Ok Fred Bird......
Did some testing today.....I was perplexed a bit at the results. Yes, the gun is tight and the chronograph is working fine. I was so perplexed I tested out another gun with a known velocity and the the machine read out the same numbers.
The 85 grain was designed for the 32 mag with a smaller case capacity and don't believe that bullet builds up enough pressure unless your using heavy loads such as say...6 grain of Unique.
I used the Smith and Wesson that was built in 1906 for all loads....the gun is tight with a .005 flash gap.
I took Remington 100 gr bullets that they use in factory ammo and made a jig to grind off the nose to bring it to 85 grains. I did the same with the Speer bullets that start out at 100 grains.
The Remington bullets mike out at .3105 while the Speer bullets are right at .312.
All loads were erratic except the 100 gr Speer and even that had a high velocity spread despite using a fast burning powder.
All loads were an average of 3 shots....not very scientific but it's close.
My conclusions...you need at least a 100 grain bullet. My tried and true loads of 4.5 of Unique or 3 grains of bullseye with a 115 lead bullet are uniform and if your going to use an 85 grain bullet your going to need mid range to high velocity loads. I DO NOT like 2400 with a light bullet....does not build up enough pressure for uniformity.
My jig for making 85 grain bullets from 100 gr.....little cheesy but it worked.
Here's the scale showing 85 grains from a 100 grain Remington bullet
Loaded 32-20 with homemade 85 grainers
Speer 100 gr
Results
