[KF5MLT]

I've been trying to figure out what to do with an extra 5K large pistol primers sitting on my shelf... Does anybody have recommendations for .451" bullets under $0.14/unit?

I usually use Montana Gold, but it seems too many other people do too. http://www.precisionbullets.com/ was also recommended, and I'm going to try their 200 gr. SWC out. The moly coating on the hard cast lead will most likely be OK.

Again, this will be going through a Glock, so lead in the octagonal rifling is a concern.

73

[1KPerDay]

http://tjconevera.com/berrys-bullets.html

[PO2Hammer]

The G-30 will not function well with SWC bullets (jacketed, plated or lead). You'll need to use flat point or RN's.
With SWCs in the G-30 the rim of the spent case hits the shoulder of the SWC on the way out of the chamber and it gets knocked off the extractor, causing failures to extract.
I tried everything I could think of to make it work, as I have a ton of plated and jacketed SWC, but never got them to extract reliably.
Many other G-30 owners report the same issue.

[chris in va]

I had no issue with LRN in my G21, despite the polygonal rifling.

[Trent]

I shoot SWC all the time in my Glock 21; but it takes a very precise seating depth to get them to work reliably. (I went through a lot of incremental trial & error to get it right).

Is the feed angle different or something on the G30?

[KF5MLT]

1KPerDay: many thanks!

PO2Hammer, Trent: Thanks for the feedback concerning feeding. You definitely saved me a bottle of Aleve and a right-footed steel toe boot. ;)

chris in va: Are you using hard cast or soft cast lead bullets in your G21? What kind of coating, if any, do they have?

[Trent]

1KPerDay: many thanks!

PO2Hammer, Trent: Thanks for the feedback concerning feeding. You definitely saved me a bottle of Aleve and a right-footed steel toe boot. ;)

chris in va: Are you using hard cast or soft cast lead bullets in your G21? What kind of coating, if any, do they have?

It wasn't TOO hard to get the SWC plated bullets to work in the Glock 21, it was actually one of the most forgiving pistols I tested on. (I was using .452 230gr Remington Match SWC, FWIW)

The REAL problem was in trying to find a load that would feed in ALL of my 45's. :)

I never COULD get them to feed in the Springfield XD. Too steep of a feed angle. The nose would just smack in to the top of the chamber and lodge there. Nothing I could do about it.

The Springfield 1911 chewed them up just fine, but it had a very tight range that was BARELY overlapping the Glock and Taurus PT145.

By comparing "acceptable feed range OAL" from my 5 remaining 45's (at this point the XD was relegated to the safe), I found .002" of overlap between what each gun would feed. I burned up *100* bullets / dummy rounds testing. .001gr increments, some loaded 2-3 times! It was incredibly time consuming and frustrating.

Because the load I landed on was at the extreme end of what my Glock 21 would tolerate, and very slight inconsistencies in the bullet dimensions, *occasionally* I have to tap the back of the slide gently to coerce the round to chamber. Maybe 1 out of 100 will not chamber properly. But the load runs like a champ in my 1911, Taurus PT145, S&W M&P 45, and H&K USP 45.

Interestingly enough - chronographing that load in each pistol revealed the 1911 shoots those 452 dia 230gr bullets a full 100FPS faster than ANY of the other guns, while the S&W M&P shoots them the slowest. The Glock, USP, and Taurus PT145 all shoot them right about the same velocity.

The load has proven exceptionally accurate in all of the handguns it works in. And it makes very nice, clear circles on paper. :)

[Trent]

Also one other thing.

IGNORE the OAL listed in the manual for SWC projectiles in 45 ACP.

The loaded cartridges will end up quite a lot shorter than a comparable FMJ or HP round, because there's no "nose" - just a flat point.

They end up looking pretty damn odd, when loaded to the right length, with the "shoulder" of the bullet not much past the rim of the casing. There's no taper, so for a starting point, measure where a FMJ taper starts, and try to match it with the shoulder of the SWC.

If you're using 230 gr bullets, because the bullets sit fairly deep in to the casing, be mindful of powder charge and work up cautiously.

Once you find the length that feeds reliably (start long and push in gradually until you get dummy rounds to feed reliably), you should find that the round is easily as accurate as a FMJ, if not more so.