Good afternoon gents
Ok so here is why I say PFFFFT to the tests .
While I have no doubt that those test show what they show . But one thing I learned many years ago while testing weapons for the US Army is that tests that are done in a controlled environment often times mean diddle when actually applied to a true field environment
Same thing with mathematical equations.
What works out good on paper many times is screwed up when actually applied practically.
Again this doesn’t always hold true but often is .
But its one of the reasons for field testing .
Case in point . Back in ?? 1985 my PLT tested the M249.
We tested a batch of 20 . Of the 20 none met 100% of the standards FN stated they would .
Now that wasn’t to say they did not perform. They did and in fact our change recommendations were very small .
However they did exist and the gun was sent back for modification and as such it did not enter service until 1987 .
What im getting at here is to often companies or people test 1 , 2 or 100 of a given anything . Then claim their findings to be 100% true all the time . Yet when you put that item into actual use it may or may not be true as often as they thought it would
While what Dan says maybe be true about larry’s test . The case is that one can test 10 different locks of the same type and very few will be the same.
Even if they are all tuned exactly the same the can and often do react differently .
a spring may be just alittle diffrent . a frizzen just alittle diffrent . sear engagment just alittle diffrent . a polishing job just alittle diffrent
Now when you put that lock on a rifle and pack it out into the woods . Submitting the gun to YOUR parameters. Things act differently then when they were tested in a controlled environment.
This is why its always best for people to do what works best for them . The tests are fine , learn from them . But if you find that your own experience doesn’t match what the tests show , one should not be suprised or dumbfounded .
You have to learn what works best for your given rifle .
Its just like Greyhunter is saying . Every engine manufacture builds their engines to a given standard . But when that engine gets out in the real world , one may get 25 mpg and the next 19. Yet both were built to the same standards . Not to mention the engineers designs , mathematics, quality control and yes even testing , says that they all should do exactly the same thing . They should tune to the exact same settings and produce the exact same results . Yet in fact they don’t .
Lets not forget that those folks are also testing 1000’s of the very same item . Yet very few end up being 100% the same each one is in some way unique in and of itself .
Here is another example
I hear all the time
= slow twist rates and deep rifling will not shoot conical worth beans . Testing proves it
= a RB will drop X amount at 200 yards . The mathematics prove it
= pans should be primed full , the test prove it
Yet My main rifle , I have owned for 20 years . It was built back in the early 1970s .
Is a 54 cal C profile hand made iron barrel in a 1 in 70 twist with round bottom rifling .
I burn around 25-30lbs of powder a year through that rifle .
It likes 80 grains of 3F , pillow ticking patches cut at the muzzle and lubed with spit
The rifle is zeroed at 100 yards . At 250 I hold 18 inchs high and it will drop the ball true .
I also know from my own test that the barrel does not throw a ball to a rainbow trajectory . I also know that if I bank the powder to the out side or fill the pan she will be slower in the ignition then if I just put alittle prime in the pan and keep it away from the touchhole
I can also tell you , That rifle will hold a 8 inch group using 435 grain Branard Mini at 100 yards off hand . .
She is a good rifle . I know her well .
So when someone tells me . Ha I read a test that said if you do X its faster . To that I say . I have tried X and I find what I do is faster in this rifle .
Now that’s my 2 cents .
So if you want to go by the tests . No mater who does them . Fine , more power to you. it may very well work good for you .
But in the end its nothing more then saying ; this is what works for me your findings may differ .