Hornady .45 TAP +P

NavyCuda

NavyCuda

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I had the opportunity to run a few rounds of the Hornady .45 TAP +P thought my 1911 today. I was disappointed to see that the average or peak velocity was no where near advertised velocity. Even if there was a 30fps drop over the 2m (not very likely!), it would still be 20fps short of advertised speed!

Battery life on the notebook is limited and we were doing to much other testing to devote any serious time to investigating this ammunition any further or perusing any kind of review on it.

It groups pretty tight, but I have no evidence to back that up, so take it with a grain of salt.

Google Docs Link
 
Advertised velocities mean nothing without looking at the length of the test barrel. Furthermore the length, and interior dimiensions of your barrel also affect your results. Temperature usually plays a role as well but given the time of year I doubt your ammo was cold.
 
mmattockx said:
So 900fps is nowhere near 950fps? Just a different barrel is enough to account for 50fps difference, I wouldn't say it was drastically low or anything.


Mark
Click to expand...

The manufacturer's advertised velocities are always based on test barrels, usually installed on test actions. What that means is that they are a "guesstimate" in the real world.

It's common to have 2 guns from the same manufacturer and of the same bbl length show significantly differing velocities (25-75fps).

Guns from different manufactures sometimes are well over 100 fps.

There was an article IIRC in Handloader magazine where the author tested a .357Mag load in rugers, S&W and Colt's with similar length barrels.

Velocity variations were up to @150 fps with some loads. One manufacturer's guns were consistantly slower (I can't recall who's right now).
 
Some really good points are brought up here.

Next time I'll try to remember to grab another box of TAP and do some more extensive testing. I have access to a second 1911 that I can also try the ammo with, to get a better velocity reading.
 
mmattockx said:
So 900fps is nowhere near 950fps? Just a different barrel is enough to account for 50fps difference, I wouldn't say it was drastically low or anything.


Mark
Click to expand...

This. I would say given all the possible variables that it is pretty darn close to advertised. And you would be surprised to find out how fast it will lose 30 FPS.
 
B said:
I chronied some Norma 10mm that was supposed to run 1200fps out of a 5" bbl. it averaged 1080 out of a 6"... Spread was wild too.
Click to expand...

You added 20% to the barrel length and lost 10% of the velocity? Why are you surprised? Your results are what they should be.
 
Are you saying adding barrel length decreases velocity...? First time I have heard that outside of diminishing returns which don't apply in this situation. The stock length barrel was equally disappointing.
 
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