what weight boolits are you using for 45acp?

[hickfu]

I have a 200gr and a 230gr but what else is out there to use?

[osteodoc08]

185 is the other popular weight.

Personally I only use a 200gr LSWC (H&G 68 clone) and a 230gr LRN. Mostly the LSWC though.

[Old Caster]

I have seen them as light as 155 but I don't see any point unless you just want to use less lead and don't care a lot about accuracy. Just about every bullseye shooter around uses a 200 and we are all interested in the best accuracy. Lighter bullets won't get you less recoil because you need to have enough power to operate the action no matter what.

[mdi]

185 is the other popular weight.

Personally I only use a 200gr LSWC (H&G 68 clone) and a 230gr LRN. Mostly the LSWC though.

Me too. I have a 4 cavity mold for the 200 gr. 68 clone, and 85% of my 45 shooting is done with this bullet. I also shoot some plain old 230 gr. LRN (My Ruger doesn't like SWC so I shoot the RN in it).

[scattershot]

I mostly use lead boolits, 200 grain swc, and 230 grain, ltc. The most accurate load to date is the 200 grainer over 4.0 Red Dot.

[hickfu]

Does anyone shoot any thing heavier? I have seen 255gr .452 boolits, will these work in the small 45acp case? or are they for 45 Colt?

Doc

[jonp]

I tried some 165gr but did not have much luck. Ive settled in on 200gr.

[Dan Cash]

I have tried 255 grain bullets but getting enough velocity out of them to have any reach made it very hard on the gun. I load a service load of 230 truncated cone bullet over 5.8 grain of Unique. Quite accurate and authoritative.

[Bigslug]

230 to 245ish. Saving lead with a .45 just seems. . .wrong somehow.

[wv109323]

The 200 and 230 gn. are by far the most common. Going up or down in weight means that you got to "tune" the gun to the load. ( with the 1911 style firearm). Some of the match ammo was 185 gn. jacketed SWC ( Winchester and Federal). My experience was the 185 gn. bullet, with the shorter nose,it was more difficult to get to feed in a 1911. The 165 and 155 gn. had to be driven a lot faster to get enough energy to work the slide. With the increased velocity the lead alloy content in cast boolits became more critical. The 1911 firearm and magazines was designed to function with a bullet the length of the 230 RN. The H&G 68 and 69 bullet (200 gn. SWC) has the same nose length as the 230 gn. Round Nose for this reason.
There is one exception to the above. The Nosler 185 gn. jacketed hollow point functions well due to the fact that with the hollow point the length of the bullet is near the 230 gn. RN.

[Artful]

I have used between 185 and 255, I have settled on 230 grain Truncated Cone as best compromise with lyman 452460 200 SWC as next choice due to accuracy at 50 yards. The 255 load was in 45 Super class and I don't recommend running in unmodified 1911's.

[Jupiter7]

I shoot an 260gr ideal 454424 over decent charge of unique occasionally. Probably going about 800fps. I do 99% of my 45 shooting(1911 specifically) with 200grn boolits over enough powder to get 850fps or so, mostly loaded with bullseye. Ive thought about lighter but I've got 1911's in 9 and 40 if I want less weight/powder without playing with springs.

[Cowboy T]

My choice is the Lee 452-200-RF. Works great in 1911's and plastic guns, even with the wide-ish meplat. Was originally bought for light .45 Colt, but it worked so well in .45 ACP also that I just stuck with it.

[Mk42gunner]

My cast boolit of choice is the Lyman 452460. It works well in my Kimber, shoots to the sights and saves a bit of lead over the 230 grain boolits.

If I anticipate needing more power than a 1911 in .45 ACP can reasonably give, I have other more powerful calibers on hand.

Robert

[C. Latch]

Does anyone shoot any thing heavier? I have seen 255gr .452 boolits, will these work in the small 45acp case? or are they for 45 Colt?

Doc

I bought a NOE 453-230-HP mold which drops around ~232 grains as a hollowpoint and as a flat point it drops around 252. I have shot some of those with 800-x and had no trouble getting 900' MV with what I believe to be a safe load for a steel 1911 (well under published loads for 230-grain jacketed bullets); I don't plan to shoot many of them but my 1911s do have a couple of tweaks to help with heavy loads, the biggest one being the squared-edge firing pin stop.



I have also shot my Lee 452-255-rf in the .45 ACP with 700-x, but I probably won't do it again; you have to seat that bullet DEEP to make it function in my 1911s and I think there could be pressure issues at that seating depth.

[Freischütz]

I use 452423, and it weighs 241 gr

[hickfu]

C. Latch, That is exactly the reason for the question! I love that NOE mold and wanted to get it (short of funds right now) I was wondering if anyone had shot anything in the 250ish range because of this boolit.

Doc

[mikeym1a]

Years ago I bought a lee 6 cavity 200gr microgroove mold for my .45. I've had great luck with it. Never a problem. So, I've never tried anything else. mikey

[DeanWinchester]

The only 45 auto I own is a little turd Taurus pt145. My wife bought it when they first came out like 15 years ago. At the time, they were the bees knees.

It's tired and worn and worse than that....I had the factory refurbish it. It was free under warranty and I got just what I paid for! Long story short...the ONLY. Load I can come up with it will reliably cycle is my RCBS 250g FN. A very modest charge of Nitro100NF & seated as long as the chamber and magazine would allow. It shoots extremely well considering it's paltry barrel length and less than top shelf design. What's more? I only do ONE .452 boolit these days. The 250g RCBS runs awesome in my Blackhawk and I've stoked it up pretty good too.

[dudel]

Pretty much stick to 200gr. I've gone as low as 165gr and as high as 240gr. 200gr works best for me. Also use it in 45GAP.

[C. Latch]

C. Latch, That is exactly the reason for the question! I love that NOE mold and wanted to get it (short of funds right now) I was wondering if anyone had shot anything in the 250ish range because of this boolit.

Doc

I don't have many cast up at the moment, but I could send you a sample if you wanted to try them. What size do you normally size to for your .45 loads?

[hickfu]

I don't have many cast up at the moment, but I could send you a sample if you wanted to try them. What size do you normally size to for your .45 loads?

I only have the 452 sizer, I may try shooting as cast... they dont come out much bigger then that from the mold.

Doc

[243winxb]

http://i338.photobucket.com/albums/n420/joe1944usa/CastBullets_20090207_005.jpg These are the normal ones. The 452630 being the most accurate.

[bobthenailer]

For the 45 acp i have several boolets, Saeco#062-170gr , #068-200gr, #058-215gr and RCBS 230 -rn
I use the 170 and 200gr boolets about 95% of the time . the 215 gr swc is used for bowling pins, and the 230 rn for full moon clip speed reloading for my 625 revolver.

[David2011]

I have seen them as light as 155 but I don't see any point unless you just want to use less lead and don't care a lot about accuracy. Just about every bullseye shooter around uses a 200 and we are all interested in the best accuracy. Lighter bullets won't get you less recoil because you need to have enough power to operate the action no matter what.

Unless the gun is properly tuned for a light load. I run a 200 gr SWC at 645 fps in a 1911. It took a lot of work to get it reliable. The action is glass smooth, the extractor is perfect, every place where friction could be reduced from factory production standards had to be addressed.

David

[fredj338]

The 200gr LSWC is probably shot as much as the 230grLRN. Generally no special gun tuning is needed unless you are trying for really low recoil loads. I shoot the 200gr almost exclusively out of my 45s, cheaper, just as accurate, modest recoil even up around 900fps. I am going to give some 165gr a try in a modified gun, see if the recoil level can be dropped to the 9mm, for speed plate shooting. I only need 3"/50ft accuracy.
I've run bullets as heavy as 256gr @ 680fps, just to see if felt recoil for a major load was diff than 230gr @ 770fps, felt pretty much the same. The 1911/45acp was originally designed around a 200gr bullet, most will happily run there if the vel is over 800fps.

[Land Owner]

Solely 185 grain Devastator Hollow Point Lyman #452374.

That's GOT to sting going through a man!

[MtGun44]

Settled on H&G 68 decades ago. Occasionally, I load some 200 RNHP and some 452460
for pistol competitions where accuracy needs to be max. Pretty much all 200 gr.

Bill

[Jagdhund]

I mostly shoot 452374 and the Lee TC 230 gr. thru my Kimber and a new SR1911CMD and try for about 825 fps. I have tried to use 452460 and 452488 in the Ruger, but could not find an OAL that would feed reliably. I have tried Lee's 452 200 RFN in the Ruger some and will probably use it as my 200 gr. bullet in the future. It is a little more comfortable to shoot in the Ruger than 230s and saves lead. 452423 was mentioned. According to the old Lyman manuals, it was designed for the .45 Auto Rim, either by Keith or Harvey Thompson. It would feed in my old Smith 645 auto. That 645 would feed anything. 452423 weighs 245 grs. from my mould, so I am experimenting with it in a Ruger NM Blackhawk. I don't see a need to use anything heavier than 230 grs. in my autos.

[C. Latch]

Six (all I had left) of the NOE 453-230s cast as 252-grain flat points, powder coated and loaded over 6.7 grains of 800-x. ~875' MV. Thirty yards, from my carry 1911 that never groups this well with anything. http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j85/clatch/Mobile%20Uploads/35865C96-E21D-4F5D-A9E1-2EE28DDD4050_zpsvbd0z5ym.jpg (http://s78.photobucket.com/user/clatch/media/Mobile%20Uploads/35865C96-E21D-4F5D-A9E1-2EE28DDD4050_zpsvbd0z5ym.jpg.html)






Eta: group is just under 3".

[roharmon]

I have good luck with the Lee .452, 230 grain LRN.

[jonp]

I should clarify my preference. After reading some stuff by Bill Wilson who has forgotten more about the 45acp than I will ever learn I switched to 200gr and have not looked back

[zomby woof]

I shoot a 160 LEE for steel speed shooting, 200 HG68 clone for general use. I have one finicky 1911 that like a round nose so a 230 for it.

[hickfu]

I should clarify my preference. After reading some stuff by Bill Wilson who has forgotten more about the 45acp than I will ever learn I switched to 200gr and have not looked back

I will have to look up Bill Wilson and read up on what he says.

Doc

[oger]

Mostly 68 H&G but I have good luck with the 452423 Lyman.

[ShooterAZ]

I shoot the 200gr NOE H&G 68 clone, and the RCBS 201 SWC in my 1911's. Both of these shoot very, very well. I use the LEE 128gr RN boolit in my Model 25, only for faster loading with moon clips. My model 25 also loves the RCBS 185 BB SWC, but I don't use it much because it's a PITA to size & lube.

[Jagdhund]

Oger: What weight does your 452423 throw? I have an old ideal mould that throws a .453 or .454 slug weighing 245 grains from range scrap. I have decided to try for a .45 Colt load with it. If I get time, I may cast some 452423s out of lino and try them in my autos.

[glockky]

106044106045106046

I really like NOE's 452 230hp. They shoot great out of my FNX 45.
Group was at 25yds with the second mag I had ever shot through the FNX.

[David2011]

The 200gr LSWC is probably shot as much as the 230grLRN. Generally no special gun tuning is needed unless you are trying for really low recoil loads.

Hi Fred,

The 200 gr SWC at 645 fps IS an incredibly light recoil load and won't even move the slide of an out-of-the-box 1911. It's about the same recoil as 2.7 grains of Bullseye behind a 148 grain wadcutter in a 4"-6" .357. The cartridges fall about 18" from the gun. I developed it to use in my steel plate pistol and it worked very well. It takes a while for the boolit to get to the steel (compared to a .22 or open gun) but all ya gotta do is make it ring.

David