Loading .45 ACP

[Charlie98]

Yes it it a nice pistol.....I passed forward my 70 series Gold Cup I had for years for a Kimber SS II target. I do love KImbers. Not near smooth and easy an action as the other, but that was was too valuable to shoot.....so I sold it to someone more appeciative.

A lot of people like to pile on Kimber, and I'll admit... they deserve a bit of it... but not all the hate. Both of my Kimbers are excellent pistols, and my Pro Eclipse II in particular is smooth as glass. Everyone that shoots it feels like a hero... it's that easy to shoot well. My previous .45, a stainless Springfield, was almost crude by comparison. My first 1911 was a gen-u-wine Colt stainless... that pistol sure was a looker! ...but it was a piece of junk. Because it had those prancing ponies on it, I got back out of it what it cost me, however.

 

[Crazy Horse]

I love loading 45 acp. Nice big bore cartridge. Had posted in a past forum about WST. If you get a chance take a look. I was able to get excellent results with ACME 230gr Coated LRN bullets with 4.4 grains of WST-you can look in Hogdon reloading for load data. My other goto powder for 45 acp is CFE. But it's nowhere near as clean as WST.

W231 is also an excellent powder, but I just happened to stumble upon WST powder on the shelf. With shortages, I couldn't pass that up.f

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/wst.870098/

Happy plinking

CH

 

[MeanBean]

Happy Father’s Day!

I am excited to report the results of the 230 gr. XTP bullets and BE-86. My best group was 6.6 gr. set at 1.230" COL. The average was 876 fps, but only four of five shots were recorded. Regardless, based on my group I feel like that is very good load. Decent recoil and primers looked good. I started at 6.0 gr and it was good too, although I pulled the first shot. I am very happy with the BE-86 and XTP bullets.

I am currently out of BE-86, so I'm loading with various other powders. I have been surprised with the accuracy of 5.1 gr of 231 behind a SNS 230 gr RN.
Though it is a fairly new powder, I believe that BE-86 is one of the most versatile powders out there today, and will eventually end up in a group with Bullseye, unique, and 231 as a one powder for all category. I plan on buying an 8 pounder as soon as I burn up some of my others. It's not the most economical powder, but it's performance seals the deal for me.
Just my .02..

 

[Ej3]

This test was using Accurate #5 with the Hornady XTP 230 gr bullets. Using Starline brass and CCI 300 LPP, I seated the bullets to 1.235”. For strictly accuracy, the 8.0 gr load was best (if you discount one I pulled). At 75*F it averaged 844 fps. The 8.2 gr load was less accurate, but averaged 860 fps. I think for SD this would be a good load with decent accuracy.

 

[Dudedog]

have been surprised with the accuracy of 5.1 gr of 231 behind a SNS 230 gr RN

HP38/W231 has worked well for me with 230s. HP38 is my general goto powder for .45.
For fun/practice both 4.7 and 5.0gr shot well for me.. 5.0 maybe shot a hair better but 4.7 was softer.

 

[Walkalong]

I used to shoot 5.0 Grs W-231 in .45 ACP with any 200/225/230 Gr bullet I could buy cheap. Shot great, not too much recoil. 5.2/5.3 was more like full power. No chrono back then.