45 ACP light load for 1911

[socal147]

Went shooting today with some reloads:

185 gn Plated Flat Nose / 5.2 gn of WST

185 gn Plated Flat Nose / 8.0 gn Unique

!85 gn Plated Flat Nose / 5.2 gn WST Heavy Crimp (Recoil Increase Noted)

No cycle issues of any kind. Actually considering going lower on the charge. Anyone have some experience with even lighter loads?

Thanks In Advance,
Patrick

[M1Kev]

I use:
230 gn JHP match over 4.5 gn bullseye 1.20 OAL with medium crimp
230 gn FMJ RN over 4.7 gn bullseye 1.20 OAL with medium crimp

Both are using CCI large pistol primers.

I have noticed that if I do not put a crimp on it, the rounds will not feed well and I get FTF issues about every 2-3 rounds where the bullet nose will stick on the feed ramp and get pushed back in the case.

[cindynles]

200gr SWC (Berrys Plated) over 4.6gr W231 - OAL 1.23"
230gr RN (Bear Creek Moly) over 4.7gr W231 -OAL 1.25"

Both cycle my 5" 1911 with a standard 16lbs recoil spring

[socal147]

Thanks. I had two that (would not feed at all) due to case damage that I caused during reloading. I did have some misfeeds and I was leaning towards the non crimp as the cause. Appreciate the info, Patrick.

[Low-Pressure]

TiteGroup 4.8gr with 200gr X-treme RN plated bullets. OAL 1.225"

[M1Kev]

No problem. I got the factory crimp die off of Midway for $7 (give or take). Took me all of 5 minutes to dial it in and crimp up 50 rnds for testing.

[1nickatnite1]

230 gn over 3.7gn of clays and 1.25" oal. shoots soft and accurate

[CalTeacher]

230 gn over 3.7gn of clays and 1.25" oal. shoots soft and accurate

This.

[sd_fox_racer]

230 gn over 3.7gn of clays and 1.25" oal. shoots soft and accurate

x3 cycles my kimber custom II just fine

[sjg1966]

Howdy...

I just shot some test loads over the weekend...

185gr Berrys FP over 5.8gr W231 through 6.3gr W231 OAL = 1.20
They all cycled through my P220 with a 18lb recoil spring (5.8 barely did) and all were decently accurate. I liked the 6.1gr W231 best.

I also tried (same bullet) 6.0gr and 6.2gr of Unique and those did not cycle the 18lb spring. So if I try Unique again I will start higher, but am thinking I might just stick with W231 for now and Unique for my 10mm.

All were lightly crimped with a Lee FCD.

Just thought I'd share....

Steve

[socal147]

Thanks All. I loaded the following for testing. All pushing Rain 185 gn Fn bullets. Med crimp.

WST = 5.0 4.9 4.8

Unique = 7.9 7.8 7.7

Both were soft shooters at 5.2 and 8.0 respectively. Action was spot on. A few misfeeds due to no crimp. I figured I would go down slowly in charge until the action stopped working or became erratic. Should be interesting.

Patrick

[socal147]

185gr Berrys FP

I also tried (same bullet) 6.0gr and 6.2gr of Unique and those did not cycle the 18lb spring.

4.1 WST was the lowest i could go. Very Soft shooter. Nice

Went down to 7.0 Unique. Still some room there. 6.9 to 6.3 getting loaded today. Good info ....Thanks

[JonM]

230 gn over 3.7gn of clays and 1.25" oal. shoots soft and accurate

I'm going to have to be number four to recommend this load. I shoot this exact load with 230grn bear creeks and it is so light it is amazing. If you are using an all steel government model and grip it tightly enough there is almost no muzzle rise at all. I also shoot 4.0 grains of Clays with Bear Creek's 200grn HBRN. 4.0 grn of Clay's works excellent with the 230grn as well and I actually prefer it generally because 3.7 grns almost feels like cheating- like shooting a nine millimeter or something.

[socal147]

Thanks All

[sjg1966]

Went down to 7.0 Unique. Still some room there. 6.9 to 6.3 getting loaded today. Good info ....Thanks

How did the Unique 6.3 to 6.9 work out?