I tried an old standby load for modern single action revolvers today, consisting of 8.0 grains of HP38 (or W231) and a 255 grain SWC. This is one of those loads you will see in reviews by reputable gunwriters, but you won't find it in the powder companies's manuals. I tried it because I wanted something that still hit with authority, but shot lower than the 13.0 HS6 load mentioned above.
From the short Vaquero, the HP38 load produced an average of 883 fps, with an extreme spread of 41.13 fps and a standard deviation of 15.71 fps. Excellent numbers all around; except it grouped about a 10" at 65 yards from this gun and hit about a foot low. Well, shizz... just goes to show you can't take anything for granted.
Back to the drawing board... the 13.0/HS6 load shot great but shoots higher than I'll tolerate. Believe I'll back it off about a grain and see if that does it.
