45Super H&K Mark 23: Ported vs Non Ported Barrel Part 2
In bringing you 45Super vs 10MM across the chronograph and clear ballistics gel results here many of the range fans made it very clear yes the barrel lengths were the same but in no way was it even close to a level playing field. I love the passion of my online friends.
So I went on another mission to find something capable of handling the 45Super rounds with a 6inch barrel do you all know how hard of a mission this is? Kidding aside I knew someone with a H&K Mark 23, but I didn’t even need to place a call to him he called me and said look come and get it or meet me at the range as he was just as interested in “leveling the playing field”
H&K Mark 23 A Freak of Innovation
Specifications: H&K Mark 23
Caliber: .45 ACP
Capacity: 12+1
Barrel Length: 5.87″
Slide Length: 8.9″
Overall Length: 9.65″
Overall Length w/Suppressor: 17.9″
Height: 5.9″
Width: 1.53″
Weight w/ Empty Magazine: 39.4 oz.
Weight Loaded (12+1): 51.0 oz.
As you can see by the stats above the Mark 23 is one beast of a polymer handgun. The looks to me mimic that of a Desert Eagle and the ergonomics is quite surprising for it’s size. The grip texturing is just that nothing fancy but does provide enough grip for any hand size. The trigger well something left to be desired there though the reset is short and positive the trigger pull weight is 6 pounds SA and 11pounds DA. I have some revolvers that are better than this, to be fair those revolver triggers have been smoothed up and worked over by competent hands.
Durability was the reason I believe the US Military adopted such large yet somewhat easy to shoot pistol. During testing 30,000 45ACP +P rounds were fired through this thing before it started to show real signs of wear. Testers were able to feed this thing 6000 rounds before any malfunctions occurred. The testing regimen of this pistol was and is still talked about to this day. What’s interesting to me is the fact that not many speak about it’s accuracy. In testing .5 groups consistently from 25 meters. What do you say perfect platform for the 45Super huh?
Chronograph Results: Let’s Not Forget About The Mission
The mission was to compare the exact same 45 Super rounds I had tested in the some what rare Springfield V16 45 Super.
Chronograph Results
Ammo used
Underwood 45 Super 230gr JHP Item 624
Revolverguy Handloads 45 Super Hornady XTP 185gr, Power Pistol 10.8gr, COAL 1.250(This load was proven safe in my testing with these firearms though I recommend not using this load without starting from a safer place of 15% below and working up in your firearm monitoring for signs of pressure)
Springfield V16 Underwood 230gr = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1109FPS, 36 Extreme Spread, 13 Standard Deviation
Springfield V16 Revolverguy Load = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1292FPS, 62 Extreme Spread, 21 Standard Deviation
H&K Mark 23 Underwood 230gr = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1151FPS, 13 Extreme Spread, 5 Standard Deviation
H&K Mark 23 Revolverguy Load = Avg Velocity 5 Shots 1363FPS, 84 Extreme Spread, 33 Standard Deviation
By the numbers you can see that the Non Ported Barrel of the Mark 23 turned in on average 56.5FPS more velocity than the ported barrel of the Springfield V16. Is it enough to make a difference comment, let’s talk about it, tell me what you think.
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