45 ACP New (to me) Load

Why crimp in the groove? Roll crimp? Just line up the case mouth with the groove and apply a very light taper crimp, just enough to remove the bell or flare.

The type of crimp you use with the .45ACP is irreverent, the case is supposed to headspace on the mouth, well that does not happen. The extractor is what holds the case in place. so enjoy.. use whatever crimp you like the results will be the same...

Irreverent? Not me. The headspace thing will be debated until the end of time. I maintain that applying a roll crimp when it's not needed can hurt accuracy and may shorten case life.

1) Try mastercastbullets.com also. He sells some 12BHN bullets for significantly less money and most .45s will prefer the "softer" alloy--however, this was a hard alloy when I started casting in the early '70s and was what was used when people said that automatics needed a harder alloy.
2) If you think the combination of lead bullets and TiteGroup is even remotely like black powder, boy, are you living a delusion. There is a difference between a small puff of smoke that dissipates almost before you know it is there versus being covered in thick smoke for at least 10 seconds. In fact, I can't believe the basis for choosing a powder nowadays is not accuracy but smoke and "cleanliness."
3) AA5 is a great powder for .45. My .45s tend to prefer faster powders, and in particular AA2 and 231/HP38, for accuracy. TG, Clays, WST, and N310 are no where near as accurate or consistent.
4) 230gn is OK if you are loading very light to just make some power factor or need to duplicate milspec, but you haven't tried anything until you go down to 200gn.

The type of crimp you use with the .45ACP is irreverent, the case is supposed to headspace on the mouth, well that does not happen. The extractor is what holds the case in place. so enjoy.. use whatever crimp you like the results will be the same...

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The extractor doesn't always index the case. I've seen pictures of 40SW fired in a 10mm barrel with crazy flowed primers, extending halfway to the rim. And this is still completely "safe" in my mind, except for the chance of damage to the breech.

When firing roll crimped ammo in the correct chamber, a combination of extractor play, tight leade, and long brass, and the roll crimp might work its way into the lead and cause a KB.

The type of crimp you use with the .45ACP is irreverent, the case is supposed to headspace on the mouth, well that does not happen. The extractor is what holds the case in place. so enjoy.. use whatever crimp you like the results will be the same...

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I bet you read that on the internet...

jim

You really should consider casting your own. Yesterday I turned $50 worth of reclaimed range lead into 1500 .45acp 230gr boolits. By scrounging a bit I was able to get all the equipment and tools I needed for under $200.

I'm totally satisfied with the "soft" 45 cal 200gr SWC from Mastercast in my Springfield. I'm going to try his 200gr RN in a Colt Government next.

Everyone is stuck on BHN for cast bullets when they should be stuck on fit. Hardness won't matter one bit if the bullet is undersized. As far as smoke goes. If you shoot cast you have to deal with it. It's still nothing compared to black powder.


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Sorry, but I have shot TiteGroup and cast lead, using LLA, for years and have never had any problem seeing through what little smoke there is--and that is indoors. Maybe it is just me, but I don't see the smoke, I see the target.
I have watched You-Tube videos of people firing different combinations to show which are low smoke and they all looked almost the same to me, even with 10-15 rapid fired shots. I just shake my head over the whole "smoke" issue. Maybe I need to take my head out of the smoke...
I have fired black powder pistols--outdoors. I remember being surrounded in white smoke for many seconds and not being able to see the target (or anything much beyond a yard or so), so, based purely on my own personal experience, there is a WORLD of difference. Your statement struck me about the same as saying "off white" is the same as "black." Sorry, that just does not compute. Maybe you use a special low-smoke black powder?
I can't even imagine how many shots I would need to fire in a matter of a second or two using TiteGroup (a powder I detest for other reasons) to even come close to the smoke from firing one shot from a .44 cap-and-ball revolver.
Hyperbole is not the same as facts.
PS: when I think about all the comments about smoke that are on the forums nowadays, I have actually tried a couple of times to look for the smoke when I shoot and I seem to see as much with my JHP loads as with my normal lead loads--which, still, to me, is not very much. However, I accept that there his a difference, as I can look at others shooting lead and jacketed and see a difference.
I shot in the '70s and '80s in IPSC and PPC and bowling pins and steel, and never noticed the smoke from my loads, and all I shot were cast lead bullets (or some 148gn L-HBWCs in PPC). I would notice the smoke from other's loads, but my focus was on the target and I actually never really noticed any smoke no matter the number of rounds to a station.
Maybe the new younger shooters are able to shoot so much faster then we ever could back then that they can actually achieve what one shot from the Ruger Old Army will produce.

You really should consider casting your own.

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+1. I also like using 8.0gr of AA#5 with my cast 200gr hollowpoints.



Don

I finally got around to ordering 45acp bullet molds today so I can afford to shoot my 1911 more. Casting is definitely the way to go.