1911 Schmidt-Rubin - Deer Load

[tacklebury]

Well, just got (20) 180gr. BTSP loaded up for about 1600fps.  Gonna test it in the ole Swiss tomorrow hopefully.  May be my long range deer round. 

[tacklebury]

Well shot a couple 250-300 yard groups today with these.  Nice light recoiling load using Reloader7 in a midrange pressure loading.  Getting estimated 1600fps with the 180gr. BTSP.  Here's a pic of my 5-shot group at 250yards with ironsights.  Had one called flier and it just missed the right edge of the paper and clipped the target stand.  Still would have been in kill range. 
 

[shot1]

If you are going to be hunting deer you need more velocity with that bullet to get it to expand. I would try either one of the 150 or 170 gr bullets made for the 30-30 Winchester at those low velocities or go to the 125 gr Nosler ballistic tip and push it around 2500 fps or so. It is a real deer killer bullet.

[tacklebury]

I've sent a technical inquiry to Hornady on this bullet.  I know the Interbonds have to be moving to expand, but I had heard good things about these at lower speeds.  I can bump up the power by up to several grains with my powder, so if they think it's too slow I'll do so.    Appreciate your comment.

[tacklebury]

Well, I appreciate the thought earlier.  Here is the response from Hornady, and it seems I need about 1600 on the connecting end:
 

If that is muzzle velocity the bullet will not open as it should.  If the the 1600 fps is an impact velocity you are in good shape.

So I'm going to bump her up a couple grains as I'm 6 gr. under max still, so I will get it to about 2k which should be about down to 1600 at 250 yards according to JBM's ballistic calculator.  That way it'll expand well. 

[tacklebury]

Well after having a buddy run some quickload evaluations and cross referencing my powder choice and getting velocities into JBM's calculators, I am using 34.3gr. RL 7 with a pressure of just 42kpsi and an estimated muzzle velocity of 2461fps at 37.6% efficiency.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get it over a chrony today, but wanted to try some.  The increased velocity pushed my group up 10" or so, but it was still about a 6" 10 shot group at 250 yards.  Unfortunately, the group was on the top edge of the target board, not on target and my picture screwed up.  lol  I'm pretty happy with it and it'll still be doing 1600+ when it is at 500 yards with the 180gr. Hornady.  If I go to the 190 gr.,  it extends usable range only a bit, so the 180's where I'll be sticking.  So I've got to aim just below the deer's chest at 250 to impact correctly.  I'm sure it'll do the job though.    Recoil was still pretty mild, (lot less than the Hornady 165 factory loads) and accuracy still in deer kill range.  Think I'm going to put a touch of my bright yellow sight paint on the front sight as shooting at pre-dusk, it got a little hard to see.