SW Blem vs. SST..............

[Richard]

Last week Edge indicated he would like to see a test of the .40 SW Blem vs. the Hornady SST. In attempting to tweak the load I shot last week, I ran the test with four different bullets.........The 200 XTP, the SW blem, the SST and the Barnes 195.
I started the morning off with another load..........15/55 N-110/N-133. The first shot from a dry clean barrel as usual, produced hard loading and a velocity that was above normal for my cleaning regiment.......so, I eliminated it from the Av. vel. and ES. It did however, group in the smallest four shots which was 1.2"
Next I took the same load out to 200 yards where shots 2 thru 5 grouped in 1.4"----five making it 2.9"
The next four groups were the test/comparison of the above four bullets. The load was 14/60 -- SR4759/H-335 with the smooth blue Harvester sabot. This load had been producing some muzzle flash and this Tuesday's load continued to do so . On a positive note, it has been producing some groups with low ES? Part of my concern is why............? should a load which produced three five shot groups under 26 fps not shoot BUG holes all the time? It has to be the consistency of the bullet/sabot/alignment or whatever, other than velocity. To me, this clearly indicates that "heat" is not a factor.
While none of the FIVE shot groups were good enough to put in my wallet, there were a couple of decent 3 shot-ers.
The primary test between the SW Blem and the SST was not conclusive. Either group could have gone either way with a second target. The Barnes scored the poorest of the bunch but would still be do-able hunting bullet.
I may make one more attempt to get rid of the muzzle flash with this load. Then again, it may work better in the 28" Rem. ML
Richard

[Deleted]

I really believe Midway received a damaged shipment of the TC Shockwaves and just repackaged them. Maybe a crate got crushed? These are definitely them, I really see nothing wrong with the 4 boxes I got.
www.grafs.com/retail/catalog/product/productId/18433

[edge]

45omega, I think that you will find that no major bullet manufacturer will sell grossly defective bullets even as Blems.

Generally blem bullets have cosmetic problems, minor tip insertion issues or are slightly irregular in length.

Richard have you used N110 or 5744 instead of 4759 with that load?

4759 takes up about 0.525 of barrel length,
N110 takes up about 0.435,
and 5744 takes up about 0.40

5744 also has nitroglycerin which probably effects burn rate.

Since you are getting muzzle flash going to a shorter powder column may help...or perhaps not

edge.

[Richard]

Edge.........actually, I used N-110 last week but in a slightly different proportion.........16/59 vs. 14/60. I am thinking of dropping the starter to 14 gr. of N-110 and the H-335 to maybe 58 gr. I would still like to keep my velocity in and around the 2700 fps mark. The new 28" barrel might change all this
Visual inspection of these blems show no semblance of any defect? I have bought other bullets where you could see the defect. But..........neither the first line SST or the blem showed enough difference in group size to form an opinion. Granted this load was not the best, still, it was apples to apples?
Richard

[Deleted]

I got some of the 325's blems and each one of them has a needlepoint hole in the crimping area between the petals.
They all weigh within .75gn of each other but,with the 325's they are for sure obvious blems.