First I was looking to make .308 or 7.62x51 sub-sonic loads for the Tactical Mauser just because I wanted too.
The 147gr Tracer bullets I have are, I believe M85 tracers pulled from 30-06 that I bought awhile back.
Two things shocked me in the testing.
1. FPS difference in the Commercial and Mil-Spec cases was sometimes a 300fps difference I do believe the powder position in the case was having an effect on the FPS.
2. About ½ the time the Tracers actually lit! Yep just as they were getting to the targets at 100 yards or right when or just after they the hit the dirt they lit up. The one I noted in my list I had was 885fps and it lit on the ground. It was kind of cool to watch it burn on the ground.
I did put up a plain piece of paper to see if they were keyholing at that distance but the drop was so much I didn't want to hold over the target that much with the tracers. The paper was about 4 feet off the ground and they were hitting the ground at the base of the target.
I did shoot a few last week using 168Gr Hornady BTHP match bullets that were molyed using the same 10.0grs of powder but there point of impact was not as low as the Tracers only about 1.5ft compared to 4+ feet of the tracer bullets. The tracers are longer by 0.135" so more friction in the barrel plus no moly on them might have been a factor. When I was doing research on the loads on the web people were saying that they put a little oil on the projectiles before shooting. Maybe that might also have an effect in the variation in the fps readings. Might have to retest the Hornady bullets using the chrony.
I also shot some 125gr THT HP bullets but there speed was not sub-sonic because of the weight of the projectile and I don't know if I really want to go that far down on the powder charges to get them that way.
9mm testing was using the M11/9 10" barrel
Chrony was about 7' from muzzle of the weapons for testing. At 55 degrees F. outside
NOW THE RESULTS ;)
Testing Day at the range
7.62x51 Data
| .308 147gr M25 tracer mil-spec berdan primed FN cases 10.0grs IMR Trailboss |
| FPS |
| 927 |
| 782 |
| 887 |
| 932 |
| 814 |
| 885 |
| 989 |
| 1011 |
| 939 |
| 861 |
| .308 Commercial cases 147gr M25 bullet CCI LRM Primer 10.0grs Trailboss |
| FPS |
| 691 |
| 873 |
| 756 |
| .308 Commercial cases 147gr M25 bullet CCI LRM Primer 9.5grs Trailboss |
| FPS |
| 631 |
| 566 |
| 727 |
| .308 Commercial cases 125gr Sierra TNT bullet CCI LRM Primer 10.0grs Trailboss |
| FPS |
| 1366 |
| 1337 |
| 1332 |
| .308 Commercial cases 125gr Sierra TNT bullet CCI LRM Primer 9.5grs Trailboss |
| FPS |
| 1314 |
| 1287 |
| 1316 |
| .308 147gr FMJ mil-spec berdan primed FN cases 48.0gr Win 748 |
| FPS |
| 2650 |
| 2704 |
| 2704 |
| .308 Commercial cases 147gr M25 Moly Coated bullet CCI LRM Primer 10.0grs Trailboss |
| FPS |
| 1174 Note: clean barrel with Light coating of oil in it |
| 793 |
| 820 |
| 942 |
| 666 |
| 706 |
| 855 |
9mm Loads
| 9mm Wolf 115gr |
| FPS |
| 1217 |
| 1249 |
| 1263 |
| 1228 |
| 1237 |
| 1278 |
| 1265 |
| 1253 |
| 1234 |
| 9mm WWB 115gr |
| FPS |
| 1298 |
| 1265 |
| 1313 |
| 1268 |
| 1269 |
| 1282 |
| 9mm Win Sliver Tip 115gr HP |
| FPS |
| 1261 |
| 1267 |
| 1267 |
| 1271 |
| 1284 |
| 9mm 5.5gr Autocomp 115gr Berry's CCI S.P. primer average COL 1.123 |
| FPS |
| 1294 |
| 1285 |
| 1314 |
| 1314 |
| 1312 |
| 1290 |
| 1277 |
Three Tracers that lit recovered from the ground at the range, middle one hit a rock ;) As you can notice not all the tracer bullets are identical in shape some have more of a boat tail design than others.
Last two shots of the day from my Tactical Mauser using the 147gr FMJ loaded with win 748 powder at 100 yards.
Not to shabby for aiming at a BLANK piece of paper if I do say so myself!
Mini Revolver
| Federal Champion 22 Long Rifle in NAA Mini Revolver 1 5/8" barrel |
| FPS |
| 831 |
| 834 |
| 815 |
| 841 |
| 821 |
