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Deadeye hits it om the nail head.

I'm a tester by trade. I currently test software but I also was a tester for a materials lab, testing everything from stents to lenses for scratch resistance, light refraction, critical fracture testing, pull tests, adhesion tests. You name it.

Here is the thing I've learned after testing for about 2 decades. Testers usually have to adhoc things. They have to be able to test with a best guess methodology.

If you're thinking that powder manufacturers have hermetically sealed testing chambers with high tech oscilloscopes and chronographs... think again.

A tester will typically use whatever equipment they can to get the best data they can and try to establish a sort of methodology to their testing that gives them usable data and is reproducible.

Does this mean that every round is going to be fired 10,000 times at such and such a grain weight of bullet with such and such a powder with the gun cooled to a specific standardized temp between firings? NO. They are not. The gun will have various temperatures, it might get dirty and not cleaned between shots. The design on the firearm might not be taken into account and the variations in that might not make their way into the load data. A ps90 might get different muzzle velocities than a fn five seven even though it uses the same round with the same bullet, and exact same powder and load. Why? because one size of data does not fit all occasions.

Testing against ballistic gel? What the heck for? The bullet manufacturer has done some work and gives you muz vel to shoot for for max expansion, so you try for it by loading rounds. You clearly label your rounds w weight of powder and bullet weight and check the speed, and you tweak and adjust the load till you have it match that... and try and be consistent.
Loading a round requires that you not expect your results to exactly match the data sheets. Variations in powder batches, lots, etc all add up.

Testers go for best guess... not a guaranteed result.
 

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