For the test reported here, I had the able assistance of my friend, Roger Hazlewood. Without his help, I should not have been able to do this testing with any precision. Please note that any data errors or errors in the description of the test and the results given here are mine. Hazlewood did the shooting and the data recording. I watched the clock, measured data and did the necessary gunsmithing between tests.
What we tested and how we tested it
For this experiment we used
superior factory ammunition from Hornady and Black Hills and two 5mm/35
SMc handloads using the same brand of propellant (Ramshot, a ball-type
of superior quality), and the same Hornady bullets used in the factory
204 Ruger loads. We also tested two 5/35 handloads using Hodgdon
extruded propellants; one with H322 and the 40-grain Hornady V-Max;
the other with BenchMark and moly-plated Berger 30-grain LTBs. All
tested loads, excepting the one with the Berger bullet, used naked
bullets. Excepting the Berger bulleted handload (which was certainly
on the hot side), we prepared all handloads, as nearly as was feasible,
to simulate factory-load pressures.
We used factory Savage barreled-actions chambered in 204 Ruger, 223 Remington, 22-250 Remington, and 5/35 (we have an experimental factory-chambered Savage 1/12 twist barrel). We also used a modified factory plastic stock with the foreend removed so that the stock does not protrude forward of the receiver. This was done to insure that the barrel was neither insulated by the stock nor heated by either reflected or reradiated heat from the stock.