USPSA loads for 45 acp minor power factor

45 ACP is just not an easy fit in Production. At a leisurely 750 fps, 230 grain pulls are going to make major with room to spare. To throw a 230 grainer slow enough to be in the range of minor gamer loads, you'd have a round moving so slowly that you'd have reliability problems in most guns, wacky things happening with steel, and be taking a risk of sticking a non-squib round in the barrel.

Remember that production is dominated by folks shooting 124, 135, and 147 grain 9mm's. If you're stuck with 45 and committed to production (L10 is a more optimal fit for 45 double-stacks, but then you're shooting L10), then look at 185 grain bullets.

I do it regularly, .45 Minor for IDPA ESP, so I can keep using my .45s and not kick my arthritis too much.

I have one gun that is very finicky on feeding, so I load coated .230s at 585 fps with 3.1 gr of Bullseye for it.
Guns that will handle 200 gr bullets get 3.5 gr of Bullseye for 650-700 fps depending on barrel length.

I am shooting 1911s with 10-12 lb recoil springs. I don't know what it will take for your XDm. You might have to increase the load a bit to run it even with the 14 lb recoil spring.

Bullseye is the best powder I have found for extra-light loads. Solo 1000 and 700X burn pretty well, and Clays is usable, but the large flakes don't measure very well in such light loads. A vibrator on the powder measure helped.

Ball powder - I have tried HP38 and WST - gets erratic at such low pressures.

Most starting loads for .45 ACP are pretty light IME and some won't cycle some guns (glocks) reliably for me, but my 1911s generally run them well. You won't be really competitive against the gamers but if you're set on a .45 for a while you might try some starting loads and see how it goes. Most people say for low recoil you can use a heavy bullet and light powder charge, but IME a lighter bullet almost always recoils less. 185 or 200 grain starting charges in .45, if they cycle reliably, should be pretty dang comfy to shoot.

I personally would try that first before messing with springs and stuff. It might be acceptable to you.

4 grains of Red Dot under a 230 grain RN ran great in my 1911s (not my glocks) and is accurate but not a hard-recoiling load. That is BELOW SUGGESTED STARTING CHARGE in most manuals so use at your own risk. THE HIGH ROAD NEITHER ENDORSES NOR APPROVES THE USE OF THIS DATA, ETC.

+1 for Red Dot/Promo.

While I liked W231/HP-38 for USPSA major/minor PF loads, my current plinking load has been 200 gr SWC with 4.0 gr of Promo (using Red Dot load data per Alliant) for light recoil yet good accuracy good for minor PF load.

1"/2" at 15/25 yards should be good enough for USPSA "action pistol" level of accuracy - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=9415802#post9415802

FredHunter said:

Is there an app or website that can assist in Power Factor calculations?

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JBM Ballistics PF calculator - http://www.jbmballistics.com/cgi-bin/jbmpf-5.1.cgi

USPSA ... production ... XDm 45 w/ 5.25 barrel ... 14 & 18 lb springs ... 230g Round Nose blue bullets and want to make loads close to the 125 power factor.

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With 230 gr bullet, you only need 544 fps to make 125 PF but to cycle that light load, you will likely need to go less than 14 lb recoil spring, not to mention poor powder burn and lack of accuracy you may experience depending on the powder used.

I want to reduce recoil

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If you want to use 14 lb spring, you'll likely end up with higher velocity load to cycle the slide reliably which would negate reduced recoil you want.

To reliably cycle the slide with 14 lb spring yet still produce accuracy, lighter 185/200 gr loads may work better than 230 gr loads. With 185/200 gr bullets, you only need 676/625 fps for 125 PF and published start charges will produce velocities in the 700s but they will likely produce better powder burn and greater accuracy (with some powders, you DO NOT want to reduce below published start charges).

Bullseye powder "downloads" below published start charge better than other powders (maintain good powder burn/accuracy) so it is liked by many bullseye match shooters using light loads which require lighter recoil springs.

I have tested many powders (Faster burning Bullseye through W231/HP-38 to slower burning BE-86/WSF) at slightly below published start charges (.2-.4 gr below) and would suggest using slightly below start charge only with certain powders like Bullseye and W231/HP-38. I use slightly below start charges with W231/HP-38 for 40S&W to produce 9mm like recoil training loads to introduce new shooters to "snappier" 40S&W.

In the end, you'll need to custom tailor your match load to work with your match pistol and the recoil spring rate you are using. To custom tailor my match loads to my match 1911, once I determined the bullet type/weight I wanted to use, I conducted powder work up first to identify the most accurate load that will meet PF requirement (I loaded to major PF) and selected the recoil spring rate that reliably cycled the slide and extracted/ejected spent cases.

With 9mm/40S&W Glocks shooting USPSA Limited/Limited 10/Production, I kept the factory stock recoil spring assemblies (although I did use dual spring recoil reducer initially) and adjusted my powder charges so I met the 125 PF requirement with reliable slide cycling and decent accuracy but I usually loaded to 130 PF to compensate for powder temperature sensitivity - http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=10117881#post10117881

230 gr coated bullet with 3.1-3.7 gr Bullseye @ 1.269"?

My guess is you'll need higher than 4.0 gr of Bullseye for 230 gr bullet to reliably cycle the slide with 14 lb recoil spring, especially if your groove diameter is oversized with longer leade.

Keep us posted with a range report!

I load to shorter OAL than that, everything revolves around that one gun built on a STI 2011 receiver with standard ramp barrel. It NEEDS nothing longer than 1.245" and the 1911s don't care.

Loading down a striker fired gun is a different proposition than a hammer gun.
You may well have to increase the load to get it to function with the 14 lb recoil spring which I think is the lightest Wolff makes for that gun.
My FLG loaded a 200 gr SWC with 4 gr Bullseye and that shot in all the guns he worked on. But they were all 1911s.

Try Trailboss, get a full(er) case andwork it to what you want

Good Luck
Dan

How was the accuracy?

Everything in production class is scored as minor, no matter the caliber. If you shoot full power 45acp loads it will still be scored as minor, So you never really see people shooting 45. Pretty much 9mm rules the division. I'm not sure why anyone hasn't mentioned that yet.

I use a Sig 320 and it is an excellent production gun. Only thing I did was put Dawson sights on it. With a dropped and off set kydex holster an 4 mag pouches and 5 mags. Its a good set up. These are the pieces I use.

http://benstoegerproshop.com/blade-tech-doh-dropped-offset-holster-for-uspsa-ipsc/

http://benstoegerproshop.com/ghost-360-universal-magazine-pouch-uspsa-ipsc/

http://benstoegerproshop.com/cr-speed-super-hi-torque-competition-double-belt-1-5/

Its already been mentioned that .45 is not the way to go for production.

When you switch to a 9mm look at either a Tanfoglio Stock II or Stock III or the Sig 320. Tanfo if you have a budget about $1200 plus. Sig if your budget is under that. When the Sig 320 target comes out in a few months it may very well be the best plastic production gun produced. The current 320 is pretty dang good right now.

what makes the 320 better than glocks, M&P, etc?