there is no statistical basis for saying that load A shooting 1.7 inches is “better” than load B shooting 1.75 inches.  But data is data and it is what it is.

Also remember that 2/3 of Bullseye is shot at 25 yards and while it is true that you win at 50, you can also lose the match at 25.

+1 on 50 yard testing...

Some 38 special cast DEWC bullets I used would hold the X at 25, but they weren't even on paper at 50. The same load, but with a hbwc, was in the black. I'm still confused about this one.

Wobbley wrote: It also indicates that the best accuracy range seems to be in the 725-800 fps range for these bullets.  Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the 185 SWC match ammo was loaded at 775.

I'm not sure one could conclude that the best accuracy for these bullets is in the 725-800 fps range. The test was primarily limited to fast powders and light loads. There is no data for other powders and fast loads. Those might shoot more accurately.

Desben , probably the difference in bearing surface, the hbwc being longer.

The DEWC never worked at the 'LL for me but they were ok at 25 and practice