Well, I finally got out to shoot some of my CFE Pistol loads yesterday. I hiked into a pit, so I didn't have a notebook. What I noticed was most of my starting loads had velocities much lower than the published data on Hodgdon's website.
I loaded 38 special with 158 grain rnfp over 4.8 grains cfe. I chrono'd six shots which averaged about 650 fps. from a 5" barrel. A little sooty, but not too bad. Primers looked fine. I will try to bump up the powder to find a sweet spot between 4.8 & 5.3 grains.
Also loaded some 357 mag. They were also much slower than expected. 158 rnfp over 5.3 grains of cfe pistol. They were coming in at around 750, lower than the published 1123 fps. I expected a loss of maybe 100 fps for the shorter barrel.
Then I tried some 44 magnum loads I concocted using Hodgdon's data for Nosler Jhp. Here's the recipe:
44 Remington Magnum200 grain xtp
13 grains cfe pistol
Medium roll crimp to an oal of 1.60
I was very impressed with this 44 magnum load & will be loading a full box for more testing. I shot twelve shots total, getting near-published velocities averaging about 1450 fps. I absolutely loved shooting this load. The recoil was mild compared to some of my 240 grain loads at 1200 fps. The brass was pretty clean for 44 handloads. This may be my go-to defense load in the future. Good stuff.
Well, as with most of my mild hand loads, the cfe proved to be pretty dirty at low pressures. I may try some 38+p loads from it next time. Compared to tite group, a little dirtier at low pressure by my observation.
Well there ya go.
