Itchy Finger

My itchy trigger finger got the best of me this morning, so I packed a few things and headed to the range.  Four handguns and the 454 lever action.  Got the red dot sighted lever gun zeroed about 2 inches high at 100 yards with 240Gr Hornady XTP HP bullets in front of 33 grains of AA#9.  That's one of the loads I worked up for the Ruger Super Redhawk.  From the Ruger it chronographs at 1800F/S.  From the lever action it runs at 2140F/S and groups at about 2-1/2 inches at 100 yards.  Not exactly tack driving accuracy, but not all that awful from a lever action with a red dot sight shooting ammunition developed for a revolver.

The other 454 load I developed for the revolver runs a 300Gr XTP at 1600F/S using H110 powder.  I didn't chronograph it out of the lever action, nor shoot groups with that ammunition.  With the revolver, the 2 loads print close enough for practical purposes out to about 75 yards or so.  Not so with the long gun.  At 100 yards it hit what I estimate to be 2 feet lower.  I expected it to shoot lower, but not that much.

Wanting to use the same ammunition in both guns, I'll most likely stick to the 240Gr load.

And about the handguns I brought.  They never left the case, despite my needing the practice.  I was having too much fun with the lever action.