Newbie relaoder question.....

[GSDFAN]

I understand the difference in bullet weight when reloading but what about bullet shape? I have reloaded a few round nose 230gr bulllets and have recently purchased some flat nose and hollow point bullets. Is there any difference in performance or loading proceedures in the three?

 

[The Bushmaster]

What calibre? What gun?

 

[GSDFAN]

Ok, sorry. I'm talking about .45acp.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

In my opinion, having loaded quite a few .45,the important thing is to pay attention to the seating depth. Recommended loads are in part dependent on the internal volume of the case after the bullet is set in place. In any of the good reloading manuals it will give you "cartridge overall length" that takes into account the bullet shape.

Equally important is to make sure your firearm will repeatedly chamber the rounds you are building. Nothing is more dissapointing than to build a bunch of rounds only to discover they will not feed reliably. All you can do then is to knock them apart and start over.

 

[GSDFAN]

That's a good point GPS. So far the FMJ's,both round and flat have fed well in my XD45. I thought I read somewhere in one of the manuals that Honady HP's needed to be set just a little deeper in the case than FMJ's. That doesn't sound right to me but I am kinda new at this.

Also,I haven't found load data that's specific to Hornady 230gr HP XTP but I assume that the 4.9gr of Winchester 231 that was recommended for the FMJ round and flat nosed bullets should be okay.

So far I have kept the overall case length in the the 1.140" range. So if I understand what you are saying, if I stay in the overall case length range I should be okay regardles of round, flat, FMJ or HP?

 

[strat81]

With new bullets, it's always good practice to start at the minimum recommended charge and work up. Different bullet shapes can lead to different OAL as well as a different amount of "space" in the case, and thus increase or decrease pressures.

 

[Grandpa Shooter]

My advice is to stay conservative. I had a friend who loaded so hot his shells would fly thirty feet over his shoulder. Mine travel about five feet and lay down nicely in a circle. One way to know how your loads are is to be aware of the angle of ejection and the pattern of how they lay down. That is an indicator of not only how hot the load is but also how you are handling the pistol. If yours are all over the place, so are your shots.

My book shows you are still middle of the load range so you should be doing fine. Just watch for signs of primer overheating and cooling (primer flow) and deformation of the case near the head. Stay conservative and stay safe.