newbie load for .45 acp got a few questions

[thebluemax]

I've read lymans manual, posts here and on other forums, and the instructions on that came with my die set......I'm completely confused on what the Min. OAL and Max. OAL should be on an empty case. They lyman says trim to length .888" but I have a lee trimmer and it says that if you put the cutter on a shell and no material is removed then it is the correct length. I've got some that are longer and the trimmer doesn't remove any material, is that normal?

I ordered some IMR 800X powder and 230 grain lead cast bullets. The max starting load is 6.2 grains according to the die instructions. Is that where you start or do you start with less powder then shoot and work until you find the right loading?

Is IMR 800X a good starting out powder or would it better to use a 231 or other powder? I've never loaded before and I'm trying to cover all my bases and get all the info I can.

 

[lgbloader]

Blue,

No disrespect intended but you really need to read the front part of your Lyman manual a couple of times to get it. take one chapter at a time and read until you completely understand. If you are not sure, come back here and ask. then move onto the next chapter until you see where you are getting hung up. Seriously, I know of newbies that read for months without touching a single piece of brass. Don't worry, you'll get this.

LGB

 

[Walkalong]

Good advise lgbloader



W-231 is a much better powder for .45 (5.5 Grs W-231 with those lead pills will work just great), unless you want to run max loads, then othewr powders such as WSF, AA #5, HS-6 etc will work better.

800X is a bit slow for .45, and meters poorly.

You don't need to trim .45 cases, ever.

Start at the "start" loads in the manuals.

Welcome to THR.

 

[ljnowell]

W-231 is a much better powder for .45 (5.5 Grs W-231 with those lead pills will work just great), unless you want to run max loads, then othewr powders such as WSF, AA #5, HS-6 etc will work better.

800X is a bit slow for .45, and meters poorly.

You don't need to trim .45 cases, ever.

Start at the "start" loads in the manuals.

Welcome to THR.

Good stuff. If you bought 800x because you have access to IMR powder, I would recommend that you try 700x instead. Its still a large flake powder, but its much easier to meter.

******WARNING: Reloading data follows. These may be weak loads or thermo-nuclear. They test fine in my weapon and shoot well, they should be worked up and shot in yours to prove them.********

My autodisk will throw it at 5gr even all day long. 5 gr under a 200gr lwsc is a sweet shooting load in my gun. Not too weak, but not like defense stuff.

 

[jfdavis58]

Straight walled pistol cases stretch (from firing) very little, trimming is usually NOT required on either once fired (say from commercial loadings) or on new brass. Pistol cases still need to be checked for length as both over the maximum length and under the minimum length might lead to problems.

Pistol cases can be trimmed to facilitate proper crimping. Cases must be de-primed and re-sized before trimming. Cleaned is a plus.

From the mention of the Lee trimmer, I take it that you mean the little hand device with a trimmer/cutter, a pilot and a case holder. This device reduces length to the minimum length of the specification (sometimes a bit more). Obviously it doesn't cut if the case is already short enough (or perhaps shorter). Pistol cases that are too long or too short (say 0.005 over or under the respective limits) may still function properly.

IMR800X is more suitable for shotgun/shotshell loads; I couldn't find any 45ACP loads for this powder over several different reloading manuals.

 

[rcmodel]

I wouldn't trust the Lee trimmer to be correct, any further then I could throw it.

You need a dial caliper to measure case length.
And to measure what the Lee trimmer is actually doing to your cases.

My Lee .223 trimmer kept getting shorter & shorter the longer I used it.

Finally backed the pin out to the proper trim length and Lock-Tighted it in place.

rc

 

[thebluemax]

I didn't find any other load data for 800X except on the hodgdon website and the load data with my lee dies. The website lists a starting load of 6.5 grains or 7.0 grains the way I read it ,and the lee dies say a maximum start of 6.2 grains and a never exceed 7.2 grains.