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I recently got a chronograph because I wanted to see what kind of velocities my .500S&W handi rifle was getting. I've always read that you generally gain 50fps of velocity for each extra inch of barrel length, and since this gun has a 22" barrel, and most .500mag ammo testing results is usually done with a 9"< revolver, I was really hoping that this gun would be real close to .458winmag velocities with some of the heavier bullets. Turns out, it's not.
On most of the factory ammo I tried, some of them are only gaining about 100fps over what the published velocity is. Some of my handloads were significantly faster than the velocities in the reloading manual, which makes me wonder why there's not much improvement over the factory ammo.
My hottest load was a 350gr JHP at 2,385fps, which equates to 4,422 ft. lbs of knockdown. 700gr hard cast bullets were 1,373fps. The .500mag ammo that BVAC (cheap stuff from the gun shows) sells was only 1,470fps, and I think it's only 300 or 350gr. The good thing is that round has absolutely no recoil. The bad thing is I didn't buy this gun to shoot mild loads. I bought it because I was too cheap and poor to buy an honest to god elephant gun like a .458win/lott, and while it's still fun to shoot and does impressive damage to whatever you hit with it, I still think I'm eventually going to have to put out the cash for something bigger.
So, does the 50fps for every 1" not apply to pistol calibers or something? Is it the burn rate of the powder that makes the difference? I tried some .44 mag through a 5" 629 and a ruger carbine yesterday, and while a few of the loads gained little velocity in the rifle, most of them had significant improvements over the revolver. I also shot my keltec .32 through the chronograph (763fps with a 71gr fmj), and that did very little to inspire confidence in my carry gun.
On most of the factory ammo I tried, some of them are only gaining about 100fps over what the published velocity is. Some of my handloads were significantly faster than the velocities in the reloading manual, which makes me wonder why there's not much improvement over the factory ammo.
My hottest load was a 350gr JHP at 2,385fps, which equates to 4,422 ft. lbs of knockdown. 700gr hard cast bullets were 1,373fps. The .500mag ammo that BVAC (cheap stuff from the gun shows) sells was only 1,470fps, and I think it's only 300 or 350gr. The good thing is that round has absolutely no recoil. The bad thing is I didn't buy this gun to shoot mild loads. I bought it because I was too cheap and poor to buy an honest to god elephant gun like a .458win/lott, and while it's still fun to shoot and does impressive damage to whatever you hit with it, I still think I'm eventually going to have to put out the cash for something bigger.
So, does the 50fps for every 1" not apply to pistol calibers or something? Is it the burn rate of the powder that makes the difference? I tried some .44 mag through a 5" 629 and a ruger carbine yesterday, and while a few of the loads gained little velocity in the rifle, most of them had significant improvements over the revolver. I also shot my keltec .32 through the chronograph (763fps with a 71gr fmj), and that did very little to inspire confidence in my carry gun.