I have asked a similar question but did not get the information that I was looking for- Perhaps asked in this way it will make more sense.

I have a 240 gr 44 magnum load that is 1050 fps out of a 4" barrel that I shoot regularly for practice, if I increase the velocity to 1200 fps what change in elevation impact can I anticipate (at 25 yards)? I ask this as I am replacing a front sight and want to insure the new front sight height will be acceptable for both those loads.

Thank you

I think you’re just going to have to shoot them to find out. There are too many variables…..your grip, do you have skinny arms or are they Popeye arms, etc.

The faster load will shoot lower.

The faster load will shoot higher.

Handguns lower, rifles higher as velocity increases with the same weight bullet.

Shorter barrels generally shoot higher with handguns as well over longer barrels with the same load.

A taller front sight provides more leeway and adjustment range, similar to a rear elevated rail on a rifle, just in reverse. It can also hang up easier, if that matters.

Yes, how you grip the gun, the weight of your arms can also effect impact.

Two inches, roughly, with these variables adding 150-200 fps..

At 100 yards or more it exponentially gets greater.

^^^^^^^^ THIS ^^^^^^^ memtb

Thank you.

Balistics say less than half inch at 50, ~.0015 of an inch at 25.

Yeah, if a 4" 44 didnt recoil in someone's hands.

This has nothing to do with the base trajectory of the load.

Does it say anything about windage when the gun recoils away from a single hand hold?

Didnt think so....

Ahh the butt hurt begins. Ballistics don’t lie, the difference is minuscule. So it all falls on your abilities and evidently that hurts to know. Shame it is, but the truth is if you can’t hold better than 2 inches with a ~.0015 difference in ballistics that’s your fault. Ask the bullseye shooter who cuts out the 10 ring at 50 yards one handed.

Ballistics dont lie, niether does recoil and POI changes from a handgun.

A bullseye shooter isnt mixing target loads with full magnums expecting them to land in the same place without adjustments, none of which have anything to do with minimal change in the base trajectory.

The faster load has more momentum, so it will recoil more. You will find that it shoots a little higher at 25yds. I know this because I used to load 240gr@930fps plinkers and 240gr@1250fos carry ammo.
Now if you step up in bullet weight to 300gr and keep the same 1050fps velocity, you'll see the POI move up 5-6" at 25yds.

Imo, you want the sights to be "usable", not necessarily "perfect". I.e. you want enough sight so you can adjust mentally while you are shooting.

"Curious things sometimes happen when we fire different loads in one gun. Some of them I understand fully, some I do not even after a lifetime of experiment. Take the .357 S&W Magnum. Usually it prints different loads to different points of impact, the lighter loads going highest on the target. The same has proven true for me with the S&W 44 Magnum. With the latter gun, the 44 Special factory load prints highest on the target; the heavy handloaded 44 Special with 18.5 grains 2400 and the Keith 250-grain slug prints considerably lower; the heavy handloaded 44 Magnum with same bullet and 22 grains 2400 prints still lower; and finally, the factory .44 Magnum load prints lowest of all with the same sight setting.

This is due largely to different barrel time for the four different loads. The old .44 Special factory load, at about 700 to 750 fps, takes a longer time to travel through the barrel and out the muzzle than do the higher velocity loads."

-Elmer Keith
Gun Notes May 1962

Don't shoot handguns much it appears. Hawk is correct

Yes, he is.

Thanks gents.

Just trying to point a serious question to a serious answer.
dla is correct regarding heavier bullets.

I will tell the OP to post what he finds, because that's the answer in this situation.

Elmer is correct, and its not very often he wasn't.....

Yes dla is also correct

Just so I can clarify for myself, a 240gr @ 1200fps is likely to impact lower than the same bullet at 1000 fps (even though recoil will be somewhat greater with the faster load)

It is my experience that a heavier bullet will impact higher than a lighter bullet at the same velocity (due to greater recoil)

Thanks

Correct.

Muzzle rise and barrel time are the working variables.

In general, the slower load has longer barrel time, the muzzle has risen further before the bullet clears the barrel. Impact is higher.

YMMV.

It's difficult to tell with certainty without shooting the gun. All things being equal, the faster load will generate more recoil thus more total muzzle rise, however, this is offset by the faster load also having less time in the bore for the muzzle to rise and change point of impact related to point of aim. How those two balance out is a crap shoot. Depends somewhat on the shooter, but also on the gun .. the grip shape, etc.

I would shoot the gun with the old load, then with the new load, before changing or ordering a new front sight.

Tom

Novel theory, putting the differences of where POI is when changing loads on the shooter. No it’s got to be recoil, barrel time etc. even when the difference is minuscule. It’s always easier to blame the gun or load when what it really boils down to is the shooter doesn’t have the ability to discern the difference in hold and sight picture required.

You still don't get it

Don’t get what?
All my sights are regulated for one load that is used for 90% of the shots taken with that pistol, after that if I shoot one that’s faster or slower it’s Kentucky windage and elevation. But then I could be one of the knucklefuggers that gets to the range and plays with the sights for a test load or plinker load then can’t remember what the hell it’s adjusted for.
Fixed sights all depend on what load and distance they were regulated for, you don’t know that then it’s a complete Kentucky windage/elevation situation till you find what works.
Or you can pick a load file or Change front sight until your regulation is where you want for that one load. Change the load or distance and they are clueless, which then turns them into a knucklefugger trying to figure out what the hell to do again. Seen it at pin matches, can’t hit the pins at 25 feet because their sights are regulated for 25 or whatever yardage or they change the load and don’t know how to correct it.
By the way any gun POI or pattern is going to change when the load is changed 150-200 fps up or down, it’s all about how the hell you deal with it. Also lately I haven’t seen to damn many people who can hold 2” shot to shot at 25 feet let alone 2” @ 25 yards.

20 yards

Why don't you shoot several different unregulated loads at your pin matches or was this a long exercise in you being a little dick, which we all know isn't a problem you need work on? Can't hold that .5 at 50 yards?

"A bullseye shooter isnt mixing target loads with full magnums expecting them to land in the same place without adjustments, none of which have anything to do with minimal change in the base trajectory."

Yeah, no [bleep]...everyone's been stating the obvious without having to be an ass about it, which you obviously can't help.

In the 500 JRH when sighted in for a 420 gr bullet at 1386 FPS and shooting a 440 gr at 1000 FPS, the slower load hits consonderably higher.

Everyone who is saying this, including you, is correct. Maybe in a 9mm it's harder to tell but once you get to .429 cal revolvers the relationship between velocity/bullet weight/POI is simple and repeatable.

Absolutely, and don’t think for a moment that the bullet will stay in the same plane from right to left. When a different bullet leaves the barrel, it does it’s own thing.

Why else would you need a target to sight a gun in?