.453 185 gr JHP - 45 ACP?

[KB Hill]

Just got some Zero 185gr JHPs (#187) that measure .453. I did a search and found 1 post on another forum recently reporting .453 Zero #187s. He indicated they shot without issue. Was wondering if anyone here had experience with shooting oversized jacketed bullets. Should I be concerned with pressure and/or excessive barrel wear?
I loaded a couple of dummy rounds that plunk and hand cycle fine. Max oal for my 1911 is 1.219, so I'll likely load at 1.205.

 

[kerreckt]

If they plunk fine and cycle, I use them. I have never had any problems. That is my practice you must determine what you are comfortable with. Best wishes!

 

[Walkalong]

Double checked your calipers lately? But if they plunk, you should be fine. I load them at 1.220 to 1.225 OAL with good success.

 

[KB Hill]

Double checked your calipers lately? But if they plunk, you should be fine. I load them at 1.220 to 1.225 OAL with good success.

I don't have any test blocks, but Hornady and Nosler 230 FMJs check pretty consistently at .451, Zero 230s have a little more variation and check at a little over .451. I'll load some up and send them on their way. Just didn't want to do something that falls into the "Not So Smart" category. Thanks.

 

[forrest r]

I'd do a couple test loads on the lower end, every firearm/bbl is different.

FWIW:
I ran some .431" home swaged jacketed bullets in a 629 that normally shoots .429" jacketed & .430" lead bullets. With the .429" jacketed bullets & a +/- 30,000psi load the were no issues. Used the same load for 6 .431" jacketed bullets that I had made for a S&W 624 that had oversized cylinder holes and it wasn't good. The cases had to be tapped out of the cylinder of that 629 when using the .431" bullets.

Same firearm/same load/same powder from the same bbl/same brass. The only difference was a .429" jacked bullet VS a .431" jacked bullet.

.429" ='s good to go
.431" ='s couldn't eject the cases, had to tap them out with a rod.

 

[KB Hill]

I'd do a couple test loads on the lower end, every firearm/bbl is different.

FWIW:
I ran some .431" home swaged jacketed bullets in a 629 that normally shoots .429" jacketed & .430" lead bullets. With the .429" jacketed bullets & a +/- 30,000psi load the were no issues. Used the same load for 6 .431" jacketed bullets that I had made for a S&W 624 that had oversized cylinder holes and it wasn't good. The cases had to be tapped out of the cylinder of that 629 when using the .431" bullets.

Same firearm/same load/same powder from the same bbl/same brass. The only difference was a .429" jacked bullet VS a .431" jacked bullet.

.429" ='s good to go
.431" ='s couldn't eject the cases, had to tap them out with a rod.

Good info. Will start low, and if all looks good, likely stay low. Would assume that chrono results and comparisons to load manual data of similar bullet/powder combos may be not valid due to the extra friction.

 

[Walkalong]

One nice thing about loading .45 ACP is that it runs at relatively low pressure, even when loaded to max.

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

I have (had, shot half) 2000 of these 0.453-0.454 Zeros. Same part number as the 0.451s and mysteriously no lot numbers. Received them maybe November 2020 from Roze.

According to quick load and my experience the pressure is OK for my target loads with 4.2-4.3gr of VV N310, so I made and shot about 1000 including in a couple 2700s.

My scores suffered. I eventually test shot them against my old 185gr XTP loads. The SD was 8x greater (40 vs 5) with the. 453-.454 zeros and at 25 yards my groups were twice the size. Shot some old 451 zeros and had much better performance as well.

They are plinking ammo for me now

 

[Slamfire]

Double checked your calipers lately? But if they plunk, you should be fine. I load them at 1.220 to 1.225 OAL with good success.

Measuring to the ten thousandth's is tricky, you have access to a calibration lab that can verify your calipers still measure correctly? I would hope that Zero does, as getting dimensions correct is critical for their customers.

The greatest issue with over sized bullets is in the chamber/throat. If the throat is large enough, that the bullet is not pinched in the chamber, than while something is going on, it usually does not result in over pressures. There was a time when tight chambers were a fad, and when a chamber pinches the outside of the case, effectively pinching the bullet, very high pressures result. That location is the absolute worst place to obstruct a bullet.

I more or less eyeballed the OAL of my 185's, and they fed and extracted fine. That what I want.

 

[KB Hill]

I have (had, shot half) 2000 of these 0.453-0.454 Zeros. Same part number as the 0.451s and mysteriously no lot numbers. Received them maybe November 2020 from Roze.

According to quick load and my experience the pressure is OK for my target loads with 4.2-4.3gr of VV N310, so I made and shot about 1000 including in a couple 2700s.

My scores suffered. I eventually test shot them against my old 185gr XTP loads. The SD was 8x greater (40 vs 5) with the. 453-.454 zeros and at 25 yards my groups were twice the size. Shot some old 451 zeros and had much better performance as well.

They are plinking ammo for me now

That was your post that I found in the Bullseye-L forum when doing a search for oversize Zeros. Thanks for the additional info/update. Got mine about a week ago from Powder Valley and I'm glad I only got 500. Too bad, because there are so many reports about how great this bullet shoots and Roze had some on their site this morning. Don't think the inconsistencies with diameter are worth it. In any event, I'm going to load a few with 231 and WST to shoot/chrono this week. Will post back if anything significant shows up.

 

[SingleActionAndrew]

That was your post that I found in the Bullseye-L forum when doing a search for oversize Zeros. Thanks for the additional info/update. Got mine about a week ago from Powder Valley and I'm glad I only got 500. Too bad, because there are so many reports about how great this bullet shoots and Roze had some on their site this morning. Don't think the inconsistencies with diameter are worth it. In any event, I'm going to load a few with 231 and WST to shoot/chrono this week. Will post back if anything significant shows up.

Many of the guys swear by them. I suspect mine were a QC issue made more possible by the extreme demand. In the mean time I'm getting 5.x SD on the labradar with the Hornadys and they come up for sale every now and then enough to have a few thousand on hand. I'd buy the Noslers that the Zeros are a clone of if they were obtainable.

 

[joneb]

Just got some Zero 185gr JHPs (#187) that measure .453

This is where R-P brass comes in handy.

 

[KB Hill]

Many of the guys swear by them. I suspect mine were a QC issue made more possible by the extreme demand. In the mean time I'm getting 5.x SD on the labradar with the Hornadys and they come up for sale every now and then enough to have a few thousand on hand. I'd buy the Noslers that the Zeros are a clone of if they were obtainable.

Zero is probably not the only manufacturer to suffer from high demand QC issues.
This gun only has 1000 rounds through it and has only been fed 230gr ball and 200gr SWC. Both have been very good once I sorted out feed issues with SWCs. The next step was trying JHPs. I'll keep my eye out for a cost effective alternative.