Large extreme spreads 44 mag Hornady Custom Factory 240 gn XTP

[mickbr]

So this factory ammo is very powerful ,youtube reports have it about 1450-1500fps from a handgun and it chronies up to 1930fps in my 20" Rossi. The issue is it seems to have two velocity regions. Around the 1900fps level and every few shots one drops below 1800fps. I was testing them today and the highest was 1930 and the lowest was 1788fps. Thats 142 fps, a lot of spread for premium ammo. Ive noticed this happen to youtubers as well. 'Gunsam' here at 2:50 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrU2dPX_28&t=549s

Factory ammo isnt perfect I know. But the other Hornady custom ammo loads, the 200 Xtp and 225 FTX dont seem to have the same problem. they have very tight spreads. So what could be doing this to the 240 grain load. Its almost 1950ftlbs at top speed in a lever, 20% more energy than standard ammo...Im wondering if its too compressed. Im considering letting Hornady know as general feedback.

[Keith D]

Try weighing each cartridge. If they differ much then it doesn't sound like custom ammo to me.

[GunnyMack]

Yup, weigh them just for curiosity.
Send them an email I think they would like to know about real world results.

[mickbr]

Good idea fellas, I have about 8 left in this box. In fact I might pull the bullets and weigh everything.

[GunnyMack]

Hornady might want the remaining loaded rounds back for testing. I'd leave it loaded.

I had some Winchester 28ga ammo that almost all the "brass" heads split. I sent an email to Winchester, they sent me a shipping label for the bad ammo. They sent me a check to recoup the cost. I asked them if they knew the cause and the answer I got was more or less ' none of your concern's .

[mickbr]

Thanks for the suggestions again fellas.

I sent the following

Dear Hornady Staff,

Ive been a fan of your products for over 3 decades. Just reporting a repeat issue I have seen with the above factory ammunition from my 20" barrel Rossi 1892 Lever action

Chronographing the ammunition( Procrhono- 5 yards) shows most projectiles fall into the 1900-1930fps range, which is excellent power.

However one of every few shots can dip as low as 1788fps. In fact the three odd readings I have from 15 shots fired were 1789, 1788, 1798fps. This was from two separate boxes of ammunition.

Its almost as if the ammo is maintaining two separate velocity bands. One about 120-140fps lower than the other.

Note the below video, a user off youtube experiencing similar( This is not me nor my channel, I include it for your information)

At about 2:32 the fella fires a string of 5 shots and records a 143 fps drop in velocity for the last shot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsrU2dPX_28&t=549s

Its not a large sample size but due to the spread from both sources of information, I felt its worth mentioning these results.

Yours sincerely

[wvfarrier]

Hornady pistol loads have always been hit n miss for me