Light for Caliber

I often get emails asking about what loads to use in what guns… Handguns and Rifles. There is a lot of considerations for what load to shoot, and often the load selection is even more important than the choice of platform to launch it from.
For handguns, I generally like to go Light for Caliber. Picking the lighter load options rather than the more popular heavy options. Reason being, I like velocity in my handguns, which often provides more hydrodynamic reaction that gives more consistent bullet expansion. Take the lightest options, try them, and only go heavier if accuracy is suffering in the light loads. I’ve found that quite often the light to medium shoot the more accurate than the heavier loads, but every gun is different and yours might be different, so you have to try it all out for yourself.
Now, for Rifles… I like the Medium to Heavy bullets for caliber because the heavier ones tend to offer then higher ballistic coefficient numbers that I want for longer range shots.
This is just the way I roll… it’s what works for me… Your mileage may differ.

One thought on “Light for Caliber”

  1. I wish there was a 185 PDX1 +p that flew at 1,150. But with .45 I know anything will pretty much do it. 185, 200, 230. +p or standard pressure. They all seem to do the trick. But if I had to put them in order I’d go 185, 200 then 230. Preferably all +p.

    10mm I like 155’s though I do have a soft spot for the 175 Silvertip.

    9’s either 115 or 124 but any 9 load I carry is going to be +p or +p+

    .357 SIG (or mag) the only weight is 125 (IMO). Though I would be “okay” with a 115 (SIG) or a 110 (mag) as long as it was really hot.

    With .44 mag I could go either way but I usually carried 240’s. Only on a few occasions did I ever carry a 180

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *