38 Spcl 158gr LRN with some new powders

[RDub01]

Hello
I recently scored a pound each of these new powders, Sport Pistol, 244, 572, IMR Target, and IMR Blue.   


Here are some pics of what they look like;









My goal is to shoot an expose in .38 Special, .40 S&W and 10mm.
Today I just had time to shoot some .38's, so here is what I came up with.

I shot a 3-load ladder with each powder, excluding IMR Blue.
Plus, a few of my favorite handloads for a comparison.  All the loads were assembled with Magtech 158gr LRN bullets, CCI500 primers and REM-UMC brass.  C.O.L. was 1.540".
Loads were hand weighed.



The gun is a 4" 686. Chronograph; Oehler Model 33.  Temps today were on the cool side, mostly in the 40°'s. But, a nice day, not a cloud in the sky.





It's hard to come up with definite opinions with just one shoot, but I don't know what to say about Sport Pistol, except that it must be really cold blooded.  Higher standard deviations than I would expect from a fast powder like this.  Alliant says 3.4,3.5 grs. yields velocities around 760-770 fps.  I'm betting it will do better in warmer temperatures.

572 was not much better..  Very high standard deviations.  This one might do better with a hotter primer in colder weather.

244 did ok..  It should prove to be very useful.

The surprise of the day was IMR Target.  Nice groups, acceptable SD's  and high velocities.  I believe this powder will be a winner.

My favorite handloads did what I expected in cooler weather.  231 performed like it always does.  The others are cold blooded and do better in warmer temps.
Notice the 4.0 grs of AA #2 and 244 shot exactly the same velocity, along with 3.7 grs Bullseye.

Here is a graph for today;



Again this was just one shoot in not so accommodating weather.  We'll see what happens latter on.
Hopefully this should give us some idea what to expect from these new powders.

[The_Shadow]

RDub01, great report with all of those powders, Thanks for sharing the info and pictures...