Sorry, VA but I don't buy that.
The loads, and they were handloads, were made from 55 gr. bullets, not the 40-45 gr. stuff listed on Ramshot's website as being tested as safe for that gun. Ramshot makes a strongly worded point that the cartriage is very sensitive to tiny changes in powder charges, bullet lenths and cartriage over lenth.
That right there is good enough for me. To give you an example, the starting load for a short 45 gr. hornet bullet is 5.4 grs. For a 45 gr. Sierra pointed bullet, the start load is 4.8 grs. So who knows just what this guy did. Did his heavy loads damage the gun ? He had fired a good many of them. They were, BTW, a charge of 5 grs of Ramshot True Blue with those 55 gr. bullets. Where did he get that data ? No loads for 55 gr. bullets are posted on Ramshot's website.
I've been handloading for a mere 54 yrs. I've seen lots of hot loads fired in both rifles and handguns. I've locked up bolts and blown a few primers on rifles. That's what happens when you don't follow loading data and proper loading techniques in a rifle. In a handgun, however, it's alot more serious. If you are lucky, you get a shaken loose handgun. If you aren't, it comes apart in the hand. That's because they don't have the design safety margins that rifles do.
His comment that the gun fired out of battery is just a guess.
I just got done retesting my gun. The rounds that previously failed to fire, fired perfectly this time. As did other handloads and factory ammo. Shot a nice 1 3/8ths inch graoup at 15 yds., BTW, with factory ammo. What was the problem ? I suspect dirt and powder residue preventing the extractor from holding the cartriages for the firing pin blow. I'm going to test more and see.
Like I said, the brass grows too much for me to consider reloading once fired brass. Any handloading I do will be with nothing but new, factory brass. But I do feel this round is worth reloading. The dramatic difference in penetration of hunting ammunition makes it worth it.
Another thing I've noticed is that for my gun to shoot the same sight settings as the factory 40 gr. V-Max loads, the load must be very close to it's velocity. At a little over 1900 fps., my latest loads land over three inches higher at 15 yds. Factory ammo clocks 1729 fps. in my gun. E