1st .45 ACP load

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brandon_mcg

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Here is what I am planning for my first .45 acp's (once i get my bullets and press):

Missouri bullet 230 grain RN softball.452 diameter
4.7 gr of Bullseye
Winchester WLP primers
Once fired remington brass

Hopefully it will all come out to a C.O.L. of 1.245"

i'm getting this data from my new 8th edition hornady reloading book.
is this load too light? They have 4.4, 4.7. 5.1, and 5.5 gr listed for this load but i figured until i feel more comfortable reloading i should with the milder loads.

my lyman 49th edition does not have any loads for cast bullets of 230 grain or .452 diameter. it says "cast bullets used.....sized to .451 dia"
so can i not use any load data from this manual with these bullets?
 
In my experience the .452's are for loading 45LC the ACP is the .451 diameter. I load Nosler .452 cannelured 250gns for my long colt.

I use red dot and unique for the ACP, either 230gn Ball rounds or 185gn Remington JHP.

Also a good idea to get several manuals/ books, I have 5 I use to cross check data, find averages and so on.

What press did you get?

Good luck



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thanks for the reply.

from all the research ive done a short time, ive seen that most lead cast .45 acp rounds are made to .452" whereas jacketed bullets for .45 acp are usually scaled to .451"

is this correct?
 
I do not know very much about cast, but from what I am told 452 is for the Long Colt 45 and 451 is for the ACP.
Don't load a 452 on a 45 ACP round, and vise versa

I see lots of people cast in 452 for the revolvers / cowboy action shooting.


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from all the research ive done a short time, ive seen that most lead cast .45 acp rounds are made to .452" whereas jacketed bullets for .45 acp are usually scaled to .451"

is this correct?
Click to expand...
Correct..

In most applications the lead bullet will be .001" wider in diameter than the jacketed bullet.
.38 Special, .357 Jacketed and .358" Lead
.44 Special, .429" Jacketed and .430" Lead
.45 Auto/.45 Colt, .451" Jacketed and .452" Lead
(unless it's an older .45 Colt revolver and then the diameter is probably .454")
 
It will work

I have shot bullets unsized as cast from my molds at .456
Only problem I have is getting fat bullets to chamber.
Lead is very forgiving. To small tends to lead. To big won't chamber.
Your OAL can be picky depending on the bullet shape and chamber size.
Always drop a reloaded round down your barrel/chamber to check if the bullet is to long.
Some bullets fit fine in the magazine but hang up in the chamber.
 
.452 will work just fine in .45 acp autoloaders. fyi, many M1911 pattern pistols do best with 200 grainers. You might try some of the old standard H&G 68 style, 200 grain lead semiwadcutters. With so much happening in these pistols at the instant of firing, some believe its best accuracy-wise to get the bullet out of the barrel as quickly as possible, ergo the preference for lighter bullets. - CW
 
Brandon,
You might consider ordering some additional sample paks of Brad's 200 semi-wadcutter and 200gr flat-nose, or even the 185 grain semi-wadcutters. I've run them all (except the 185gr Button) and they all work very well. Nice thing about the lighter bullets is you can use lighter powder charges which also reduce recoil - if you're just looking for a soft-shooting paper-puncher.

Now, be advised: if you're using a Springfield XD, they apparantly will NOT run at all with the semi-wadcutter profile. The M&P apparantly sometimes will and sometimes won't. I've had 4 1911s (two Rock Islands, two Springfields) and all fed SWCs perfectly once I got the OAL right.

Q
 
These Missouri softball bullets are just a standard 230 LRN configuration. I tested Valiant LRN's, which at 13-15 BHM, are a bit softer than yours, with three different lots of Bullseye powder. I was curious to see what differences and age gave me over the screens.

I stopped at 800 fps which was the original 1910 Ball Ammo specification. Commercial ammo is hotter but slower is easier on the pistol.

Your load of 4.7 grains should be just fine.

Code: 
[SIZE="3"]Kimber Custom Classic M1911

230 gr LRN 4.0 grs Bullseye Mixed Brass WLP OAL 1.250" taper crimp .469"		
	
29-Jan-06 T = 68  °F	
Ave Vel =698.8				
Std Dev =10.19		
ES =36.33		 		
High = 713.5				
Low =677.1				
N =28
				 
V. Accurate
		
230 gr LRN Valiant 4.5 grs Bullseye lot BE532 (80's mfgr)  Mixed Brass WLP (brass) OAL 1.250" taper crimp .469"
16-May-09  high 83  °F	 
					
Ave Vel =	782.7				
Std Dev =13.41				
ES =	52.05				
High = 	815.5				
Low =	763.4				
N =	28				
					
					
230 gr LRN Valiant 4.5 grs Bullseye 99' & 2005 mixed lot Mixed Brass WLP (brass) OAL 1.250"  taper crimp469"
16-May-09  high 83  °F	.
					
Ave Vel =	805.2				
Std Dev =38.07				
ES =	136.9				
High = 	912.4				
Low =	775.5				
N =	24				
					




230 gr LRN Valiant 4.5 grs Bullseye lot 827 (60's/70's powder) Mixed Brass WLP (brass) OAL 1.250" taper crimp .469"
16-May-09	 high 83  °F	
					
Ave Vel =	822.9				
Std Dev =14.14				
ES =	55.24				
High = 	853.7				
Low =	798.4				
N =	26[/SIZE]
KimberRightSideDSCN0753.jpg
 
Hi, I just got a Glock 30 so i just started reloading .45 also but have reloaded many thousands of other rounds. first off, this glock does not like flat point bullets. a call to glocks CS line confirmed that it is better to stick to round nose. second, big-ass .45 guns need a stout load to cycle properly. do not even waste time 'working up' loads from the minimum, you will be very frustrated with numerous FTF and FTE. 5.0 grains of Bulls Eye under Missouri Bullet 230 LRN is powerful but not really hot. around 810 fps. just my 2 cents worth.

"Hopefully it will all come out to a C.O.L. of 1.245"
YOU are the one controlling the COL, so if you adjust the die right you will get 1.245 but honestly as long as you are in the ballpark of around 1.25 (most factory ammo 230 FMJ RN) you are fine as the max COL is 1.27 if my memory is correct.
 
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my lyman 49th edition does not have any loads for cast bullets of 230 grain or .452 diameter. it says "cast bullets used.....sized to .451 dia"
so can i not use any load data from this manual with these bullets?
Click to expand...

You can use those bullets just fine, from a safety viewpoint. Worse case scenario, they will not chamber well. That's the problem I had with my Gold cup (tight chamber), and had to resize to .451".

Don
 
Someone on here once indicated to me that if there is no specific load data (Such as for the 230g lead RN, use the closest... which in the lyman is the 225g... the 5g is negligible.

As a matter of fact, the W231 data for the 225 in the lyman is the same for the 230 on the Lee Die charts....

And, I also size my lead to .452 - My first batch was unsized, but that did not work out that great. I had to bell the cases more than I liked.
 
thanks for the additional responses regarding the lymans manual. i just deprimed and sized my first 50 brass cases. im going to wait on my boolits before i take it any further though.
 
My Lyman 49th edition does not have any loads for cast bullets of 230 grain or .452 diameter. it says "cast bullets used.....sized to .451 dia". So can i not use any load data from this manual with these bullets?
Click to expand...

Loads are configured by bullet weight and construction. So you would look for a load built on a 230gr lead bullet. You cannot use 200gr lead, nor can you use 230gr jacketed.

All loads are different, all powders batches are different, all bullets are different, all guns are different. That's why we always start at the "starting load" and work up. Always. You never know how a particular combination of components is going to behave in your gun. Just because it was OK for Joe and Larry doesn't mean much for you. Let's remember Joe and Larry also said Mary was "hot". :D

Starting loads make up for a world full of variations. Starting with Zero experience in the middle of a load range may get you hurt. We'd like to see you back here again next week. ;)

All the best.
 
Be careful with Bullseye. It will typically double charge a pistol case without spilling. Nearly all double base powders IME do. Bullseye and Power Pistol are the two that I have used. Not to spook you, just be extra mindful is all.
 
"Starting with Zero experience in the middle of a load range may get you hurt"

rfwobbly,

would it be more appropriate for me to start with 4.4 grains of bullseye as this is the lightest load listed by hornady?

"Loads are configured by bullet weight and construction. So you would look for a load built on a 230gr lead bullet. You cannot use 200gr lead, nor can you use 230gr jacketed."

thanks for the advice. in my original post, the data listed is out of hornady's 8th edition and it is listed for 230 grain RN lead bullets so i feel comfortable with that data. however, following your advice, i will not use the data listed in my lyman 49th edition as it does not have any data listed for 230 grain lead rn bullets.
 
@rfwobbly...All loads are different, all powders batches are different, all bullets are different, all guns are different. That's why we always start at the "starting load" and work up. Always.

well, i started that way too and quickly learned that the starting loads are usually way too weak to cycle modern automatic pistols. this caused a lot of failures like FTE and FTF and could have potentially led to squibloads as well. and a squib is TONS more dangerous that using upper level loads, so i see no need for minimum loads as long as you are staying in the range of the powder manufacturer's load data. with revolvers its a totally different story of course, i enjoy shooting mild cowboy loads in my six shooters.
 
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quickly learned that the starting loads are usually way too weak to cycle modern automatic pistols
Click to expand...
I always start at minimum load and work up.
I have never seen a minimum load that would not cycle any of my 1911s (.45 acp or 10mm).
Powders include Green Dot, Blue Dot, Red Dot, W231, Bullseye, HS-6, Unique.
 
I have never seen a minimum load that would not cycle any of my 1911s
Click to expand...
That's been my experience with 1911s, Berettas, Sigs, etc. of past decades. However, that's changed with newer semi-autos with stiffer recoil springs.

When stiffer recoil springs in Gen2-Gen3 Glocks transitioned from open coiled springs to captured flat spring sets, starting loads no longer reliably cycled the slides with some powders.

Now with even stiffer Gen4 dual spring sets, even mid range loads for some powders are not reliably cycling the slides and high range load data may be needed to be used for reliable slide cycling.
 
When I started working up loads for my XD in .45, I found that the starting 185gr JHP loads in the Lyman 49th would barely start to cycle the slide, not even far enough to stovepipe, much less eject the case.
The first three loads wouldn't eject, though they started to stovepipe.

It wasn't until I'd made it to the top of the range I'd loaded, and over half way through the min-max load data that the loads were behaving and cycling reliably. This was also half way up the range offered by the powder manufacturer, and near the top of the listed loads in the book for that powder.
(I found out that the specific load I was working with was also a full grain lower min and max in Lyman's manual than any of the other books I had, as well as the online listing from the Alliant, for whatever that's worth.)

Admittedly, this isn't necessarily the gun in question, but I definitely wouldn't load many rounds at each work up load before you find out what your piece likes the taste of.
 
Mr. Brandon-.45acp recipe

My favorite load for just about anything:

Bullet: 200 grain h&g #68 cast lead swc
powder: 7.0 unique / 5.0 bulls-eye
primer: Win lps
cases: Rem, win, or hornady
oal: 1.250"
vel: 900 to 1000 fps depending on barrel length
 
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