Wednesday, March 30, 2016

Precisely as fast as a speeding bullet.

Yesterday morning I took the Canik and some ammo to the (newly remodeled! come join!) MCF&G range to do some chrono work. Three full fifty-round boxes of ammunition, plus an additional lot of odds and sods for science. The temperature at the range was 43°F when I arrived and 49°F when I left, according to the thermometer in the Bimmer.

First up, we'll start with the full metal jacket range ammo. I was curious to see the numbers that the notorious lot of CCI Blazer Brass 115gr would put up. When I saw them, I was not surprised:
LO: 1070
HI: 1123
AV: 1090
ES: 52.37
SD: 16.94
At that altitude (~790 feet ASL) and temperature, the speed of sound is just a shade under 1100fps if I'm mathing right, and most of this ten-shot string did not crack that.  In other words, CCI Blazer Brass 115gr is a light-bullet subsonic load, or at least lot # B01W44 is.

Like I noted elsewhere, the Federal American Eagle 115gr from Lucky Gunner appeared to by marginally stouter, judging by differences in the brass ejection patterns and the sound of the report. The chrono bore out my subjective impressions:
LO: 1109
HI: 1144
AV: 1128
ES: 35.15
SD: 11.18
A small difference, an average of thirty-eight feet per second, but it made all the difference in the ability of the round to function the weapon.

I also had some 124gr CCI Blazer Brass along. It was pretty tame-feeling...
LO: 1069
HI: 1142
AV: 1103
ES: 73.78
SD: 24.93
I experienced one failure-to-eject with the Blazer Brass 124gr, on round #20 of the day (#1220 of the test).

The last FMJ range-type ammo I had with me was a box of Sellier & Bellot 124gr. It was tamer than I would have suspected, given the widely-accepted "Euro ammo is always loaded hotter" meme.
LO: 1086
HI: 1122
AV: 1099
ES: 36.18
SD: 10.29
It was also freakishly consistent for inexpensive ball ammo.
Black Hills 115gr EXP
Next up: Jacketed hollow point self-defense ammunition. I'll list it in order of projectile weights, lightest to heaviest.

First up was Black Hills' offering, a standard-pressure 115gr EXP load.
LO: 1220
HI: 1258
AV: 1239
ES: 38.13
SD: 13.03
Those are some pretty respectable numbers, especially in light of the next round in line, Remington's 115gr +P HTP ("High Terminal Performance") jacketed hollow point:
LO: 1206
HI: 1252
AV: 1223
ES: 46.60
SD: 17.08
Note that the standard pressure Black Hills is slightly hotter than the Remington, despite the latter being labeled and sold as "+P".

Now for the real "+P": Federal's legendary 115gr +P+ JHP, the 9BPLE load that everybody lusted after in the Nineties...
LO: 1276
HI: 1305
AV: 1290
ES: 29.18
AV: 8.42
Speaking of freakish consistency, that's outstanding uniformity from a light bullet driven that hard.

Now a standard-pressure 124gr loading, the Federal 124gr Hydra-Shok JHP, which claims an 1120fps muzzle velocity on the box flap...
LO: 1043
HI: 1089
AV: 1054
ES: 46.01
SD: 13.60
Not quite 1120fps, there...

Last up, Federal's P9HST2 147gr HST Tactical load, the only hollow point in this test that was both designed in this millennium and is on DocGKR's approved list.
LO: 956.3
HI: 993.6
AV: 969.7
ES: 37.29
SD: 12.36
Good, consistent numbers typical of Federal quality control on their Premium lines, but...

...the long overall length and blunt prow seemed to disagree with the feed geometry of the TP9v2. Out of a box of fifty rounds, I experienced two identical failures-to-feed, on rounds #112 and #125 of the session (#1312 and #1325 of the test.) Both fed with a simple "tap-rack", but I'd consider this round no bueno for carry in this pistol.

I may have mentioned that the rear sight is a little...busy...on this pistol. Here's a pic. It's definitely slower for me to pick up when trying to shoot at even moderate speed on tight targets.

Anyway, the Canik has now fired 1410 rounds without cleaning or lubing and experienced nine failures to eject and nine failures to feed in the initial fifty, as well as one failure to fire (#221), one failure to lock the slide back (#350), four more failures to eject (#323, #379, #997, #1220), and two more failures to feed (#1312, #1325). 590 rounds to go.
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