.45 acp hornady 230gr HAP hp38 high velocity

[JShirley]

I'd say you have a very strong gun, but you've been given good advice. The FTFs concern me. Have you ever polished your chamber?

My first exposure to an online firearms community was about 25 years ago. The firearms in question were pretty decent, but had poor QC. A common fix in many problems was what they called a "fluff and buff", which included polishing the chamber and feed ramp. That removed many reliability issues. It also improved the trigger pull. (Though it took me a week and a lot of research to figure out why it didn't work after I put the thing back together. everything was in the right place, but I had to put tension on the trigger spring before I put it back together.)

 

[Big-bore-bob]

Have you ever polished your chamber?

The usp is out of the box stock. I will definitely follow the advice I've received about powder charges and coal.

 

[rsrocket1]

Well here's my update, I took 1st in production class woo! 27th overall out of 40 shooters, not too bad I think for my third competition ever. As far as the ammo no failures during course of fire, however on one make ready command I had a feed jam where the round got stuck halfway into the chamber from the magazine. I shot a bit after the competition with a few guys and two times I got the same type of jam. I'm not too familiar with this sort of malfunction. Any ideas as to what caused this issue? Ammo related?

You might want to go the old fashioned way and plunk test each and every reload you intend to shoot in competition. The last thing you want is a misfeed or jam when it counts like in a competition or SD situation.

 

[Big-bore-bob]

I made a 100rnd batch of those 230gr HAPs, I reduced the powder charge to 5gr hp38, kept my coal the same as before. The results were very good, however I had 3 jams on initial slide racking where the rim of the case didn't seem to slide under the extractor. I bumped the rear of the slide with my palm and that closed the slide. I'm not sure what causes this type of jam. Results from the test:
Avg 805, SD 7, ES 20, hi 817, lo 797.

 

[Jim Watson]

Your initial load was power factor 198. This load is f = 185
Still way over present Major 165 and you don't even get credit for Major in Production. I would do some spring engineering and shoot .45 Minor. In fact, I have. It lets me keep my .45 guns and loading press in action without kicking my arthritis.

I suspect your failures to feed are due to a German company's lack of interest in hollow points.
I got tired of tuning for SWCs and remembering which guns would and which wouldn't and now shoot largely roundnose.

Hodgdon does not show HAPs in .45 so I looked back at 9mm. For some reason they top out at the same chamber pressure with MUCH lighter powder charge and lower velocity for a 125 HAP than a 124 XTP. I always thought a HAP was just an XTP without the expansion notches, but there is something running up the resistance. In .45, too, maybe?

 

[Big-bore-bob]

you don't even get credit for Major in Production.

I was thinking about running limited major next season, maybe the usp expert isn't the right gun for that, I don't know.

I suspect your failures to feed are due to a German company's lack of interest in hollow points

This sucks, brownells is having a sale on the HAP bullets, and they are accurate and don't foul up my barrel like the fmj rounds I load. I need 100% reliability though. I'm currently working on a 9mm load for production minor, i may use my p226. I'm kinda learning the uspsa rules as I go, so thanks for the help!

 

[lordpaxman]

If your chrono was correct, you’re way over major and as @Jim Watson pointed out, you don’t get credit for that or major in production. I try to make 170pf as a comfortable major, and no surprise at chrono.

I was thinking about running limited major next season, maybe the usp expert isn't the right gun for that, I don't know.

By all means, if you want to shoot big boy bullets and get credit for it, you should be in Limited. I’m boycotting LO until they approve major. I’m also working on my area director and other board members.
Haps should feed ok, if it’s a three point jam you may need to play with COL a bit. If the extractor is too tight, it may not want to grab the rim, or the mag might not be feeding it correctly. You may want to try a very slow controlled slide forward with a full mag and see how the round behaves. While the Hap isn’t an RN, it’s kinda sorta like one. My P220 doesn’t like SWCs but will run with Haps.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Check behind the claw on the extractor to see if a bunch of gunk is packed in there. I've seen that do what your describing. I've also heard of the JHP issue with the certain German company. I just ran 250 of Rmr's multi purpose rounds ( old style JHP's) through my PDP SD Pro and they worked fine. No problems of any kind for a change.

 

[Big-bore-bob]

Haps should feed ok, if it’s a three point jam you may need to play with COL a bit

Probably need to go longer? I just measured my stash of hornady xtp +p factory rounds and they're at 1.245-1.2475. I havent fired any of those in a while but I remember them feeding fine in my other usp.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

I was thinking about running limited major next season, maybe the usp expert isn't the right gun for that, I don't know.

This sucks, brownells is having a sale on the HAP bullets, and they are accurate and don't foul up my barrel like the fmj rounds I load. I need 100% reliability though. I'm currently working on a 9mm load for production minor, i may use my p226. I'm kinda learning the uspsa rules as I go, so thanks for the help!

Check your rims for burrs and bends. I’ve had rims look perfectly flat and smooth until I put a machining rule to them and seen the gaps. I work them over with a stone and fine finishing file. If they are bent or dinged up that can do it.

 

[ballman6711]

loads I made up for this weekend using once fired brass, 230gr hornady HAP, 5.4gr hp38, winchester lpp, coal 1.235, crimp .4695- .4705

Probably need to go longer? I just measured my stash of hornady xtp +p factory rounds and they're at 1.245-1.2475. I havent fired any of those in a while but I remember them feeding fine in my other usp.

I just looked at my notes, and I'm showing a COL of 1.245-1.247" with the 230gr HAP using 4.7gr of W231. I have loaded them hotter but this is a nice, low recoil target round. I've also loaded them as long as 1.257" but the shorter COL gives me 100% reliability.

chris