Ladder work up

[Stew0576]

My order of 180 jhp from zero bullets will be here Monday. I will be using these in my glock model 40 gen 4 10mm. Going to use these as a practice hunting round in place of hornady 180 grain xtp which i will use as my hunting round. I will be using longshot for powder and Winchester large pistol primers and COL of 1.26 my research shows my powder span to be 8.5 to 9.5 all my reading says to load closer to max for hunting, i can't help think that working up the most accurate round would be best, was wondering what you guys think, my plan is to load 10 rounds each at 8.5, 8.7, 8.8 and 9.1, see what's most accurate and retest in .1 grain increments above and below that. Also not sure of best testing distance, plan to use this out to 50 yards so thinking i should test at that range

[The_Shadow]

The Glock 40 Gen 4 with the 6" barrel should yield about 75 fps over that of the standard G-20 for most loadings 9.0 and up.

I usually hold at 9.6 as a max with 180 grain JHP and Longshot to be easier on the brass.  There have been a couple of commercial loadings which have been loaded up to 10.0 grains and slightly more by SwampFox ammo but the were clearly marked for "FULLY SUPPORTED CHAMBERS"!

ZERO bullets are nice shooters and should shoot very well.

[Stew0576]

Think i should start testing at 8.8 and go to 9.5?

[sep]

What species are you going to be hunting with the 180 XTP? If 50 yards will be your maximum distance for hunting, then shooting at 50 yards makes a lot of sense. You may find you will get a little better penetration from the 200 grain XTP than the 180 XTP and you will most certainly get better penetration using hardcast boolits if you think you need more penetration.

There are plenty of ballistic tests on line to watch mostly in gelatin but some in water jugs etc. From the ones I have viewed, the XTP looks to offer a little better penetration than the Nosler and the Speer versions of the same weight.

Keith Warren on "The High Road" killed a nice hog with factory loaded 180 XTPs and of course Uncle Ted and Razor Dobbs both have both shot various game animals with various weight 10mm bullets (155-200 grain).   

[Stew0576]

I'm hunting whitetail deer mainly but if a black bear decided to say hello....

[Stew0576]

Finished testing my new 10mm loads, final load is zero bullet 180 grain jhp, Winchester primer and 9.2 grains longshot oal 1.25, best group during testing was 2 inches at 30 yards using a rest

[Stew0576]

Looks like i have allot of practice ahead of me, 30 yards free hand

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[sqlbullet]

Nice group.  Slow down and make it smaller

Seriously, this is light years ahead of most people I teach two handed, unsupported at 30 yards.  It is not unusual, even for gun owners, to miss a 14" target with 10 shots.

And, considering a 10" vital zone on a white-tail...This group centered is 9 fatal shots, and one flyer that you would have tracked but ultimately taken.

[The_Shadow]

Good job Stew0576.
Yes the group is good and as sqlbullet mentioned it can be smaller with patience and practice.  Hence the phrase "Aim small - Miss small"
This where you take carefully aimed sights to a smaller point on the intended target.  You get to know your self, your gun and your ammunitions performance...