Is 10” too short??

I would say yes, but the fireball is pretty impressive!

Had MGM spin up a 10" 6 Dasher barrel for my Encore pistol. Wanted a unique round that I already had brass / dies for so settled on the Dasher. Plan is to try a little hunting with it this fall. So far I've only tried 1 powder (IMR 4895) and it may be a little slow in a pistol. Berger 87 grn VLDs shot 2400fps with a mid range charge. 55 grn Hammers were 2640fps with the same charge. In my 22" rifle the hammers shoot 3600fps. Dang near 1000 fps loss with losing 12"!

Still working up a final load, but I do have a question for the people on here that reload rifle rounds in shorter barrels. At this point in time I feel like if I increase charge am I just feeding the fireball? Should I swap over to a faster burning powder? I have IMR / H 4198 and RL10x. I know those aren't typical powders to use in a dasher, just spitballing here!

Ross1147 said:

I would say yes, but the fireball is pretty impressive!

Had MGM spin up a 10" 6 Dasher barrel for my Encore pistol. Wanted a unique round that I already had brass / dies for so settled on the Dasher. Plan is to try a little hunting with it this fall. So far I've only tried 1 powder (IMR 4895) and it may be a little slow in a pistol. Berger 87 grn VLDs shot 2400fps with a mid range charge. 55 grn Hammers were 2640fps with the same charge. In my 22" rifle the hammers shoot 3600fps. Dang near 1000 fps loss with losing 12"!

Still working up a final load, but I do have a question for the people on here that reload rifle rounds in shorter barrels. At this point in time I feel like if I increase charge am I just feeding the fireball? Should I swap over to a faster burning powder? I have IMR / H 4198 and RL10x. I know those aren't typical powders to use in a dasher, just spitballing here!

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Give a shout to Ernie in long range pistols here. I'm sure he'll steer you to a good answer.

Ross1147 said:

I would say yes, but the fireball is pretty impressive!

Had MGM spin up a 10" 6 Dasher barrel for my Encore pistol. Wanted a unique round that I already had brass / dies for so settled on the Dasher. Plan is to try a little hunting with it this fall. So far I've only tried 1 powder (IMR 4895) and it may be a little slow in a pistol. Berger 87 grn VLDs shot 2400fps with a mid range charge. 55 grn Hammers were 2640fps with the same charge. In my 22" rifle the hammers shoot 3600fps. Dang near 1000 fps loss with losing 12"!

Still working up a final load, but I do have a question for the people on here that reload rifle rounds in shorter barrels. At this point in time I feel like if I increase charge am I just feeding the fireball? Should I swap over to a faster burning powder? I have IMR / H 4198 and RL10x. I know those aren't typical powders to use in a dasher, just spitballing here!

Click to expand...

I think that fireball is just burning powder for nothing. Burning outside the batter doesn't enhance the velocity or accuracy. It is a waste. Find something that burns much faster and keeps the burn confined to the case and barrel!

I kind of like that big fireball. Can you imagine how cool that will look at first or last light?

My 11" AR pistol in 5.56NATO shoots a 69 SMK @ 2580fps OVER Varget. And a 50 V-max @ 2800 over Benchmark.

My buddy has a 10" 22GT pistol and is pushing a 95 SMK @ 2680 or 85.5 LRHT @ 2720, IIRC.

That seems awfully slow for a 6 Dasher. Even in a 10".

Ross1147 said:

I would say yes, but the fireball is pretty impressive!

Had MGM spin up a 10" 6 Dasher barrel for my Encore pistol. Wanted a unique round that I already had brass / dies for so settled on the Dasher. Plan is to try a little hunting with it this fall. So far I've only tried 1 powder (IMR 4895) and it may be a little slow in a pistol. Berger 87 grn VLDs shot 2400fps with a mid range charge. 55 grn Hammers were 2640fps with the same charge. In my 22" rifle the hammers shoot 3600fps. Dang near 1000 fps loss with losing 12"!

Still working up a final load, but I do have a question for the people on here that reload rifle rounds in shorter barrels. At this point in time I feel like if I increase charge am I just feeding the fireball? Should I swap over to a faster burning powder? I have IMR / H 4198 and RL10x. I know those aren't typical powders to use in a dasher, just spitballing here!

Click to expand...

I always love seeing the Volkswagen size fireball coming out of the barrel.

This is a cool picture

In my experience, if it works in a rifle barrel, it will work in a handgun barrel. H4895 may be a bit slow for those lighter bullets. I would try Varget, XBR 8208, IMR 4064, CFE 223, N140, or N540. One of those should get you where you want to be.

According to QL, a max load of IMR 4895 (36.0 grains) burns 92.5% of powder. By comparison, max loadings of RL10X, IMR 4198 and H4198 burns 99.8%, 99.9% and 98.2%, respectively.




31 99.8

I've been hunting with a handgun since 1970 was friends with Larry Kelly of Mag-na-Port since 1973 also JD Jones of SSK Industries they taught me and a lot....
If your shooting a handgun (short barrel rifle) in a caliber that is normally used with a longer barrel 22-24" your just not going to get the velocities of a longer barrel no powder made is going to even get you close....when you use a smaller caliber your losses will be even greater.....
You loosing close to 100 fps per inch sounds close to about right....just remember your going to get to a point that powders are going to be to fast and you just cannot get enought powder in the case safely and gain velocity....sort of a balancing act....

Bottom line is a 6 Dasher your going to loose a fair amout of velocity with a 10" barrel because it needs a slower powder to work properly a little longer barrel would give a good increase in velocity ...go with a larger caliber and your loss will be much less percentage wise....
Accually you would do better with a 6-223 you wouldn't be waisting a lot of powder on a fire ball and get good velocity and not have as huge fire ball every time you fire the gun....

Remember a Encore action is strong but not even close to a bolt action it will stretch and get ruined.....running a 223 at 60'000 psi is completely diffrent than running a 458 WM at 60'000 psi the larger case head will wear the gun much faster....

Be careful !

I ran a 243 in a 14" barrel for years. 300-400 fps was usual loss from a 24" barrel. If you work up the load properly you will do fine. I am currently running a 7-08 in a 14" barrel of which 2" is really a brake, and she only looses 300 fps or so from a rifle.
In your 6 dasher I'd be interested in what something like v540 with a magnum primer under it would do. I had great luck doing that in the 243.

lancetkenyon said:

That seems awfully slow for a 6 Dasher. Even in a 10"

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Ross1147 said:

So far I've only tried 1 powder (IMR 4895) and it may be a little slow in a pistol. Berger 87 grn VLDs shot 2400fps with a mid range charge.

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There are a couple of things to point out:

You do not have 10" of barrel to use to burn powder. You have to subtract the cartridge length from 10" in order to know the true length of your barrel. Most powders will not burn completely in an 8" or less barrel. You can try Tin Star or Lil Gun but your velocities will still be low.

Smokeless powder does not burn outside of the barrel. The 'fireballs' you see in the pictures are created by plasma or super heated gas made by the burning powder in the barrel.

Running rifle charges in my 204 and 6 creed. I would say typically a faster powder is more ideal for the short barrels but I am no expert

Thanks for all the replies! Those pictures above are with 33grn IMR 4895 and HH55grns, that's why there is a hammer trail. Thought it was pretty cool with the fire ball and trail!

I think my next move will be 10x, if that's too slow then 4198. I do have some H110 which is the next after Lil'gun on burn chart. I use that in my 458 SOCOM. Think that'll be a touch too fast but who knows?

Not sure which bullet I want to hunt with. Obviously accuracy will trump speed. I have on hand Berger 87grn VLDs, Barnes 80grn TRX, and Hammer Hunter 55grns. I also have Berger 105 VLDs, Barnes 62 grn varmint grenades and Nosler 55 BTLF bullets but don't think I'll use those.

Looking at reload data for 243 and the rate of change between 4895 and 10x I was thinking a starting charge of 28grns for the dasher. @just_jon was that 31grn at 99.8% burn the max in the dasher? Thanks!

Ryan