TargetTalk

Red Dot is THE classic powder for a .45 wad gun. Bullseye was the original loading for the military. Both are as good as they ever were.

Green Dot is also excellent, but perhaps a touch slow for light target loads.

chiltech500 - I made a mistake on my last post. I had good luck with 4.4gr of N310 on a 180gr LSWC bullet, not a 185gr.

I purchased a used Ransom Rest recently, but have not used it yet. I did all my testing using a Hyskore pistol rest. It made things much more accurate than sand bags.

Re: your question on 185 vs 200. This high master friend has used both 185 and 200 almost interchangeably. I also know a number of expert and master shooters that do the same. When you get to that level (I'm just a SS), I think it is mostly mental a mental game. These guys tweak their bullet/powder formulas more for entertainment value than anything else. Something new to test. I think it is also a bit of "I'm going to try my lucky shirt today" and that will improve my score.

Personally, I spent dozens of hours at the range testing .2gr increments on both 180gr and 200gr LSWC, along with Zero 185gr JHP. I found that my gun likes 4.5gr of VV N310 with a Zero 185gr JHP for the 50yd line and the 3.7gr on the 200gr LSWC that I mentioned. I got my 50yd Zero group down to 1.5" using the Hyskore rest. I also found that when I changed the load of N310 by .2gr either direction, the Zero's at 50 opened up to 3-4" groups. I can't shoot a 3-4" group, but this high master friend (much advise from him) said to "eliminate the variables" as much as possible so you know you can call your shots. Made sense.

So.... I shoot the Zero 185 JHP at the long line and the 200 LSWC for the short line. Now I NEVER change my formula because I know the rest if mental. Coincidentally, these loads ended up such that I DID NOT need to change my dot between 50 and 25yds. Very handy.

Best of luck on your testing. I can email you a spreadsheet of all my load data if you want it. Just send me a PM with your email. It might save you some time. Then again, I think it is important to test your gun because each gun is different. Barrel models and their respective twist rates will definitely affect accuracy, mostly at 50yd of course. The 25yd line is easy to test for.

Regards,

Steve

Thanks Steve,

I am afraid I will have to run my own tests. It is very interesting that .2 either way opened up the group that way. I would not have expected that but, that's why this is so much trial and error and gives us something to do in our spare time :)

The Hyscore is only $65 at Cabellas, that I can afford.