Leading!

Had a successful range trip trying out some test loads with what I've learned so far. I made 20x of each powder charge listed, half using R-P brass, the other half was Winchester.

MBC .452 230gr LRN
4.7gr / 5.1gr / 5.7gr - Unique
Remington #2 1/2 LPP
Remington / Winchester brass
1.238" OAL

In between each 10 shot string, I checked my barrel and chamber for signs of leading then boresnaked attempting to keep the build-up to a minimal level between strings.

I found that the 4.7gr tests produced only very light leading on the angled surface of the beginning of the rifling (this is the "forcing cone" right?).

The 5.1gr strings were similar, however, the Winchester-brass loads produced some of same (although lightened) chamber deposits I saw after my IDPA match. I also saw something that seemed freakishly weird...looking down the barrel from the muzzle-end, I saw small leading streaks on the 12, 4 and 8 o'clock lands...every other land

The 5.7gr strings saw increasing forcing cone leading but still dramatically less than my original post-IDPA observations. It might have stretched a quarter-inch from the cone but not the 1"+ I used to see.

I wasn't really shooting for accuracy, more to test the function and fouling of the OAL/charge but I think I did pretty well. This is the 5.1gr 20-shot string from 25 feet away, shot from a sand bag at a 3" diameter orange target. Obligatory "that one bad pull of the night" included :banghead:


So, despite my mental aversion to shooting a super-short .45acp cartridge, I think I need to go back to the drawing board and refine the old OAL I had at 1.225" that completely hid the shoulder *and* it's bevel.

So the 1.238" OAL rounds fed/chambered well for your XD45?

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They fed and extracted 100% reliably. I've constructed and pulled at least 40 dummies at this point making sure my FCD isn't swaging the bullet, the seating/taper die isn't shaving etc. I think for the MBC 230gr LRN, the OAL just needs to be short so that shoulder is covered. Clink or no clink.

your shorter 1.238" OAL maybe hitting the max charge at 5.7 gr

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You're probably right, honestly the 5.7gr was more for fun than anything I probably shouldn't talk about my brief experiment with +P loads

I'd love to try some W231/HP38, the Unique-cloud isn't fun during a match on any day...calm air gives limited visibility and windy conditions put smoke in your eyes >< I've been watching the local joints for W231/HP38 for a while haven't seen it but who knows, Bi-Mart just lifted their limits on ammo/powder/primers for the first time since well before the Obama Rush of '09. I'll definitely look for Green Dot...I've had Clays (not universal) and Titegroup recommended to me. Either way, powder experimentation is in my future. If luck shines, I'll be buying my first set of casting molds soon...a 452-230-TC design captured my eye recently

Finally dug the picture off my wife's digital camera and tossed it into MSpaint.

The left load is a dummy version of the load I shot last night, you can easily see the shoulder's bevel sticking out. The right load is a bit older when I had my FCD cranked down a little too much and actually lightly crimping instead of of just straightening.

I think if I can find a better powder/charge and combine the proper crimp/bell removal of thew left load but get the depth of the right, I might actually be able to shoot lead free.

CAUTION: The following post includes loading data beyond currently published maximums for this cartridge. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Neither the writer, The High Road, nor the staff of THR assume any liability for any damage or injury resulting from use of this information.

When I first worked up the load with the significantly shorter OAL in the picture, I started seeing stovepipes and complete failure to lock the slide back at 4.1gr of Unique. Eventually I settled on a 4.8gr load for target practice. Maybe with the longer OAL I need to run another series of functionality tests and see just how low I can go.

With 5.7gr being fairly high end and 4.8gr still giving me forcing cone leading maybe I'm just running them too hot? I'm leaning away from that idea though cause I've never seen leading all the way down the barrel or on the latter half for that matter.

Now there was that one time...the powder gnome must have sneaked into my gun room because somehow inexplicably (I have no idea, honest!), 25 rounds ended up at the range with 7.4gr/Unique in them I knew what full barrel-length leading looked like after that

((Insert obligatory note about unsafe load levels / liability exemption / DON'T BE STUPID comments here))

I brought the pistol down from behind my head from the recoil, I was stunned for a few seconds.

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They actually felt slightly softer than some +P ammo I have shot before. Aside from the cases getting a little beat up on extraction, it was some of the cleanest Unique charges I'd shot. But, yeah it definitely gets filed under the "Boy I won't do that one again" title.

Also, the condition of the brass on the right (especially the case base lip) and the case neck of the brass on the left look questionable. Are they damaged from the dies?

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No, the dark "half moon" visible on both cases is actually the reflection of the lens of my camera. This was my first attempt at case photography and I was having difficulty getting the darn camera to focus. The brass is fine but dirty cause I've been handling these 2 samples so much lately.

With a max of 5.8, and a little leading at the chamber at 4.7, I am going to say you need to up the powder, in small increments. The MBC bullet is a 18bhn. I dont think you are sealing the bullet base well.

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I'm working up a 5.3gr/1.22" OAL load for today's range test, should be as good as it's gonna get.

Shot another IDPA match today using the 5.3gr/Unique at 1.22" OAL. Fortunately, the chamber leading seems to have been resolved, however, I saw a higher level of forcing cone leading after 75 rounds with this charge than I did with the 4.7-.8gr load with 150 rounds.

I'm fairly certain I've covered all the variables talked about here and any others I've read about other places. Reliability is excellent with a large range of OALs, accuracy is also just fine...I had more zero-downs today than any prior matches even though it was a peppier round =)

Looks like I need to go pick up a few more powders for future trials, some Titegroup, Clays, etc. I'm almost out of my MBC Softballs, soon I'll be able to cast my own 230gr TC boolits from some recovered range lead, we'll see if those do any better over the W231 I have on order

The W231 showed up, also bought a box of the IDP #4-XD from Brad/MBC but custom ordered them at 12 BHN versus the usual 18. My napkin math says 18k psi / 1422 = ~12.7bhn leading me to a final conclusion that the 230gr Softballs were just too hard for my purposes.

I wasn't sure if Brad would come through with a custom-alloy order that was so small but he sure did!

Now to get down to the dirty details! My range trip consisted of 3 strings of loads with 2 different types of bullets...the custom IDP #4s and the maiden run of my own 230gr truncated cone cast boolits =D

String #1
Winchester brass, previously fired
Remington #2 1/2 large pistol primers
Lee 452-230-TC seated to 1.245", bullet was casted from recovered range lead alloyed with 95/5 "lead free" solder, waterdropped, sized w/Lee push-through kit, tumble-lubed with LLA (was kind of excited about shooting my own boolits finally and didn't take the time to cook up and use pain-lube)
4.6gr of Hodgdon HP-38 -- it was cheaper than W231 by a couple bucks

I couldn't get these to headspace properly on the case-mouth without seating the bullet back so far that the mouth slightly protruded past the beginning of the cone. My bore is slugging at .4508-.451 so even the freebore catches the lead if the side sticks out at all from the case. I didn't want to try putting these downrange with a big fat 230gr bullet seated so deep, I couldn't find load data that sounded safe with such a short OAL with the fast powder so I decided to deal with some leading and left them longer at 1.245" and headspacing on the lead shoulder. As expected, they leaded the forcing cone but that was it...nothing past maybe .5" into the barrel. 4.6gr was a comfortable charge, shot accurately and reliably.


String #2
Same assembly parameters as string #1
5.0gr of Hodgdon HP-38

Leaded a bit more, strangely only from about 11 o'clock to 4 o'clock...lower portion of forcing cone was clean, extended about an inch down the barrel, also saw some traces appearing towards the muzzle confirming that I was lazy/in a rush and didn't lube well enough with the LLA. My shots were all within .75" at 30 feet, function was flawless, brass was cleaner than the 4.6gr string, recoil was a nice balance between being controllable and my perception of a "powerful" load (no chronograph yet ><)


String #3
Same assembly paramaters as string #1
5.3gr of Hodgdon HP-38

Expectedly increasing leading following string #2's pattern, shots were one ragged hole, function was flawless, brass was surprisingly clean, recoil was getting stout if not on par with the CCI Blazer Brass I shot for my last IDPA match without being as poppy.


String #4
Winchester brass, previously fired
Remington #2 1/2 large pistol primers
MBC 12 BHN 200gr RNFP -- seated to the crimp groove
4.6gr of Hodgdon HP-38

Noticeably inaccurate...2.25" group of 10 shots at 30 feet versus my usual one ragged hole. Brass was very dirty and ejected ~6"-10" staying on the benchrest. Experienced 5 stovepipe failures, very light recoil. No apparent leading =D


String #5
Same assembly parameters as string #4
5.0gr of Hodgdon HP-38

More accurate than string #4, brass was cleaner and ejected ~18"-2' away, no stovepipes however the slide failed to lock with a depleted mag. Still no noteworthy leading.


String #6
Same assembly parameters as string #4
5.3gr of Hodgdon HP-38

Most accurate of the 3 MBC loads, recoil was comparable to my old "classic load" of a 230gr LRN and 4.9gr/Unique. Brass was consistently 2'-3' away and looked very clean. No reliability issues observed.

Between shooting my own cast boolits and the MBC lead, I cleaned my bore thoroughly but was unable to remove every bit of leading, I was just hoping it wouldn't make the MBC loads deposit lead where they would have normally been clean. To my pleasent discovery, the 12BHN MBC bullets seemed to actually "blow out" the leading from my cast boolits xD

Does anyone know off hand what kind of metal an SA XD's barrel is made of?