.45acp LSWC

[ljnowell]

I recently acquired at little cost some 200gr LSWCs. My usual lead round in my .45 is a LRN, that I seat the same as a JRN. I have read some posts about loading LSWCs and I am confused as to how deep to seat this bullet. I know that the entire lube ring is under the case, but how much farther? Some have said that there should be a fingernails width above the case mouth, but this doesnt seem an accurate way of measuring it. I loaded up 10test rounds, with an COAL of 1.245. This was loaded on top of 4.4gr 700x and a Win LP primer. They cycled fine and all went bang, I didnt test for accuracy, just function. None of the recovered cases seems to show any signs of overpressure. I just want to make sure that I have this right, you know? Does anyone have a picture of a LSWC seated into a .45acp case? Just somthing I could compare to?

 

[earplug]

If it works, don't change it.

Continue with what your doing, it works. I'm guessing the bullet is based on the #68 HG mold.
I have read that the 200 grain SWC H+G 68 design mold/bullet works well when seated to the same OAL as a government 230 grain FMJ.
I have loaded various cast 180,200,230 grain bullets to the same OAL without touching my seating die. They work fine in my 1911 type pistol.
Some designs will need adjustments to the seating die. I try and avoid them.

 

[ljnowell]

Thanks. Thats kind of what I was thinking too. It seems to be working good at that length, and they function well. In fact, they are functioning in a gun that about 25 people told me would never cycle a LSWC reliably, a glock 21. This gun has had probably 500-700 rounds of LRN shot through it. I find with light powder charge the leading is very controllable. I can shoot 200 rounds easy without having to clean. I guess I will keep going with the OAL that I am using now. I think I may back the charge down a little more and see if it still functions. It has always seemed odd, with a JHP the gun will not cycle reliably with a charge under 4.6 of 700x. With a Lead bullet it will function very realiably with a charge of 4.4, enough so that I want to drop to 4.2 and test some and see what happens.

 

[243winxb]

Post 15 has a photo in this thread. Some guns are longer col others shorter col. http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=421020&highlight=45+acp

 

[Dean Williams]

It sounds like you have a good load there. ( I wouldn't change it). I use a similar load of 4.5 gr 700X under a 200 LSWC in my 1911 type. I seat to 1.180, which is slightly longer than the minimums in the Lee book and a similar load in the Lyman manual. That's just a length that cycles reliably for my gun.

The load you are using at that COAL should be plenty safe where pressures are concerned. You are a ways yet from max, and with that COAL it sounds like you should have a safe margin of empty space inside the cartridge.

 

[ljnowell]

It sounds like you have a good load there. ( I wouldn't change it). I use a similar load of 4.5 gr 700X under a 200 LSWC in my 1911 type. I seat to 1.180, which is slightly longer than the minimums in the Lee book and a similar load in the Lyman manual. That's just a length that cycles reliably for my gun.

The load you are using at that COAL should be plenty safe where pressures are concerned. You are a ways yet from max, and with that COAL it sounds like you should have a safe margin of empty space inside the cartridge.

Thanks dean, I aprpeciate the input. It seems to function well, I am going to test for accuracy later this week, hopefully when the snow melts, I hate losing brass.

I did notice that the bullets that I am using after 15 rounds exhibited more leading than the LRN that I had been using. If I am going to continue with this bullet, I am probably going to go ahead and bite it and get the aftermarket barrel for my glock.

 

[JackOfAllTradesMasterAtNone]

OMG Lead in a Glock...

OK, all joking aside, keep your velocity down to reduce leading.

One unwritten rule of thumb is to have half of the ring above the lube groove seated into the case. There are bunch of different designs of SWC's for 45acp out there, but the ones I've encountered with reference to COL .947" is that almost all will function fine if you've got a little lead of that rim above the case mouth available for your slight taper crimp and relialble feeding.

Is this technical information? No. But unless you've got the actual COL recommendation from the bullet manufacture, this is what I'd go by.

-Steve

 

[ljnowell]

OMG Lead in a Glock...

OK, all joking aside, keep your velocity down to reduce leading.

One unwritten rule of thumb is to have half of the ring above the lube groove seated into the case. There are bunch of different designs of SWC's for 45acp out there, but the ones I've encountered with reference to COL .947" is that almost all will function fine if you've got a little lead of that rim above the case mouth available for your slight taper crimp and relialble feeding.

Is this technical information? No. But unless you've got the actual COL recommendation from the bullet manufacture, this is what I'd go by.

-Steve

Thats what I was thinking while testing too. I figured that as long as I kept OAL at 1.200 or more, I should be fine, I have found with other rounds that 1.240-1.250 seems to feed good in my glock, so I went with a point in there. I noticed no feeding or functioning problems. Thats why I think I will go ahead and lower my charge and see how low I can go without losing functionality of the pistol. I mean, the lowest velocity I can attain and maintain reliability should be my best bet as far as leading.

 

[Dean Williams]

By Jack---None

reference to COL .947" is that almost all will function fine if you've got a little lead of that rim above the case mouth

I tend to agree with this, in a broad view. The precise measurement of this point is difficult, since most LSWC bullets have a slight radius at that point, but I've found that if the front driving band on the bullet is a little proud of the case mouth you usually increase the likelihood that a round will feed reliably.

If your gun feeds well with the COAL you are using already, though, there should be no need to change it.

 

[xring45acp]

C.O.L. 200 gr. LSWC

Looks like a all the bases were covered above! Most success is achieved with this load, based on a H&G #68 profile, with a 1.220" overall length or a tad longer. Variables being, 1 case length, as the case headspaces on the rim of the mouth, 2 the throat in which your rifling begins also dictates final seating orientation of the chambered round. Now with that being said, most shooters as myself find the happy medium to be 1.220" c.o.l. min., and a slight .469" taper crimp at the mouth and this usually suffices. This same discussion was just photographed on 1911 forum.com. Picture perfect!