First .45 ACP loads

[sammy]

Well I loaded 50 of each:

230g Zero FMJ ball
Winchester primers
5.5g Unique

230g Zero FMJ ball
Winchester primers
5.75g Unique

230g Zero FMJ ball
Winchester primers
6.0g Unique

All with a OAL of 1.65 I checked them with a case gauge and found 3 that did not make the cut. The 5.5g all ejected but 3 FTF. Very soft shooting load. I am guessing the OAL is a bit too long. The 5.75 were the most accurate, no feeding problems. The 6.0 were very hot. The recoil is much more than any factory ammo I have tried. None of the primers backed out but I will not load them like that again. My Lyman and Speer manuals give a max load of 6.5 and 6.6 grains of Unique which just does not seem safe. I loaded 200 of the 5.75 g and shortened up the OAL to 1.55. One thing I noticed is that powder is DIRTY. My Kimber has never been that nasty after 150 rounds. I can't wait to try the lead wadcutters.

[mike100]

In my experience (once with a chronograph shooting out of a 5" 1911), 6.1 grains of unique behind 230 gr is roughly equal to the more powerful standard factory loads at about 830 fps.

I usually run an OAL length of 1.245" or so on 45 ball ammo. I can also confirm decent shooters at 5.8 or 5.9 grains of the same powder. I've tried up to 6.3 grains with lead 230's. Those were going 840-850 fps.

[mike100]

I wouldn't load oal longer than 1.250 (which is what box factory ammo is close to). I think that is the measurement you meant to type--> 1.2xx"

[JHC]

Take your time with the wadcutters, you will find the lengths recommended in the books may not be close to what your gun requires to feed properly, it took alot of experimenting on my 1911 to find the happy medium where I had enough lead at the edge of the brass to guide the cartridges up the feedramp while still being short enough in OAL to finish chambering.

[rue]

What's OAL?

[mecam]

What's OAL?

Overall length