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Old September 2, 2012, 11:23 AM   #1
Edward429451
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Is this the Gun or a Fluke?

So I ran out of 454 ammo at the range and wanted to continue shooting my mdl 83. I decided to put some 45 Colt ammo thru it to see how it compared with the same load out of my BH.

The load is the standard loading of a 255 gr SWC over 8.0 gr of Unique.
Out of the BH (5.5") it's very accurate and gives me 830 fps, 33 ES, 11 SD.

The same load out of the 83 (6"), the same load gave me 888 fps, 21 ES, 7 SD...the question being, do you think my ES & SD came down so much because of the tighter construction of the 83, or just a fluke because it was a different gun?
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Old September 2, 2012, 01:36 PM   #2
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In a handgun, velocity increases of 100 fps per inch of barrel, up to the "point of diminishing returns" is fairly common. It's entirely possible that the additional 1/2" (or perhaps even a difference in cylinder gap between the two guns) changed the pressure curve sufficiently to improve consistency as well. All WAG on my part... due to the variables, no hard and fast conclusions.

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Old September 2, 2012, 10:01 PM   #3
Edward429451
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I love this gun! Everything shoots good out of it.
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Old September 3, 2012, 02:10 AM   #4
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The tighter chambers in the .454 may have contributed a little too. I don't think it would be 5% difference though.
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Old September 3, 2012, 06:28 AM   #5
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that is the way it is sometimes when you use a chronograph. go out next week and it might be the other way around. unless you have a temperature comtrolled lab there are too many variables to deal with. that is the benefit of the ammo companies and when they do their testing it is going to involve a couple of hundred rounds instead of 10 or so that we use to amuse ourselves with our hobby
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Old September 3, 2012, 10:16 AM   #6
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You did not specify how many shots you used to compute the SD and ES for the two guns. The only way to determine if the difference was due to chance or actual physical differences is to apply statistical tests which involve the actual number of shots.

That said, the differences in velocities from gun-to-gun, and even chamber-to-chamber in the same revolver, can often be substantially greater than what you posted.

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Old September 3, 2012, 11:37 AM   #7
Edward429451
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They were 10 round samplings, done on different days too so that was a good point about the temps as they were likely to be different. Further testing over time will show patterns and discount any flukes that may happen.

I'm still fairly new to loading 45 Colt and 454, so I don't have the years of experience with them that I do with my others (44 Mags). One thing stands clear about this FA 83. This thing impresses me every time I shoot it. It is clearly a Rolls Royce of revolvers.

It also seemed to be very clean when I went to clean it later. I didn't shoot it as much as the BH but it seemed to be not as dirty as I expected it to be when compared to the BH. I hope that isn't a fluke but time will tell. I need to go shoot this puppy some more. A lot more so she'll give up her secrets.
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