185gr JHP PD vs Zero

[njl]

I just got some Zero 185gr JHP to try as an alternative to PD. The Zero's have a much smaller HP cavity and are around 0.05" shorter in length than the PDs. I found that my G30 didn't 100% reliably feed the PDs until the OAL was at least 1.210".

I figure with the Zero's, I'll start out with an OAL of 1.210" just to be safe with the G30. I'm wondering if I'm going to need more powder to compensate for the shorter bullet (larger case volume) or if the shorter bearing surface of the Zero bullets will compensate for that and let them run faster?

If anyone's loaded both and compared the results, I'd love to hear about it.

[noylj]

You'll have to test. Each barrel can be a law unto itself.

You have two counter-balancing factors, that may or may not balance out in your barrel.

[njl]

I didn't quite stick to the plan. I loaded some and found that with no adjustment from doing PD's at 1.210", the Zero's came out just over 1.200". I did 50 like that, and then adjusted to get 1.210" and did another 50. I should be shooting them tomorrow.

[njl]

The Zero's definitely ran slower than the PD at same OAL and charge. I'll have to try again with a few tenths of a grain more WST. I'd like to keep these up around 800fps minimum, and only got about 720 from a G21, 700 from a G30.

[yoshidaex]

Once you get your velocity in order, let us know how the accuracy is between the two.

[FLSlim]

The one thing I found with my G30 is that it doesn't like lighter loads, although OAL is never a problem. Both brands of bullets you mention have been very good to me ( I'd recommend either). From your later posts, it sounds like you are on track (although I would not have loaded up batches of 50--if they hadn't worked--ugh).

[njl]

My 21 and 30 (both Gen3) seem to have no problem functioning with ridiculously light loads.

The above speeds were with 4.78gr WST. I loaded some more with 5gr WST, and had some Clays sitting around, so I loaded some with 4.5gr Clays. Hopefully, I can test them this weekend.

[njl]

My book is still out in the car, but both of these test loads broke 800fps in the G21.

4.5gr Clays = 822fps avg

5gr WST = 815fps avg

Edited December 16, 2012 by njl

[njl]

Anyone else loading these bullets, I'm curious which dillon seating stem you use. I've been using the round nose profile end and after getting into a newer box of the PD bullets, I noticed my OAL got much less consistent.

[njl]

In preparation for some upcoming GSSF matches, I was taking a closer look at my ammo today and realized that the PD 185gr JHPs seated to 1.210" fail the drop in / drop out of the chamber test.

Shocked, I took apart all my .45s to test these bullets in the barrels and then sat down at the press to see what length would drop in / drop out. My Springfield 1911 is the pickiest. It needs the PD 185gr JHP seated to 1.160" for the bullet to not hit the rifling. That's virtually all the bearing surface of the bullet inside the case. The Glocks only need them seated to 1.200" to not hit the rifling.

So...I have several hundred rounds loaded to 1.210" and a Glock match this weekend in which I plan to shoot the 21 and 30, preferably with this ammo. I'm tempted to run these rounds back through stations 3 and 4 to shorten them to 1.200" and consider them "Glock-only ammo". I'd been loading them to that OAL initially, but found that a couple of my G21 mags wouldn't feed the G30 reliably unless I went longer (1.210") on the OAL. It hadn't occurred to me to chamber-check the slightly longer OAL. When I have more time, I guess I should load some to 1.160", chrono them, and see if the Glocks (and 1911) will feed them.

[njl]

Now I'm confused. I wanted to load some more ammo last night, and decided to recheck the OAL issue with my Glocks and Springfield 1911. I loaded a couple of dummies using both PD 185gr JHP and Zero 185gr JHP. The dummies were all loaded to 1.210". They all dropped in/out of the Glock barrel. They dropped in, and appeared to fully seat in the 1911 barrel, but had to be pulled out.

Shooting a recent GSSF match with the above mentioned ammo that I ran back through the press to shorten to just under 1.200", I had several instances of the first round jamming (cartridge angled up and maybe half way into the chamber), as well as a few stovepipes. I'd shot the same load in the same guns at a match a month earlier...but I realized afterwards that the ammo that worked was Federal primers, and the ammo that stovepiped was CCI primers. I know from previous testing that CCI LP are "weaker" than Federal...so I'm guessing my load was just barely enough powder to cycle the the G30, and with the weaker primers, it was not quite making enough gas to run the G30.

I ended up loading 100 Zero 185gr JHP with 5gr WST at 1.210". I'll see how they do (in the G30) next time I make it to the range.