Just made up my first handloads! Can someone check my figures for me?

[Exposure]

Well tonight was a pretty exciting night for me! My powder finally showed up, and after cooking dinner, cleaning up, and spending some time with my wife I eventually snuck off to the basement to make up my first ever handloads.

The loads are .45 ACP and these initial rounds will be fired from a 1911. Here is what I came up with.

CCI #300 LP primers
Mixed, once fired brass
Rainier 230 GR LeadSafe bullets (Rainier says to use lead bullet data with these, NOT jacketed data)
3.6 Grains of Bullseye powder (Using the Lee reloading manual I took the 4 grain starting charge for 230 GR lead bullets and reduced by 10%)
Very light crimp
1.269" OAL with +/- .003" variance.

The Lee Modern Reloading Manual lists 4.0 grains of bullseye as both the starting load AND the max load. That seems strange to me. Both of my reloading manuals and everything I have read on the net say that starting at a 10% reduced charge is a good idea. Having said that, the 3.6 grains of powder seems light to me but I am trying to keep my face and hands intact here.

Any input is appreciated.

If there was enough moonlight to make my chronograph work I would happily go out in the backyard and pop these off right now. Sadly, I won't be able to get out and shoot these until tomorrow afternoon. The wait is going to kill me!

 

[treebeard]

Congrats on your first loads, you will be addicted soon enough. I have found loading .45ACP to be the most enjoyable and easiest. Most 230gr. loads I have used with Bullseye have been in the range of 4.0gr.-5.0gr. I have loaded 230gr. Meister lead bullets and various other brands. I am probably incorrect but I think 3.6gr. is a little low. I also have the Lee Reloading manual and it is odd that the min and max numbers are the same for some loads. I use the Hornady manual as well as the Hodgdon manual, but I do look at the Lee manual for odd bullet sizes (like the Speer 146gr. HP). Handloads.com is a great place to browse to see what other people are using. Be safe!

 

[only1asterisk]

The 4 grains of Bullseye is a light target load I doubt Lee intended it to be reduced (but I have no doubt that they didn't specify).

That's lighter than I've ever loaded a plated bullet. Be carefull you don't stick one in the barrel and fire a second one behind it.

I'd start at 4 and work up to 5 grains of Bullseye.

David

 

[GaryL]

The loads are .45 ACP and these initial rounds will be fired from a 1911. Here is what I came up with.

CCI #300 LP primers
Mixed, once fired brass
Rainier 230 GR LeadSafe bullets (Rainier says to use lead bullet data with these, NOT jacketed data)
3.6 Grains of Bullseye powder (Using the Lee reloading manual I took the 4 grain starting charge for 230 GR lead bullets and reduced by 10%)

I loaded up some 230gr Rainiers with 4.7gr of Bullseye (WLP primers). I don't have any performance data on them, but they shot fine. The Rainier load data I have has Bullseye listed at 4.0gr min to 5.6gr max. It looks like they don't have it posted on their web site anymore. Alliant has the max load for lead bullets at 4.0gr of bullseye, so you decide where you want to go with it from here.

 

[only1asterisk]

The Alliant load is a target load, not a Max load. I don't have my Lyman manual handy, but it should have a Max load in it.

David

 

[Exposure]

SUCCESS!

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I went out into my backyard pistol range this afternoon and fired my first handloads. The 3.6 grains of Bullseye actually did function quite well and was very accurate at 10 yards. I fired the first two by loading one at a time in the magazine. The slide locked back both times but the casings simply fell on the ground at my feet. This weapon usually throws the brass up and over my right shoulder to land about 5 feet behind me. Obviously the 3.6 grains was on the weak side!

I went back in the house and loaded 3 rounds with 4.0 grains and 3 rounds with 4.2 grains. The 4.0 grain loads started to toss the brass and the 4.2 grains got it out and away, not as far as a full power load but about 3 feet from my shooting position. The rounds were still extremely accurate. Much more so that the WWB stuff I have been using for ages from Wal-Mart. I was very impressed. The noticably quieter report and reduced recoil was a great bonus as well.

So finally I went back inside and loaded up 20 rounds at 4.2 grains. I went back out and shot it all up.

I have a bad feeling that this could get addictive.

I attempted to get some chrono numbers but I couldn't get my chrono to work right. The factory loads were all chronoing fine right around 800 fps, my reloads kept giving me and error! Dang it! I wanted to know what kind of speeds I was getting too. Maybe tomorrow!

 

[CZ223]

It sounds like you

are hooked. That is a good thing if you enjoy shooting a lot. Where are you at in Maine? I live in Lewiston but, since I can't shoot in my back yard like you, I shoot in Falmouth. Finally we get some decent weather. Planning on going to the range on Sunday. It is supposed to get close to 40. Its a heat wave.

 

[Slamfire]

Bullseye is one of these powders that gives a good initial kick when it goes off, and a very constant kick, which is what you want for a semi automatic mechanism.

I did some powder puff load testing with my 45 ACP and found that Bullseye works just great. I was curious to find how low of a level I could go, and my pistol was still cycling at 643 fps. The mainspring is an 18 or 22 pounder, the groups were good, and it went bang each and every time.

The books say a max load is about 5.0 grains, and in my pistol, 4.5 grains gave me 800 fps which for me is my “hardball” equivalent.

You will find that 4.0 grains of Bullseye will give excellent results with 230 L, 200 L. Probably with 185’s also. I taper crimp the case mouth to .469”. Works fine for me.



Kimber Custom Classic

230 LFN Bull-X 3.5 grs Bullseye Mixed Brass WLP 8-Jan-06 T = 61 °F
OAL 1.20" taper crimp .469" shot a little high Pistol cycled each shot

Ave Vel = 643.6
Std Dev = 14.07
ES 63.63
High 679.9
Low 616.3
N = 32


230 LFN Bull-X 4.0 grs Bullseye Mixed Brass WLP 8-Jan-06 T = 61 °F
OAL 1.20" taper crimp .469" shot a little low

Ave Vel = 715.9
Std Dev = 11.45
ES 48.32
High 742.9
Low 694.8
N = 32

200 LSWC 4.0 grs Bullseye Mixed cases WLP 21-Jun-06 T = 97 °F
OAL 1.250" taper crimp 0.469" Excellent accuracy

Ave Vel = 748.2
Std Dev = 10.86
ES 41.52
High 763.2
Low 721.7
N = 22

 

[Walkalong]

If you want powder puff, try Zip. It's like a popcorn fart going off and very accurate.

 

[jeepmor]

If you want power, try Blue Dot.

I had the same "barely cycling" issues with Bullseye at the Speer 13 manual low recoiling cowboy action shooter target load. One case landed on the slide, had a stovepipe also. If using target loads, start at the higher end.