45acp

I have been smitten by 45acp 1911's. There is no going back. 231 is good. Bullseye is good. 45acp is an easy keeper when it comes to reloading for it.

Congrats and condolences

Yea it’s highly addictive

I got a gift certificate to Cabelas and almost bought a set of 45 dies today. The nice thing is once you have your main setup, you just need dies and bullets. Dies are one time then it’s just consumables.

Your hooked for sure! I’m a Bullseye powder guy. 5.0gr with fmj. I enjoy reloading them as much as I do shooting them. Yay for you!

it is kindof addicting! seems counter-intuitive that time spent building hand loaded bullets keeps me out of trouble.

for 45ACP, I like bullseye for my plinkers, but use Unique when I want them launched with a bit more authority

Don’t forget Titegroup.

Stew0576 said:

Shot my first 45acp, looks like i will be adding that to my reloading list soon, thinking i will try w231 and longshot, this really is a addiction

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231 has always been agreat powder in 45 for me.

Stay on the faster powder side from long shot for 45’s. Just about anything will work if your using up stuff though. I’ve been using red and green dot for years trying to use up a stash from shotgun loading. I doubt I’d buy flake powder if I had to buy it though.

I've been shooting w-231 for years and just switched over to sport pistol which is working very well. The pic is a eight shot group with one that pulled and was shot using a rest with a red dot.

Used this recommendation by rcmodel and was very impressed with the results.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/45-auto-load.364798/#post-4520458

typhun said:

Used this recommendation by rcmodel and was very impressed with the results.

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/45-auto-load.364798/#post-4520458

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and the man was right! I bumped mine up slightly from his

I have used kegs of W231 and it is a great powder. Currently I am transitioning over to Bullseye. Bullseye was the original powder used in the 1910 development ammunition, used during the final selection of the Browning design. It is hard to find a "better" powder because this is the powder the gun and the ammunition were developed with. The pressure curve is appropriate for this mechanism. You can see, Bullseye was still being used in WW2, though the charge weight of "approx 6.0 grains" is much too stout., because this is not a ball cartridge. The original 1910 loading was 5.0 grains with a 230 FMJ, and that was spec'd at 800 fps.



Later military match ball was pushing a 230 FMJ at or around 820 fps, and 5.0 grains Bullseye with a 230 FMJ is still considered by many Bullseye shooters as "ball" ammunition.




I have been running 230 LRN's with 4.5 grains Bullseye and that goes just at 800 fps, depending on the pistol. Just tonight I have been loading 200 LWSC (H&G type 68) with 4.0 grains Bullseye. This is a classic 50 yard Bullseye Pistol load, goes just at 740 fps.

Why re-invent the wheel, unless you happen to have a flat tire?

I recently started reloading .45acp, and quickly found a W231 load that works very well for me using a 230gr polymer coated LRN bullet. It's my first auto-loading cartridge, but I've found it to be very easy to work with. I hope you enjoy it as much as I am.

Dwb1957 said:

I've been shooting w-231 for years and just switched over to sport pistol which is working very well. The pic is a eight shot group with one that pulled and was shot using a rest with a red dot.

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Nice shooting!

I started reloading 45acp this year and loaded mostly 200gr plated. Sport Pistol performs very well with the 200gr bullet. Following are my 5 shot results with 5.6gr and 5.3gr tested at 15 yards using a rest.

My dumble-fumble fingers certainly enjoy reloading 45ACP a whole lot more than reloading 9mm.

I've went through a couple lb's of Sport Pistol in my 9mm's so far. Went ahead and grabbed an 8 lb'er.

Glad to hear folks are happy using it in 45ACP as well. Going to have to load some up and give 'em a spin.

I have to add for older people like me a big plus of .45 is the instant feed back of seeing the holes in the target at 15yds without a spotting scope.

.45 is fun
My goto .45 load is 4.7-5gr of HP38(W231) with a 230. To cloese to call accuracy wise between my 4.7 load and the 5gr load.
RMR plated 230RNs shoot well for me.
I tried Longshot in .45, it works but not real happy there. To slow IMO.
CFE-P worked well for me for full power stuff.


I have some Sport Pistol, need to try it in .45.
Nice shooting vaalpens.

I have to add for older people like me a big plus of .45 is the instant feed back of seeing the holes in the target at 15yds without a spotting scope

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.45 holes are almost big enough for me to be able to see them

Undoubtedly 45 ACP is the easiest round out there to load. Since it runs at lower pressures, the brass does not require as much effort to resize as 357 and the big hulls are easier to handle than 9mm.
It is very flexible to find a load for. Any pistol powder in the cabinet will work some better than others. I have used Bullseye, Red Dot, Green Dot, Unique, Herco, 700X, and 231 successfully.

.45 ACP is a rather easy cartridge to reload. All powders up to Power Pistol work very well, when matched with bullet weight and load levels. It is big enough to handle components and is rather forgiving. Loading data is plentiful. The biggest problem is getting the 'crimp' (removing the bell to seat bullet and insure proper chambering) right. And that isn't nearly as difficult as it might be.

I currently load two load in .45 ACP. A 'ball' duplication load, 230 grain bullet at about 850 to 900 fps and a wadcutter load, 200 SWC bullet at around 700; just enough to operate the slide of a wadcutter prepared pistol.

For revolver fans, .45 AR is a bit more flexible, and is useful in more iterations, but is not particularly tricky.

Stew0576 said:

Shot my first 45acp, looks like i will be adding that to my reloading list soon, thinking i will try w231 and longshot, this really is a addiction

Click to expand...

I'm a huge fan of W231(HP-38) in the 45 ACP. I use almost nothing else.

As for Longshot, while it's a good powder I would not recommend it for the 45. IMO it's too slow and too loud. I would stick with W231 and if you want a slower powder give AA#5 a try.

Kp321 said:

Undoubtedly 45 ACP is the easiest round out there to load.

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I think so too. I’m not sure if it’s the low pressure or the big case that hides small percentage variances in reloading. I like W231 and Bullseye as well, but AA#2 is my favorite by far.

My 2 favorite powders for a 45 ACP is Bullseye and WST.

I'm a WST fan when it comes to target shooting. 4.1 gr behind a185gr LSWC (MBC BE #2) yields you just over 750 fps. Super clean burning so you don't have to clean you gun near as often. 4.2 behind a 200 gr LSWC (MBC BE #1) yields almost the same velocity. Both of these are classic BE loads.

I load 4.4 gr WST under a 200 gr SWC. This function in all my pistols and the brass will roll across the back of your hand on ejection. My most used .45 ACP powder is WST.

Got to get some WST to try once I burn up some of what i have.