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Loading longer


Climbhard

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Specific to 2011 guns..... Does anyone notice measurable improvement in accuracy loading the cartridge longer than 1.180. My reliability is 100% at that length but what I find any does the community find and measurable improvement (group size) going longer?  Of course takes more powder to maintain PF. 

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In pistol ammunition the OAL has less affect on accuracy verses Rifle ammo. The OAL of your pistol ammo is usually going to be dictated by what is required to mechanically feed properly in your particular gun. Standard off the shelf STI 2011's in .40 caliber usually require a longer OAL in the 1.180 - 1.200 range to feed properly. 

 

I have never tuned the OAL to optimize accuracy since the OAL you need is pretty much dictated by what is required to feed reliably.

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I experimented with different OALs just a couple of months ago.  I started at 1.135" and increased by .005" all the way up to 1.175".  There was no change in accuracy.  BTW, this gun feeds 1.126" flawlessly, which is what I load to.  I also have a CZ, so it's great that the same ammo runs in both.

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On 3/1/2017 at 5:03 PM, CHA-LEE said:

In pistol ammunition the OAL has less affect on accuracy verses Rifle ammo. The OAL of your pistol ammo is usually going to be dictated by what is required to mechanically feed properly in your particular gun. Standard off the shelf STI 2011's in .40 caliber usually require a longer OAL in the 1.180 - 1.200 range to feed properly. 

 

I have never tuned the OAL to optimize accuracy since the OAL you need is pretty much dictated by what is required to feed reliably.

Yep

Unless your scoping the gun and going for groups to hunt with it or shoot some type of long range competition.

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57K> You are totally right. Changing the OAL can have a very, very small effect on the accuracy of the ammo. Changing the OAL to improve accuracy can be related to how much a mouse fart will affect the wind direction of a hurricane. Does the mouse fart affect wind direction? Absolutely. But its effect is so small that it really does not matter. The same could be said for any pistol shooters ability to shoot a group accurate enough off hand to notice ANY difference in accuracy gained or lost by OAL changes. The mechanical accuracy of the gun its self has far larger impact to accuracy than the OAL will change. It all comes down to the magnitude of impact something has to the function of accuracy. Changing the OAL of a pistol round to tune for accuracy is way, way, way down on the list of things that can really affect accuracy in a meaningful way. Especially when we are talking about guns used in run & gun practical shooting events. We are not talking about bullseye shooting here.    

 

The top priority of Overall Length in pistol ammo is to build it so it will mechanically feed reliably in the platform you are shooting. Certain guns are designed from the ground up to function reliably with the SAAMI Spec .40 OAL. Good examples would be CZ's, Glocks, M&P's, XD's and so on. Other guns that were initially designed on longer OAL cartridges, such as a 1911/2011 with a .45 cartridge, require longer OAL .40 or 9mm ammo to feed reliably. If the ammo does not feed reliably because its the wrong OAL who cares what the accuracy is?

 

Hopefully this clears up the points I am trying to make. 

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When I last experimented with creating a good load for my BHP 9mm,

 

I noticed that a slightly longer OAL did have a noticeable effect on

 

accuracy, but that OAL also adversely affected functioning.

 

So, naturally, I chose the OAL which functioned 100% of the time,

 

and lost a little accuracy.

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 I think this point to settled then.  I  only brought it up because i seemed to notice that I was getting tighter groups off a bag at the shorter OAL and maybe that's more a function of velocity and increased stabilization of the bullet as a consequence of a shorter overall length  or maybe the bullet was just seating in that case straighter….Or maybe it was just coincidence.   Thanks for everyone opinion. 

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