WST & RMR 200grain plated loads

[CrankyCraig]

Well times look like they may get lean for awhile so I picked up couple of pounds of WST to tinker with in 45acp.

Figured I’d start with RMR 200grain plated Bullets for poking holes in paper at the range. Anyone have experience with this combination?

thought it would be good idea to have some different powder options. So I picked up some WST & Silhouette too work with as at least at the moment seem more available then what I normally use.

 

[Trey Veston]

Don't load for .45acp, but I use RMR bullets quite a bit and Silhouette is my current favorite pistol powder. I love RMR as a company, their prices, customer service, and the people are just outstanding folks. But, I've found their bullets to be noticeably less accurate in every caliber I've tried them in compared to Berry's, Speer, and Hornady. No idea why, but none of my pistols like them all that much.

 

[forrest r]

I've shot countless #'s of wst (5.0gr) pushing a 200gr cast swc, h&g # 86's in 1911's/45acp's.

 

[Texas10mm]

I like a nice soft target load. 4.2 gr WST under a 200 gr SWC. That was my goto load for years. Now it's 3.5 gr Clays. I'm cheap, I can get 333 more loads out of a pound of Clays.

 

[Charlie98]

I think the 200grn... and probably 185's... are the sweet spot for WST in the .45ACP. I tried it previously with 230grn FMJ (or plated, I forget...) and I couldn't get the velocities up to factory without redlining the load, something I don't like to do with faster powders. I'm fixing to start load development for a standardized 200grn .45ACP load and powder that will also work in 124grn 9mm loads... WST is one of the candidates.

Interestingly, one of the early candidates, BE-86, didn't fare well in the 9mm... at least for me, so it's done. One of the other posters (Toprudder) here was testing SportPistol in the .45ACP and found it quite position sensitive... so that one is probably out as well. I'm down to WST and W244 at this point.

 

[Texas10mm]

I think the 200grn... and probably 185's... are the sweet spot for WST in the .45ACP. I tried it previously with 230grn FMJ (or plated, I forget...) and I couldn't get the velocities up to factory without redlining the load, something I don't like to do with faster powders. I'm fixing to start load development for a standardized 200grn .45ACP load and powder that will also work in 124grn 9mm loads... WST is one of the candidates.

Interestingly, one of the early candidates, BE-86, didn't fare well in the 9mm... at least for me, so it's done. One of the other posters (Toprudder) here was testing SportPistol in the .45ACP and found it quite position sensitive... so that one is probably out as well. I'm down to WST and W244 at this point.

Try some Clays, Red Dot, or IMR Red in the 45 ACP.

 

[Charlie98]

Try some Clays, Red Dot, or IMR Red in the 45 ACP.

I’m using up the last of the 2# RedDot I bought during the Great Scare in some 200grn .45ACP loads right now. Honestly, it’s not bad.

 

[Texas10mm]

I've got an unopened keg of Red Dot and seven pounds of IMR Red. I just cracked a keg of Clays.

 

[Jim Watson]

I shot some WST in .45 ACP. It went bang and the bullets hit the target. I have pretty well quit experimenting; I am not a good enough shot to identify small differences in accuracy by powder and I clean my gun every once in a while.
Of course in these times, price and availability are what counts.

 

[Charlie98]

I shot some WST in .45 ACP. It went bang and the bullets hit the target. I have pretty well quit experimenting; I am not a good enough shot to identify small differences in accuracy by powder and I clean my gun every once in a while.
Of course in these times, price and availability are what counts.

It doesn't necessarily always boil down to accuracy... there are other considerations, like clean burn, positive cycling (semi-autos,) and recoil impulse. There is also the economy factor, particularly when using slow powders like H110 that require about double the charge, by weight, than other powders.

 

[rabid wombat]

From one of my previous posts.....

“...but WST has worked well for me. I use the following, which is similar to yours:

200 grain lead flat point bullet by Roger (BetterBullets) ADDED - I load Roger’s coated, too
5.1 grains WST
Winchester Large Primers
COL = 1.220
mixed brass

This is giving me an average of ~900 fps, and about a 180 for the PF. Been shooting it for years in 1911’s and 625’s

Standard cautions on sharing load data. YMMV,

EDIT - removed double ‘paste’

 

[rabid wombat]

From another post....

“The following is the results of the reloads using WST (loads above). I use the data as a "poor man's" quality check. Please understand the SD on the speed (FPS) is goofy. This is a number of strings over a variety of days, conditions, distances, and etc. The number does not reflect the quality, and it is mathematically meaningless.

Throw COL FPS
AVG 5.1 1.223 900.3
SD 0.059 0.005 60.2
Count 136 278 108
Min 5.0 1.200 781.7
Max 5.2 1.235 1180.3

Looking at an individual lot / string is much better (27 rounds fired):

hi = 904.9
lo = 812.8
SD = 20.9
CV = 2.40%
MAD = 14.5
CV = 1.66%
ES = 92.1
AVG = 871.4”

 

[lordpaxman]

Figured I’d start with RMR 200grain plated Bullets for poking holes in paper at the range. Anyone have experience with this combination?

I’ve not used the 200gr plated, but I do load quite a bit of 200gr Bayou SWC with 4.8 of WST at 1.245”. If RMR has another sale of 230gr pulled plated, 4.3gr of WST at 1.230” is a nice load.
If you’re looking for other powder combos, Clays, if it meters for you, is really soft and clean. N320, IMR Target does really well as does Titegroup, but WST is my preferred load.