Greetings from the Great White North, Alberta:

I am finally going to the range tommorrow to test loads for my Antonio Zoli 9.3x74R DR side by side.

If you have not been following along, a quick explanation is in order. I purchased the above rifle three years ago; very lightly used in the box. The test target with the rifle shows two shots touching at 100 metres using the RWS H Mantel 16.7 gram, (258 grains), bullet. According to factory balistics, the round is leaving the barrel at 750 metres per second (2460 feet per second).

As I had no access to the factory rounds used for regulation, I started building loads using the Nosler Accubond 250 grain bullet. Using several powders and several charge weights, the best I could do was the right barrel hitting dead centre and the left barrel three inches left and nine inches high. A far cry from the factory target.

To make a long story short, I found a box of factory RWS ammo in 16.7 grams and am going to the range tommorow to see if I can duplicate the factory target.

NOW FOR THE QUESTION: Has anyone here cronographed the above RWS round to find out the true velocity?

After reading "Shooting the British Double Rifle, 3rd Edition", Graeme Wright suggests loading rounds close to the factory velocity, if not just a touch under, to duplicate the factory round trajectory.

Graeme Wright also said that many DR's can be set up to shoot different weights of bullets with very good accuracy if you stay close to the factory velocity of said round.

Comments, questions and opinions always welcome.

Kindest regards,

Carpediem