Load data for 185gr hollow base Berry's in .45 Colt?

I'm gonna try some hollow base Berry's bullets in .45 Colt to test in the Taurus Judge. I figure the hollow base may grip the rifling better and improve accuracy. Really would have preferred the 200 gr HB flat nose that Berry's makes, but they've been out of stock everywhere for over a year now.

None of my books have a load for this bullet in .45 Colt, I doubt there is any for it, but on the off chance if anyone does have published data for this in .45 Colt I would like to know. Thanks.

ImjinScout85 said:

I load a lot of the Berry's 185gr HBRN in 45 ACP though. The one thing I have found when I worked up my loads is that the HB bullets need a little more powder to produce a satisfactory load. I chalk this up to the fact of the extra case volume due to the HB. I have found that these are really good product. You didn't menton what powder you are going to load with??

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Wasn't sure what was recommended, but I have Bullseye, Titegroup, Trail Boss, 700x, Blue Dot (I don't care for it in revolvers tho, so much unburnt powder), Power Pistol, and True Blue.

If it needs powder to fill the case to get good results, then I'm gonna prefer to use Trail Boss and 700x. I'm sure Titegroup would do okay too cuz it doesn't seem to care about powder position.

Leon tP said:

Have you seen this data yet? Looks promising. At least it's a place to start.
https://reloadammo.com/45-colt-load-data/
This guy uses your Berry's 185 grain plated hbrn and presents the data. His numbers are pretty consistent with the load data I have on hand. Anyway, it's a place to start.
Good Luck with your load development.

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Thanks, this is good. Guess I'll start with Bullseye and Trail Boss and see what I get.

I decided to go with 700x instead because I have load data for 180 and 200 grain bullets and these Berry's 185's are .05" shorter than their 230 gr bullets. So, I went with 6.3 to 6.4 grains of 700x. About a max load right off the bat, but with how much airspace there is it shouldn't be at or over 14K PSI.

Did 6.5gr of Trail Boss and probably could have gone up to 7gr, but with a 2 inch barrel on the Judge it's kind of a waste to get maybe 30 fps more. Besides, velocity isn't the goal here, it's accuracy.

If I can get to the range before sundown I will post the results later tonight.

.38 Special said:

I've loaded that bullet in the .45 Colt using charges of Trail Boss from 70% case fill to 100%. They worked, they were mild, and they gave reasonable but not superior accuracy. That has been my general experience with TB, so may not reflect upon the bullet itself. I did get similar results with a similar Berry's bullet in .45 Auto with Unique, though, so maybe it is the bullet. That particular revolver is my most accurate centerfire handgun, with Unique and Winchester 230 FMJ...

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I don't expect match accuracy with Trail Boss, I mainly use it for when I want a reduced velocity load in a long magnum case. For .45 Colt tho, I use it to fill up airspace.

I should try these bullets out in .45 Schofield. IIRC have gotten better accuracy using .45 S&W in the Judge than I have .45 Colt, just 75-100 fps less velocity.