.45ACP SWC question

[hambam105]

The picture looks good to me.

The 180 grain in this configuration was a nightmare. But the 200s worked just fine, and still do...I mean, did, they did work (Boating Accident) fine.

Worse case is you have to shoot 230 round nose. Remember, it's a .45acp.

[Phalanx20mm]

I'd shoot some 230 ball first. My Colt Combat Commander eats 200gr LSWC like ball. I had to break-in my Kimber ~500 fmj's before it would reliably function with the LSWC's.

[Rockzilla]

Your round looks right from the pic.
Use W-231 5.0-5.5grs depending on which gun
mainly 5.5grs W-231
H&G 68 mold 200gr SWC or
MiHec Clone mold with / without the HP (about 185gr with)
CCI 300 primer
WW or Speer brass
for bowling pins as someone else mentioned, I do have
one 45 as my "pin gun" and use the above.
Another one likes W231 5.2 grs.

Here lately been using trying out..
N310 4.1 grs
Zero 185gr. JHP
CCI-300
WW or Speer brass



a pic I found...

45ACP measurements.JPG

-Rock

[Chief-7700]

I load 200 grain LSWC at 1.240. Some 1911s have problems feeding wad cutters, may have to open the barrel up a bit.

[micro911]

The photo looks just like my reloads. You may have to change the recoil spring.

[Sailormilan2]

My loads are pretty much in the ball park with others here.
W231 loaded 5.2 gr
Winchester Large Pistol Primer
200 gr SWC flat based bullet sized to .452. My mold is a Bevel Base, but I don't care for the BB when casting my own bullets, so it's off getting the Bevel removed.

[Cypriss32]

I shoot 4.0 Titegroup over 200 SWC. Switching to powder coated bullets.

[ojisan]

Looks good to me.

As mentioned above, go longer rather than shorter on the initial test rounds so you can easily seat the bullets a little deeper if needed.

[divingin]

Building up a load for pills you can no longer buy is not really smart .

Those look like a standard H&G 68 cast bullet. Just about anyone who sells 45 caliber cast bullets will have that in stock.

[tonyjr]

Sorry , I thought he posted the company went out of business .
While sometimes I won't bother building up a load for same company
- different batch , if I change companies or weight or shape [ boat tail ,
hp , blunt nose - etc , I do a ladder test . While I already have a starting
point- old load - I still check .
This is for each gun - this may be overkill by a lot of peoples standards ,
but the way things are going - I don't want my nephews and nieces to
start with bad habits .
Between me and my nephews / nieces there are 4 45's , 3 9's 2 50 AE's
2 380's and 2 32's . A few rifles . They all like different loads and with
the exception of the AE's and 32's we can / have enough cases to shoot
a couple hundred.
The cases are marked with magic makers [ BTW - the magazines are
marked too ]

[mikeyr]

Sorry , I thought he posted the company went out of business .

I did say that the bullet company is long gone. I didn't know that when I bought the bullets. The place went under nearly 4 years ago so that is how long they sat on the shelf at my LGS and why I got them cheap, REALLY cheap as in nearly free. I just wanted something to load while counting down the 10 day jail sentence. But as its been stated, they appear to be a standard bullet.

I picked up the gun last night, did a plunk test and my bullets fit the barrel just fine

Unfortunately, a issue came up at work so now I can't go shooting until Friday...best laid plans, you know.

The only issue I have now, while manually working the slide, it is chewing up the rim of the case, leaving some burrs on the rim. I didn't see a reason for that while field stripped for cleaning and lubing, I will shoot first thing Friday morning and see what it does the brass rim at that time. I really like this new toy.

[opos]

After a lot of monkeying around I settled on one very simple load...that is accurate, clean, and I've never had any problems with feeding or jams.

I buy the "Cowboy #4" cast lead round nose flat point 200 grain bullet from Missouri Bullet..I only buy the high tech coated version...it's a softer lead (12 hardness) and I have never had an issue with leading with the coated bullets. I shoot 5 grains of W231 (I've gone a bit either way..up or down in the past and just quit messing around and use 5 grains....The interesting thing about this bullet is it works great in my 45Colt loading as long as I don't go trying to develop an elephant load...I love this bullet with Trail Boss in the 45 Colt.

[jimmykan]

OP, do you have a Lee hand press?



If not, I highly recommend getting one.

Load one or two dummy rounds to the maximum length that will still fit inside your magazines

Then ahead of time, you can load bunch of rounds to the maximum length and at various powder charges.

Bring the press along with your seating / crimping dies to your range trip.

First drop one of the maximum length dummy rounds into the barrel, and check whether the case head is:

A) protruding from the barrel hood (bullet is loaded too long for the chamber throat)
B) exactly flush with the barrel hood (bullet is just touching the chamber throat)
C) lower than than the barrel hood (cartridge is headspacing off the case mouth)

Condition A is no good, but B and C are fine. Use your hand press to gradually seat the bullets in the dummy rounds deeper until you determine what COL achieves at least condition B.

Use the hand press to seat and crimp all your test loads at the range to COL of condition B or shorter.

For 45ACP, you only need enough "crimp" to straighten out the case mouth flare that was needed to start the bullet into the case.

Play around with seating depth until you get reliable feeding. To save ammo, you can rack the dummy rounds from the magazine into the chamber to get an idea of whether a particular COL will feed, but the proof is in the actual firing of live rounds.

Seating the bullet deeper into the case will increase the peak chamber pressure, but the 45ACP case is relatively roomy. Unlike a 9mm loaded to near max, where a slight increase in seating depth can lead to blown primers.

If you load a maximum charge from a manual and seat the bullet shorter than what is shown in the manual you may get into 45ACP +P pressure ranges. You can do that at your own risk, but my Springfield Loaded has shot a box of factory Federal HST 230gr JHP +P without breaking anything so there's that .

[jimmykan]

A fun thing to do with those SWC is to make light target loads. You may need a lighter weight recoil spring to cycle them though, like a 14 or 15 lb. Just make sure you don't shoot full power loads with such a light recoil spring. The slide would bottom out hard, and I can't imagine it being good for the gun.

[tonyjr]

jimmykan
I agree and take both the hand press and the Lee loader .
The lee loader can be set and easier to use as a plunk test .