[Deer Hunter]

Yep I'm hooked. :evil:

.45 ACP. 230 grain plated lead under 5.8 grains of Unique and another few under 6.4 grains of Unique. going to head to the range tomorrow to see how they shoot!

[atlanticfire]

It has begun

[ljnowell]

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Yep I'm hooked.

.45 ACP. 230 grain plated lead under 5.8 grains of Unique and another few under 6.4 grains of Unique. going to head to the range tomorrow to see how they shoot!


Thats kind of a big gap between loads isnt it? I havent used unique before, but I know with 700x and Bullseye we work in increments of .2gr.

[Deer Hunter]

Eh yeah it's a bit of a gap. I'm still way below the max suggested load. My OAL is a few thousandths below the max, so I'm not compressing it. I'm not worried about the pressure spiking. And in the morning I'll probably set my powder control to give me something in between, like around 6 grains.

[novaDAK]

I loaded my first cartridges last week myself...38spl and .357mag. I'm going to buy some 45acp dies and start loading that caliber too. I have a local source for good cast bullets so that's what I use.

[Deer Hunter]

Alright, back from the range.

I was shooting these loads through a CZ97. I had a few problems.

First off, my slide wouldn't go completely into battery. I had to really work the slide hard to get the gun to eject the round. Also, I believe 5.8 grains was a little low. I had more failure to return to battery with those loads than I did with the 6.2 and 6.4 grain loads. Also, I believe the gun likes short-loaded .45 ACP rounds. I have a few that are loaded at 1.230 and 1.240 and they chamber just fine. My other loads were 1.26 and 1.27 in range.

Or perhaps it's the brass? only time will tell.

[Walkalong]

Also, I believe the gun likes short-loaded .45 ACP rounds. I have a few that are loaded at 1.230 and 1.240 and they chamber just fine. My other loads were 1.26 and 1.27 in range.Listen to your gun, it knows best. ;)

If the bullet is loaded too long for your gun, it can get into the rifling before chambering fully and cause trouble.

[rfwobbly]

Deer Hunter -
Two issues come to mind that you can quickly check.

1) Not enough crimp. Get a 45ACP cartridge gauge and drop your rounds into that. If the finished cartridges do not go all the way in under their own weight, then you need slightly more crimp or a new crimp die. A lot of times 1/8 turn more will make the difference. Personally, I like the Lee full crimp die.

2) Bullets striking the rifling. The 9mm CZ's are noted for their very short freebore, maybe the CZ97s also have that issue? In order to get accuracy, CZ moves the start of the rifling closer to the chamber on some of their guns. Some bullet shapes collide with the rifling becasue too much of the full diameter of the bullet is protruding past the end of the case. How and how much is different for every brand of bullet. (A cartridge gauge cannot help you with this issue since a CG has no rifling.) You simply need a shorter OAL if this is the case.

Determine which one it is and get back to us.

[snuffy]

You'll get better results if you put the bullets OVER the powder instead of under!:scrutiny::confused::neener:

230 grain plated lead under 5.8 grains of Unique

Just yanking your chain!;)

Sounds like a good start, fun ain't it?!

[Deer Hunter]

1) Not enough crimp. Get a 45ACP cartridge gauge and drop your rounds into that. If the finished cartridges do not go all the way in under their own weight, then you need slightly more crimp or a new crimp die. A lot of times 1/8 turn more will make the difference. Personally, I like the Lee full crimp die.


Bingo.

I didn't have my crimp die set properly. I remedied that tonight. I hope to get out to the range and try my new loads soon!

[redintex]

Congrats! It's a great feeling working up your loads and testing them. When you get the problems worked out/tweaked, it is a huge feeling of accomplishment and is extremely addictive!!!

redintex

[The Bushmaster]

Be careful not to over crimp. Crimp just enough to remove the bell...

[SASS#23149]

remove the barrel of your pistol and trry each and every round in it,using it as a test guage BEFORE heading to the range.
Do NOT do this with the barrel in the pistol for safeties' sake.

[Deer Hunter]

That's what I did, SASS. I removed the barrel and have been using that to test everything. They all drop in just fine, so I believe that's what it needed.

[Deer Hunter]

Alright, I just checked my crimp on 25 rounds I just reloaded.

Diameter at the case mouth is .462. I've read that this may be too much. I've got it under 6.6 grains of Unique. Should I just abandon these loads alltogether?

[rcmodel]

Go ahead and shoot them, but back off the crimp until you get about .470" at the mouth.

6.5 Unique and a 230 grain RN-FMJ has long been considered a GI hardball equivalent load.

Plated bullets are softer then jacketed bullets, so your 6.6 load should be just about good.

If it was me, I'd probably go 6.5 though.

Assuming the bullets you have are about the same profile as a 230 GI bullet, you are seating too deep.

They should normally run about 1.272" - 1.275" OAL.

rc

[The Bushmaster]

rc has it, but if you come up with .471" to .472" you should be O K too...All of mine are in this range.

[Deer Hunter]

Alright, thanks guys. I'll make the proper adjustments and get them to spec. Thanks for all the help!