300 gr boolit in 45 ACP

[DonMountain]

I have a 1917 S&W Military revolver with the 45 Colt length cylinder that I would like to try some 300 grain gas checked boolits from a Lee mold I have. Has anybody tried anything this heavy in the 45 ACP casing? And what might the suggested powders and amounts of powder be? I have been using 7.0 grains of Unique with a 200 grain boolit so far but the boolit has a long way to travel to get to the end of the cylinder. It will be used for putting down wounded deer during muzzleloading season. :cbpour:

[MtGun44]

Lower velocity will probably not help penetration. A 200 SWC will go very deep in a deer. You
will have precious little powder space with a 300 gr boolit if you stick to anywhere
near the normal LOA.

The heaviest I have ever loaded is 255 gr, velocity is down to about 720 max with
reasonable pressures. I think that 300 would be pretty slow and may be counterproductive.
7.0 of Unique is a pretty hot load, probably 1000 fps with a 200. Travel to the end of the cyl is
not an issue at all, in fact, many (most?) dual cylinder .45 Colt/.45 ACP Rugers are MORE
accurate with the .45 ACP than with .45 Colt.

[prangr51]

I dont know about 300 grs, but I have had good luck with 255's in my 1911. I use 5.0 grs of Unique and have a LOA of 1.137". Got pretty good velocity out of it, about 750 if I remember correctly. Good luck with powder space, the 255's leave very little as it is.

[GLL]

Take a look at this .45 Auto Rim selection !

Note the warning concerning the 1917 !

Jerry

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=160903&highlight=.45+Auto+Rim+Ohaus

[bigboredad]

I have loaded and shot a 275gr hp out of my blackhawk with the .45 acp cylinder in place I won't post the load ans only say that my experience was less than stellar but 255's are fun and easy to find data for out of the acp revolver but if you 1917 is all original is it worth the risk? only you can answer that question

[brghp]

I've been reloading since 1979 and I have never seen a load in 45 ACP beyound a 260 gr Keith SWC. I believe that load was around 6 grains of Unique for bowling pin competition. If I remember correctly the velocity in a 1911 was around 830 fps. I realize we are talking revolver, so velocity probably will be less.

[StrawHat]

As others have mentioned, while the S&W M1917 is a great revolver, it was inteded for a 230 grain load and pushing a boolit much heavier is going to strin some things on an old revolver. Your gun, your choice, but they are getting harder to find good ones of that model.

I have a M25-2 and it is a great shooter with the 260 and 280 grain boolits but it has better metalurgy and a few design improvemnets as well that is not in the 1917.

Best of luck finding your load.

[DonMountain]

I finally found a 300 grain boolit load in the NRA reloading manual using 7.1 grains of Blue Dot. So I started at 6.0 grains and worked up to 7.1 grains. And got some surprising results. No pressure signs and good accuracy, for as well as I can see the sights on the 1917 S&W 45 ACP. The boolit mold is the 300 grain flat point gas checked Lee mold designed for the 45 Colt. It has two crimping grooves and I used the one closest to the base, leaving plenty of room in the case for the 7.1 grains of Blue Dot. I just wish I had a working Chronograph to see what they are doing. But I could easily hit a deer with this one out to maybe 50 yards. And if the deer walks right under my deer stand it would be an easy shot! :bigsmyl2::cbpour::lol: