Favorite 45ACP handloads

Am I reading too much into this or is everyone intentionally omitting COL?

This is what i use


.45 ACP
5.5g CFE Pistol
230gr RN Plated Berry’s bullets .452
COL 1.260

I’ve been working with IMR a bit. I tried out 5.3 & 5.4Gr IMR Green, under 230GR Speer TMJ, 1.26”. Charge weighed by hand. Will be working on IMR Blue next. Is anyone willing to share some experience with
Silhouette \ 45acp?

CQB45ACP said:

Am I reading too much into this or is everyone intentionally omitting COL?

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I load 230 RN bullets to fit 1911 magazine, 1.250". It is a nice round number and they feed well in my guns.

Recently, I've been dabbling with 180-200 grain SWC bullets for a Gold Cup. COL is shorter, I do not remember exactly what it is off hand. But, that is what reloading records are for.

GW Staar said:

Just like Unique then.....flake powder.....a joy to meter.....not. But also a joy to shoot. The redeeming quality is that Unique is not that sensitive to exact metering. I've never been able to tell the difference between metering it through the Uniflow, with it's variances or weighing each load.......so guess what I do?

So is 700X as forgiving?

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Like Unique, powder measures throw 700-X with a bit more variability than fine grain powders but in terms of accuracy, it does not seem to matter.

The RCBS Little Dandy powder measure throws 700-X the most consistent of any powder measure that I have. Unfortunately, the fixed cavity rotors limit dialing in a particular powder charge. There is a fellow that makes/made adjustable rotors but I have never invested in one.

Presently, I load 45 ACP on a Dillon SDB and the Dillon powder measure does as good a job, maybe a bit better, metering 700-X as any other powder measure that I've used.

I also use 700-X in 44 Special and meter it with a modified Redding 10-X on a Hornady L-N-L.

CQB45ACP said:

Am I reading too much into this or is everyone intentionally omitting COL?

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I purposely omitted a mention of OAL because what fits in my gun and the length that I am required to load to most likely will be much different than yours. I do not go by the published lengths because they do not work in my gun. I have a 45acp that if loaded to published lengths will not chamber fully and struggle to go into battery. Depending on the bullet I can be as much as .020" shorter than published. I then reduce the load and everything works very well.

5.0 gr of Red Dot and standard 230 gr JRN...OAL to fit my gage

Walkalong said:

Since you have W231, 5.0 grs and 230 grainers will do you right

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+1

Lennyjoe said:

Mine as well

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I use the same load

Thank you, brutus51, for this Thread.

It reminded me that I got a box of some premium brand of .45cal 185gr HP bullets in one of those Buy X at a Great Price an get a box of ammo for free deals last year. I went down to check and found a 100ct box of Hornady XTP 185gr .45cal bullets ... and ... a forgotten 100ct box of Speer 230gr Gold Dot Short Barrel .45cal bullets that I got on the same kind of deal. Cool!

Since I am usually carrying a short barrel .45 these days I guess I should stop spending my time doing Other Stuff for awhile and develop a couple of SD/HD loads featuring these bullets ...

kerreckt said:

5.0grns Bullseye behind a 230grn. FMJ is the old standby that replicates the government load. 800-850fps from a 5" barrel. Great economical paper puncher.

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Right. Cast your own bullets out of tire weights.

I have a 6-cavity Lee mould TL452-230-2R. I powder coat these bullets with Harbor Freight Red, and bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees F in a $20 toaster oven from Walmart. Although I have plenty of suitable jacketed bullets, in a pinch I would go to the 200 grain 452-200-SWC with 5.1 grains of Bullseye and a muzzle velocity a bit over 900 fps.

I bought 2000 Rainers 200 gr JHP. I use Universal powder because I have a couple of pounds of it. I'll shoot 2 or 3 boxes a week of them.
-mike

cfullgraf said:

Recently, I've been dabbling with 180-200 grain SWC bullets for a Gold Cup.

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A friend picked up a 3 cavity Cramer for next to nothing - but I do have use of it when I want - and it casts a 202 gr. bullet at 20/1. It's like a hybrid truncated SWC and I
have not seen one like it before.
But it does shoot! with his standard load of 4.8 grs. 700X. Beats the 460 hands down with 100% feeding.

CQB45ACP said:

Am I reading too much into this or is everyone intentionally omitting COL?

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Not reading anything into it either.
I think that since the thread topic was not of a 'new reloader' nature, most of us
(at least speaking for myself) take it for granted that those choosing to use any of these powder charge/bullet weight
combinations that have been mentioned know enough to seat bullets to their own needs as well as to
take the time to double check mentioned load data against other known sources.

JT

GW Staar said:

Just like Unique then.....flake powder...
So is 700X as forgiving?

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yes, i don't notice much difference between 4.7- 4.8 or 4.8-4.9 gr 700X batches with 230 gr rn pc or plated.
i like 200 gr mbc/dardas lswc with 4.5 bullseye or 5 gr vv n320 or 200 gr mbc swc pc with 4.6 bullseye. 200 gr plated swc xtreme with 4.9 gr bullseye.

My favorite is 5.0 g International for 230g. During a previous powder shortage only International was available, so tried it and found it works nice for .45ACP. No luck in using it for 9mm load weight is very small and the pistol loads are no longer being published for International.

GW Staar said:

The redeeming quality is that Unique is not that sensitive to exact metering.

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Many people bemoan the poor metering characteristics of flake powders... and Unique in particular. I've found, in the 30+ years I've been loading it, that it doesn't make that big of a difference. I consider it one of the more forgiving powders out there.

GBExpat said:

a forgotten 100ct box of Speer 230gr Gold Dot Short Barrel .45cal bullets

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Yea... I just loaded up my last box of those. I've been out of the factory ammos for some time, and that's all I have left. Loaded over Unique, of course.

I see a lot of Unique recipes here... mine has always been 6.5grn Unique under any 230grn or 200grn bullet, it mirrors factory ammo. The 6.5grn/230grn load is a maximum book load.

My Kimbers like 5.8gr of W231 with 230gr FMJ.

.40

My go to with 45acp has been
6.4 gn Unique Or 5.2 gn Bullseye
under a 200gn plated RN @ 1.255"

For 230gn XTP's I've been loading 6.9 gn Power Pistol or 6.4 gn Unique @ 1.230"
Which are on the upper end of published data.

I always enjoy these "Favorite * handloads" threads.

Reading through all the posts made me realize that I have never tested/loaded any 45acp 230gr FMJRN Unique loads. At least now I know what I'll be loading/testing next time.

In the spirit of sharing, following are some of my 45acp 230gr FMJRN loads to give you some idea of how they performed:
45acp, P220, 4.4"
Case: Winchester
COL: 1.255"
RMR, 230gr, FMJRN, 700X, 4.4gr, CCI300
Average: 687
ES: 23
SD: 10.6
Force: 241
PF: 158
Velocities: 679, 695, 696, 673, 694
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.62"
Test Date: 10/21/2018

45acp, P220, 4.4"
Case: Geco
COL: 1.255"
RMR, 230gr, FMJRN, Bullseye, 5.1gr, CCI300
Average: 792
ES: 33
SD: 13.5
Force: 320
PF: 182
Velocities: 814, 797, 790, 781, 782
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.65"
Test Date: 09/27/2018

45acp, P220, 4.4"
Case: KFA
COL: 1.255"
RMR, 230gr, FMJRN, HP38, 5gr, CCI300
Average: 663
ES: 68
SD: 25.8
Force: 224
PF: 152
Velocities: 631, 699, 667, 648, 673
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.72"
Test Date: 12/24/2018

45acp, P220, 4.4"
Case: Federal
COL: 1.250"
RMR, 230gr, FMJRN, WST, 4.2gr, CCI300
Average: 651
ES: 37
SD: 14.8
Force: 216
PF: 149
Velocities: 672, 635, 640, 652, 659
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.72"
Test Date: 09/11/2020

45acp, P220, 4.4"
Case: Federal
COL: 1.250"
RMR, 230gr, FMJRN, W244, 5.2gr, CCI300
Average: 746
ES: 31
SD: 12.3
Force: 284
PF: 171
Velocities: 732, 737, 752, 763, 746
Grouping @ 15yd: 0.89"
Test Date: 02/10/2019

vaalpens said:

RMR, 230gr, FMJRN, W244, 5.2gr, CCI300

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I haven't tried W244 with 230's yet... I'm out at the moment. It does very well with 200's, however, and... there is always WST.

Armored farmer said:

These are 5.5gr Unique under 230gr Lee TC cast.
Accurate but pretty mild.
View attachment 955447

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Mine match those exactly and I'm currently running 6 grains of power pistol till it's gone