.45 ACP and COAL

[stilly]

hehe.

I made the mistake of dropping my COAL on my second .45 acp round to 1.200 based on what I saw listed for a different load from the Hogdon site.

I made a dummy round to see if it would fit and it did not allow my ria to go into battery. SO then my question is, What COAL do others use to reload for their .45s?

I was told that it might be that I did not crimp enough and as a result the bullet was maybe too wide to fit into the chamber all the way.

BTW, I am loading Rainier 185gr PHP. I ordered some 230gr PRN from Extreme Bullets but they are about a week and a half out per the nice lady on the phone.

I am gonna go measure some of my purchased reloads and some of my other bullets to get an idea but if I get stumped it would be nice to know what others are running. I am gonna go check my BoLee and BoLy also...

Oh yeah, so far it looks like I am gonna be around the 5.3gr of HP-38 and then after about 20 loads I am gonna try out some WST.

[elhefe50ss]

Check your crimp might not be tight enough if its still flared it wont go all the way in the barrel

[NiteQwill]

1.250

Then again you should also be seeing if the barrel and round pass the "clunk test."

[echang72]

with my 230gr RN .. my loads OAL is @ 1.265 with 5.3gr of win 231..and i believe the case mouth is measured @ .470 or .469 after its crimped.

[gotglock99]

1.260 for 230 grn. 1.200 seems to short to me.

[bh6300]

If I were to guess what clunk test is? It would be to remove the barrel and drop a bullet into the barrel. If it clunks all the way down it's good to go...

[AeroEngi]

I use 1.26" for 230gr fmj RN and 1.23" for 230gr jhp. I crimp to 0.469"-0.471" at the case mouth.

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[J-cat]

The OAL will depend on your chamber. I generally load truncated cone profile bullets in such a way that about .030" of bullet shank sticks out past the case mouth. This way the bullet is supported in the freebore and I have enough bullet shank in the case. If 1.200" OAL is too long for your chamber, shorten it but not too much. You want some bullet shank out past the case mouth. Take the barrel out and chamber the dummy round to see.

[Horton Fenty]

1.260-1.265 with FMJ or LRN like everyone else, with a .470 crimp.

Plunk test is like a case gauge test.

[Fishslayer]

RIA seem to be a bit short in the freebore. I have to be careful with OAL especially with the stepped cast .452" LRN.

Check the bullet after chambering. Does it have rifling marks on it?

Check the "feel" at the case mouth. Does it feel like all the flare is removed? Maybe try coming down a half turn on the crimping die. The mouth should measure around .469" - .470"

1.200 is pretty short even for a 185gr HP.

For the 230gr RN you should be GTG at 1.25 - 1.26

[NiteQwill]

A crimp of .473 or greater is definitely too much.

Good luck and let us know how your load development goes.

[Sac-AR15]

1.260

[Fishslayer]

My case mouth was at .473 or .476 SO I think it is possible that I did not crimp it properly.


Good info to have. I see the standard was 1.275 per the BoLee and there are a LOT of loads that fall under that and even less than 1.200 like, 1.190 and what not.

Does it matter really? I mean, Lets suppose the recipe that I see for blue dot has a listed minimum coal of 1.225. There is no harm in making it at 1.260 is there? I figured it would just mean there might be a tad less pressure, but that is a good thing for now since I am just trying to see how to make some rounds for the homecoming of an operator.

Unless you're messing around on the ragged edge of maximum loads .45ACP isn't terribly sensitive to OAL changes, within reason, of course. Blue Dot is probably as slow as you would want to go for .45ACP. You might actually run into underpressure problems like dirty/incomplete burning. Having said that, I also have a bottle of BD I bought specifically for making loud fireballs with my .45ACP.

Are you sure they have the right bullet in the data? 1.22" OAL is something I would more expect to see listed with a JHP or SWC bullet. 1.26" is about right for 230gr RN. Remember, the 1.22 listed is minimum OAL. I guess the answer to your question is "Yes. You will make less pressure with a longer OAL." What that will do with a slow powder like BD I wouldn't know. Remember also, slower powder will make for a less sharp recoil impulse. Go too light & you might get cycling problems.

[gemoose23]

1.250

Then again you should also be seeing if the barrel and round pass the "clunk test."

[Bill Steele]

Sounds like you have the crimp working now. As Fish pointed out, 45 Auto is one of the more forgiving calibers with regard to OAL, at least from a pressure standpoint. The OAL will affect feed reliably more than many calibers, so when you get an OAL that works in your 1911's for a given bullet profile, you are there.

Blue Dot is not difficult to ignite, so it should work fine in your loads. AA #5 and WST will also work well. I am not very fond of AA #7, so I don't load it much. I think you will find #9 a tad slow for 45 Auto.

Another standard for 45 Auto is Bullseye.

Good luck, have fun.