230 grain LRN in Colt Gold cup

[68lemans462]

Guys,
I have recently acquired a Colt Gold cup Trophy, which I love. I've been loading with 4.5 grains of bullseye and titegroup, and looking to put together some accurate target/plinking loads.

From what I gather, the 200 grain bullets are what this gun is "designed" for.. Is this true? I've got some 200 grain SWC's on order from Missouri bullet (taking forever), and have also been shooting some 180 grain SWC's which work well.

I'd like to get some round nose bullets and all that I can currently find are 230 grain. How do the 230's stack up with the 200's? Are the 230's a good option through this gun?

 

[Jim Watson]

Why do you gather that?

Factory midrange target ammunition is mostly 185 gr.
Hardball as for NRA/CMP Service Pistol competition is 230 grain.
It OUGHT to shoot either or anything in between.
200 gr is good but it is not the design basis.

At one time Colt was sending out Gold Cups with two recoil springs, light for midrange, heavy for ball. I'd use the heavier one for heavier bullets unless loaded to low velocity (which I do, 3.5 gr Bull instead of your 4.5.)

 

[ku4hx]

In the early 1900s, the original round that passed the testing fired a 200 grain bullet at 900 ft/s, but after a number of rounds of revisions between Winchester Repeating Arms, Frankford Arsenal, and Union Metallic Cartridge, it ended up using a 230 grain bullet fired at about 850 ft/s. Reference: Wikipedia.

I prefer 230 grain bullets in both jacketed and cast, but there are other weights that work equally well. If you load your own, reduced loads may need a reduced weight recoil spring, but any good 230 grain bullet will work well in the 45 ACP assuming the gun isn't set up for something else.

 

[68lemans462]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, looks like I'll need to get some 230's and give 'em a try.

Do you guys generally prefer SWC or Round nose bullets?? Thanks.

 

[rcmodel]

You probably will not find any 230 SWC bullets.

What you will find will be RN, RNFP, or TC.

I prefer RN as my lead bullet 230 loads are loaded to duplicate military FMJ-RN loads.

As mentioned above, make sure your Gold Cup has a 16# recoil spring installed in it if you go full power 230.

rc

 

[YZ]

I used the regular spring on all kinds of ammo, including some soft SWC handloads, and my GCT cycled fine. So I left the target spring out and eventually lost it. I think the loose fit keeps the GCT reliable from day one.

 

[bannockburn]

Back when I had a Gold Cup I got my best accuracy with either Federal or I.M.I. 185 gr. Match ammo. Next best were reloads using a 200 gr. LSWC. After that accuracy sort of fell off somewhat with both 230 gr. FMJ and LRN ammo.