Last of the Short Vaquero droning...

by Sarge , Central Misery, Wednesday, November 05, 2014, 14:56 (3612 days ago)
edited by Sarge, Wednesday, November 05, 2014, 15:01

Final Vaquero Working Loads

My goal here was the same as it always is, when developing loads for a fixed-sight revolver. One general shooting load, one 'working' load suitable for hunting game up to deer, and a heavy deep penetrating load for Big Angry Critters. Easy, right? I forgot to mention that they all need to shoot to the sights. I ironed out the first two today.

7.2 grains of W231/HP38 with a cast 250 grain RNFP has been my standard 45 Colt load for years. From the 4 5/8" Vaquero it produced an Average Velocity of 883 fps, and Extreme Spread of 41.13 fps and a Standard Deviation of 15.71 fps. Its POI was close enough to keep most shots on a paper bowl at 65 yards from a rest. Nothing left to do here but load lots of those.

The 13.0 grain HS6 load shot a little high with MO Bullet 255 SWC from this gun, so I backed it down to 12.5 grains. Average velocity was 984 fps but the Extreme Spread shot up to 128.6 fps and the Standard Deviation was 43.18. I was having a What The Hell moment until I ejected the brass and found four Starlines, an ancient R-P case and a WW case. DUMMY, make sure you're loading the same casings next tme!

So I loaded six of the 12.5 HS6 SWC's, all in Starline cases, took a good rest over the range bag and let them fly. At 65 yards it herded five them into 4", exactly at point of aim. This load is ready to hunt.

Can't beat that for a compact, fixed-sight sixgun.