Range Report

I managed to get to the range for a couple of hours while the Boss was in bed sick. I only brought 3 weapons with me this time due to shortage of time, that is excluding my carry piece.

As of yet I haven't done any handloading experiments for the AR, mostly due to lack of available bullets. To date the standard, easily purchased (sometimes) ammo has produced 3 shot, 100 yard groups from 3-5/8 to 4-3/4 from 4 different brands launching 55gr bullets. Federal, launching 63 gr bullets has done a little better at 3". I suspect this particular rifle is going to like heavier bullets. That's unfortunate because 55gr bullets are the most common.

Today I ran an experiment with the flash suppressot position, knowing that the weight on the end of the barrel effects barrel harmonics. I used only PPU factory ammo shooting 55gr bullets at 2960-2994f/s chronographed.
Tight - 3-5/8"
0.03 gap - 2-1/2"
0.08 gap - 2"
0.11 gap - 1-1/2"
0.15 gap - 2-3/8"
0.21 gap - 4-3/8"
0.28 gap - 2-3/8"
Looks like that particular ammo shoots best when the flash hider is backed off about 0.11". Next time I'll try to fine tune that some, and include other brands as well. Hopefully I'm not too far away from trying some hand loaded ammo, if I can get my hands on some bullets.

I ran 3 different handloads through the 4" 44 Bulldog. They all semed OK as far as accuracy is concerned, though I didn't shoot any of them for groups. I was primarily looking for a comfort zone. That little dog can definitely bite the hand that feeds it.
210gr Rem with 8.5gr Unique -> 1020-1060f/s
210gr Rem with 8.0gr Unique -> 1011-1066f/s
240gr Sierra with 7.5gr Unique -> 947-985f/s
With that light weight gun and thin grips, the bigger bullet running slower is definitely more comfortable to shoot. My 454 Casull isn't much harder on the hand than the 210 grain loads above. The next load I try will be 240gr bullets running in the low to mid 900s. I'll be looking for an accurate load in that ball park.

Then I tried the little Keltec P3AT 380acp. That's sure a tiny little shooter. Winchester white box 95gr ammo ran 783-821f/s across the chronograph. It was relatively easy to shoot and despite the gritty trigger, point shooting proved very effective at 7 yards. The sights, though almost non-existent, were good enough to stay on a silhouette at 25 yards. I put about half a box through it without any malfunction of any kind. Not at all sorry I bought the thing.