Which .45 ACP boolit

[Whitespider]

Hy guys... ain't been around here for a while.
Truth is personal issues have kept me away from shooting for some time.
Anyway, I'm back to doing some shooting, casting and reloading the last few months.

So I just bought a 1911 (American Classic II) off GunBroker... likely be here next week sometime.
Since I'm pretty much a revolver man, and my only semi-auto pistol is a Star Firestar .40 S&W... I'm completely uninformed.
I need a mold... or 5... but what is the one I should be lookin' for first??
I'm leanin' to a 230 grain RN, or maybe a 230 grain TC... but what about a 200 grain SWC??

OH... this will be mostly used for shootin' beer cans an such.

What have y'all been most happy (or impressed) with??
Just lookin' for input from 1911 guys...
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[Driver man]

Lee do a 6 cavity 200g swc which produces wonderful boolits with minimal recoil when pushed by 4.8g w231 with great accuracy. For target or plinking 200grains works well and is a lot more economical on lead and easier on your 1911.

[lightman]

I favor 45 caliber bullets in the 185 to 200 grain weight range. Something like the H&G 130 or the H&G 68. Most mold makers offer something close to these. That 230 bullet feeds good but I like the sharper hole that the swc type bullet cuts in paper or game.

[RobS]

Of the Lee SWC's in 45 acp the traditional lube groove SWC is better designed to meet the needs for the longer COAL that most 1911's require for proper function. The tumble lube 200 grain SWC that Lee has is short and stubby.

The TC design is a good one but in many new autos these days the barrel throat will likely not be cut appropriately to see the Lee 230 TC boolit to have a longer COAL which means seating to a short 1.200" length give or take a bit.

[jcren]

Like the Lee 200 traditional swc, but have been playing with their 200 round flat, and my 1911 seems to prefer it. Oal is touchy for reliability, but that wide nose hits like a hammer.

[Cherokee]

I like the H&G 68 style SWC and the TC designs. Lee makes both in conventional lube designs...I would go with the 200 SWC to start with for your purposes. Many makers offer an H&G 200 SWC.

[scattershot]

For plinking and general use, the H&G 68 200 grain SWC is pretty hard to beat. For a full weight boolit, I like the 230 grain TC style. I use 4.0 Red Dot with either boolit.

[Alstep]

+1 on the H&G 68 and close copies. 1Pb/1WW, lubed with 45-45-10, 4 grains of Bullseye, OAL 1.250, taper crimp. Accurate & reliable in all my 1911's.

[Artful]

If you are just punching paper and tin cans then any copy of H&G 200 grain SWC or Lyman 452460 will be fine but may not regulate to fixed sights -
One of the reasons I quit casting those and use 230 grain TC is it matches
sights on older fixed sight guns I run into. Plus it rings the steel a little louder.

I'm using a NEI mold but NOE or LEE makes good gang molds in either type.

[runfiverun]

I'm using the lyman 200 swc [4 cavity]
I'd have no problem shooting the lee version of the H&G 68, I was using the magma 68 copy for a long time before finding the lyman mold.

[Whitespider]

Thanks guys... I'll start with the Lee version of the H+G 68... heck, a new 2 cavity can be had for less than $30 and if it works for me I'll up grade from there.

Does everyone agree with the 1Pb/1WW alloy?? That's what I seem to remember from reading in the past.
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[TenTea]

Thanks guys... I'll start with the Lee version of the H+G 68... heck, a new 2 cavity can be had for less than $30 and if it works for me I'll up grade from there.

Does everyone agree with the 1Pb/1WW alloy?? That's what I seem to remember from reading in the past.
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Just get the 6 cavity and be done with it! :kidding:

[Whitespider]

Just get the 6 cavity and be done with it! :kidding:
LOL
I don't have any 6 cavity handles.
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[ioon44]

I shoot the 200 gr and 185 gr SWC bullets with 6-2-92 alloy and Hi-Tek coating very accurate and no leading.

When you get your 1911 slug the barrel so you can size the bullets .002" over bore da and look at the throat to see if it is long enough for cast bullets.

[Boolseye]

50-50 Pb/COWW will do it. They don't need to be terribly hard.

[Plate plinker]

H&G 68 and don't look back.

[Whitespider]

I cast with a dipper... how do the Lee 6 cavity molds run with a dipper??
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[Plate plinker]

Your going to need a big dipper. That mold takes a bunch o lead.

[243winxb]

OH... this will be mostly used for shootin' beer cans an such.

Any bullet that makes it out the barrel, should do just fine.

[Yodogsandman]

I prefer the Lyman 452460 200 gr SWC for accurate practice loads and the Lee 452-230 TC with regular lube grooves for carry. First and second for accuracy in my pistol.

[Josh Smith]

I really like the Lee truncated cone 230grn and their 200grn tumble lube SWC. A properly tuned 1911 should feed either.

I'm mostly going back to tumble lube for pistols, and sold my TL version of the 230-TC years back... dangit. At least they aren't expensive.

Regards,

Josh

[Whitespider]

So... I ordered a Lee 2 cavity SWC, found a Lyman carbide 4 die set on GunBroker for 21 bucks, I've got plenty of brass (but I don't remember why)...
And now here I sit, twiddling my thumbs and waiting... which always sucks.
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[TexasGrunt]

I've got several hungry .45 ACP mouths to feed. It's my favorite centerfire pistol caliber.

Lyman 452460 200 gr
RCBS .45-201-SWC
Lyman 452488


I'd like to try the Lyman 452460 165gr, 452489 and 452630. NOE also has a couple I'd like to try.

I use WST 4.4-4.6 gr with any of the first three boolits. I did pick up the NOE TL452-230 mold in the RG2 and I doubt I'll ever use it to not cast the hollow points. I've got a bunch cast, powder coated 50 of them in a high gloss black and they are sexy as can be, I've got a bunch more ready to go with Hi-Tek Kryptonite Green.

I'll get those to the range next week and see how they shoot. If they shoot well the NOE hollow point will probably become my new carry load, albeit with a bit higher powder charge.

[W.R.Buchanan]

I'll throw my .02 in here as I recently started casting for .45 ACP. I got a 4 cav. Lyman 452374 which has been around for a long time and is a proven performer.

I also Powder Coat those boolits so I don't have to mess with lubing etc. Cast, PC, Size, load, shoot.

This is a standard 230 gr Round Nosed boolit, which has been a standby for probably 60-80 years. it works perfectly in my Glock 21 SF.

Randy

I load it with 5.7 gr of W231

[Ed_Shot]

You will not go wrong with the Lyman 452374 for accuracy and reliability. For a 200 gr. the Accurate 45-200E ( a TC design) has proven accurate and absolutely reliable. Lyman's 452630 (HG 68 clone) gives superb accuracy but some weapons choke on any shoulder above the case mouth.

[NoAngel]

I have had my best luck to date with an RCBS 45-250 RNFP. I know 250g is a bit on the heavy side for 45 acp but I powder coat and use a 230g FMJ starting load as my max backed off 10% and worked up. With CFE Pistol and my FN-FNX tactical.....it's a helluva lot more accurate than I am. Feeds flawlessly too. In fact, I have a PT-145 and it's the only bullet that little turd will cycle 100%.

[Possum Lickaa]

I've got to say, thay Lyman is a beautiful looking boolit. However, I, like so many others, mainly use the lee 200gr SWC. Its a good little boolit. Feeds well, shoots well, and on top of 4.0 gr BE, its very easy on me and my pistol. For something a little more potent, I go woth the NOE 452-230 Large HP. You'll be able to cast Hollow-Point, Cup,Point, and RFN with this mold, and they all perform well.

[Shiloh]

The H&G 68 clone by LEE is my favorite. Buckshot flycut most of the bevel base off.

Shiloh

[DougGuy]

Don't be a bit surprised if your barrel doesn't really have enough freebore, or any at all, to seat your boolits out where you'd like to. If you look down the barrel and it looks like it has rifling that runs right to the end of the chamber, and no throat to speak of, don't fight it, send it and get it throated, they run like a singer sewing machine afterwards, and will easily plunk any boolit that will cycle through the magazine..

[trixter]

Take a look at the MP Mold, 45 Hollow point from them. It will produce from 1 mold, three different boolits. There are round nose with round pins for hollow point, then there are hex pins for hex hollow point, and then turn the pins and make solid point round nose boolits. These molds are brass pieces of pure art. Give them a look.

[11B-101ABN]

If you are anywhere near Cedar Rapids we could meet and I will give you some of my favorite SWCs ready to load.

[Whitespider]

If you are anywhere near Cedar Rapids we could meet and I will give you some of my favorite SWCs ready to load.
I'm about 2 hours north of you... up around the Charles City area... I really appreciate the offer, but I won't be down that way this week.
The mold and reloading dies are to be delivered today according to USPS tracking... but the pistol was just shipped today according to the email.
I should be able to have brass prepped and a pile of boolits cast this week easily enough... all I've got is a .452 sized die (thought I had a .451 also), but I'll still wait to size them until I can slug the barrel (here's to hopin' .452 is the one I need).
I expect the pistol to show Thursday... and that's when the top punch should be here.
Plan on pressin' the trigger some on Saturday.
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[TexasGrunt]

I've never used anything but a .452 cast for .45 ACP.

[ShooterAZ]

I've never used anything but a .452 cast for .45 ACP.

Same here with one exception, a Para Ord P14-45 and it wanted .451 to chamber. I no longer have it. Everything else is .452, and Iv'e never needed to slug a bore for a 45ACP. Edit to add that my favorites are the NOE H&G 68 clone, The RCBS 230 RN, and the RCBS 185 SWC.

[David2011]

The 452374 and the H&G 68 or its Saeco equivalent are my favorites for the 1911. Overall length is often determined by the shape of the magazine. The 452374 matches the inside shape of the mag very well. If a 200 gr SWC is loaded to the oal of a 452374 it won't fit into the magazine because the nose has corners.

David

[Whitespider]

OK... now I have a question, and I didn't see a sticky on it.
This Lee mold is different than any of the others i have. It has actual alignment pins and what appears to be steel bushings for them to fit into... and deeper, wider, circular vent lines. Obviously Lee has changed their molds since I last bought on.

Is there anything I should know?? Any quirks?? Etc.??
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[Area Man]

LOL
I don't have any 6 cavity handles.
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I've only been half heartedly and sporadically been casting over the last handful of years and I recently decided to learn more about it and actually make some good bullets with good loads. Almost all my molds are inherited Lyman or RCBS 1 or 2 cavity molds. I picked up Lee's 6 cavity 200 grain mold for my 1911.

It's like a powder measure. I handloaded for years without one. Once I got one, I couldn't understand how I lived life without one.

[David2011]

OK... now I have a question, and I didn't see a sticky on it.
This Lee mold is different than any of the others i have. It has actual alignment pins and what appears to be steel bushings for them to fit into... and deeper, wider, circular vent lines. Obviously Lee has changed their molds since I last bought on.

Is there anything I should know?? Any quirks?? Etc.??
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You're right, the newer Lee molds have bushings and much better venting.

[gwpercle]

Clean it well with acetone and a soft old tooth brush. The machining oils go deep into the pores of the metal. My last one I let soak in acetone for a few hours....that got all the oil out.
If not deep cleaned the machining oil comes out from the heat and spoils the castings.
Heat cycle the mould two or three times , this sets the pins and drives oil out. Clean with acetone and tooth brush in between the heat cycles .
Permatex Anti-Seize compound and synthetic 2-cycle oil are great mould lubes.
The new Lee 2 cavities are much better than the old. Look for left handed sprue plate screw, mine was marked LH.
Gary

[Whitespider]

Look for left handed sprue plate screw, mine was marked LH.
Gary
LOL... I wish you would have posted earlier... I darn near twisted that screw head off before I figured that out.

Anyway, I scrubbed the mold with dish soap and hot water, lubed with Anti-Seize and started casting. The rear cavity (the one closest to the handles) gave me fits until I smoked it pretty good. The left hand thread on the sprue plate is nice, never moved. The rear cavity was really temperamental, if I didn't mount the ladle perfectly it would produce a reject every time. I did manage somewhere between 300-400 boolits this evening... that's enough to get me started. I expect the mold to be much better after another session or two. Didn't do the heat cycling, unless setting it aside while I put sprue **** in the pot and let it come back up to temp counts?? Overall, I think this Lee design is far superior to the previous... hands down. This mold, first run, liked running hot... right on the edge of "frosty"... but "frosty" would stick in the mold. I was using an alloy of 10# COWW, 10#SOWW, and 6oz of tin... boolits came in at 200.5 grains (give-or-take a ½ grain).

So now... thinking about the starting load... leaning towards 4.5 grains Bullseye and adjust from there for point-of-impact.
Anyone have thoughts on that??
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[DocSavage]

I use 2 200 gr swc one from Redding and the other from Noe,230 gr rnfp and rn from Redding, 230 gr truncated from accurate and a 225 fp/ hp from Noe. All sized to .452 for use in my 45 acp,45 auto rim.

[TexasGrunt]

I've been using 4.6 gr of WST under my 200 gr SWC. Love that load.

[Shooter6br]

200 g MP mold for my Kimber Target II

[Whitespider]

Well I got the gun today and slugged the barrel. Interestingly it's less than .451... measured .4504, .4505, .4506.
I thought about slugging it a second time to double check the measurements, but then I figured just knowing it was a touch under .451 was enough to know. I could probably get along good with a .451 sizing die, but I'll use my .452 and see how it performs before spending any money on another die.

So now I have the gun, something over 400 pieces of brass cleaned and sized, and around 350 boolits waiting to be lube-sized (tomorrow night). Figuring Friday night I'll load a few and start testing, feed, function, and performance on Saturday. Supposed to be fairly nice here Saturday... sunny and around 70°, but a little bit windy. I can play with it all day at my leisure if I want... my shootin' range is in my back yard. Should be able to have a workable load settled on by the end of the day.
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[Whitespider]

Oh... and I have most of the (often) recommended powders on hand to play with...
Red Dot, Clays, 700X, Bullseye, Green Dot, International, AA#2, HP38, W231, Unique, Universal, Herco, 800X, AA#5, HS6, Silhouette, AA#7... plus some obsolete stuff like PB, SR7625, SR4756, W473, W540, W571, AL5, AL7 and some I'm sure I've forgotten I have.
Shouldn't be any reason for me to get bored with it...
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[jim147]

I have never tried to function test a brand new pistol with lead. I like to know that it runs perfectly with factory rounds first. That might get interesting.

Looks ks like a good choice of powders just from my own experience I would start with the red dot. That is what I like to use in the 45 acp.

[Whitespider]

I have never tried to function test a brand new pistol with lead. I like to know that it runs perfectly with factory rounds first. That might get interesting.
Hmmmm... That makes sense I suppose.
However, I ain't bought, or fired a factory center-fire round in at least 25 years... probably longer.
And I ain't sent a jacketed bullet down the barrel of a handgun in at least 20... again, probably longer.

Now, to be honest, my experience with pistols is a bit limited, I'm more of a revolver man. I do have a Star Firestar .40 S&W, and a little KelTek P-32... neither of those has ever seen a factory, or jacketed round that (I can remember anyway). I ain't planning on ever shooting factory ammunition in the pistol, so I see no reason to test any factory ammunition in the pistol.
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[Whitespider]

Don't ya' just hate it when ya' get around ¾ of your boolits lube-sized and the reservoir goes empty??
I didn't feel like melting more lube and filling it... I've got over 200 done, I'm good for tonight.
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[huntersdog]

How is the Lee 6-Cavity 452-200-RF in the 45 ACP?

[Whitespider]

I got a 2-cavity... I don't believe my ladle is big enough to pour 6 .45 holes.
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[Whitespider]

I'm takin' a little break, in the house to eat something.
So I loaded 29 rounds in some miscellaneous mixed headstamps... seated the boolit at COL 1.220 inches (except one a lot shorter by mistake). Whatever my powder dump was set to just happened to be 4.4 grains Bullseys, so I started there. I had three failures to feed... rounds #3, #27, and #29... #3 and #27 were some obscure headstamp with thicker case walls than any of the others, #29 was the short one and I figured it to fail (that's why it was last).

Point-of-impact at 25 yards was about 5 inches low, but didn't group to bad at all considering I was shooting off-hand with a new pistol and mixed headstamps... around three inches. I'm gonna' back the load off to 4.0 grains and see if that raises point-of-impact closer to point-of-aim. If that don't do it I may haf'ta go with a heavier boolit.
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[Whitespider]

Unfortunately, I don't believe the 200 grain boolit is gonna' work out... POI is just way too low.
4.0 grains Bullseye made for smoky cases, 5.0 grains ejected bright shiny cases... and everything is hitting 5 inches low at 25 yards.
I might also haf'ta try a .451 sizer die, I need to get pretty aggressive with the taper crimp before cartridges will fall in and out of the chamber by their own weight.
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[DougGuy]

If you got a barrel with little or no throat in it and the rifling runs right to the end of the chamber, it will fight you to no end to plunk loads. A barrel needs to be throated with enough .4525" freebore to chamber a loaded round with a .452" boolit seated and taper crimped normally.

Stock unmodified Springfield Range Officer barrel on left, no throat to speak of, have to seat boolits deep in the case to get them to function, same barrel on right after throating, will gobble up anything you can cycle through the magazine, very accurate with .452" boolit, and run like a singer sewing machine.
http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/DougGuy/Cylinder%20Services/1f06c85f-3c7d-434b-9061-ca061af26de9_zps0aqi32iq.jpg (http://s1202.photobucket.com/user/DougGuy/media/Cylinder%20Services/1f06c85f-3c7d-434b-9061-ca061af26de9_zps0aqi32iq.jpg.html)

[Whitespider]

The barrel is throated, but I don't think as aggressively as your picture shows.

192864192865

My problem is the chamber seems a bit tight.
Unless I use an aggressive taper crimp the cartridge will only only fall in the chamber ¼ of the way.
If I force it in with my finger it sticks pretty good, and I'm seating the SWC so all of the full diameter is inside the case so it's not the boolit sticking in the barrel.
And I get a few failures of the slide fully closing... but a little thumb pressure on the back of the slide usually closes it (it don't take very much pressure at all and it snaps shut).

I did a little light polishing of the chamber this morning using some 400 grit.
I'll play around with it some more, but I am thinking I'm gonna' need to size boolits .451, and get something heavier to raise point-of-impact.
A friend of mine that used to cast my boolits for me, before I took up the black art, did cast a 230 grain round nose and I'm bettin' he still does... I'll get a couple handfuls of them to play with before I get another mold.
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[Whitespider]

Well, I believe I've made some real headway on this feeding issue.
Last night I was chambering some of the rounds I had made up and paying close attention... even on the rounds that did chamber I could feel/hear a hiccup or hesitation as the slide was moving forward. On the rounds that hung up, or jammed, I removed the magazine and shined a good light up inside... every one had the cartridge rim against the extractor, or just slightly started under it.

In my internet searching I'd found something about too much extractor tension causing feeding problems, and a YouTube video showing how to check the extractor tension using the "shake test". I removed the slide and tried to slip an empty case rim under the extractor, and I was amazed at how much force that required... it was actually a little painful on my thumb tip. Shaking the slide would not dislodge the empty case. Next I did the same with a loaded round... supposedly the loaded round should rock back and forth but not fall out under a light shaking, but should fall out with a vigorous shaking. I couldn't make that loaded round move or fall free... even if I tapped the slide on my wooden bench.

I pulled the extractor out of the slide (that required quite a bit of careful prying, it was really tight) and found a burr on the under side of the hook (where the case rim slides under). Using a little jewelers file and some 400 grit paper I remover the burr and polished the bevel on the lower side of the hook. Reinstalled the extractor and tried the "shake test" again. It still took a considerable amount of effort to get the rim under the hook, and I still couldn't shake (or bang) a loaded round free. I ended up removing the extractor three more times, bending it a tiny bit each time until I could shake a loaded round free with a vigorous shake. It was still a bit more "shake" than what the video had shown (at least it seemed that way to me), but the case rim would slide under hook a whole darn much easier. I figured I stop there and test.

I cycled 20 rounds through the gun without a single failure to feed... but I could still feel/hear a hiccup or hesitation as the slide was moving forward on some of them (but not as bad as before the extractor tension adjustment). These were all rounds load pretty short... 1.205... putting the front driving band even with the case mouth (that's where I had left off previously). Next I removed the barrel from the gun and made up a dummy round, slowly seating the boolit deeper until the round would drop-in chamber with the case head flush with the barrel hood. This turned out to be 1.235 COL... I seated the boolit another .005 deep (1.230) and reinstalled the barrel. I cycled that round from the magazine into the chamber at least 2 dozen times... holding the gun at every imaginable angle and tilt without a single failure to feed. There was no hint of a hiccup or hesitation from the slide, it was actually darn smooth.

By this time it was getting dark outside so I didn't have a chance to actually test fire the gun, and all I have loaded are the "short" rounds... but, if nothing else, they will confirm I ain't created an extraction/ejection problem by "tweeking" the extractor. I also stopped by a friends house and begged a handful of 230 grain RN boolits off him for testing... hoping those will raise my POI. Turns out he's a member here, and is powder coating his boolits... so I'm gonna' get my first experience shooting some of those also. Hopefully the rain will hold off long enough tonight for me to test fire the gun with the "short" rounds I have loaded.
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[Whitespider]

Well, I do believe I had two problems.
The first is the chamber is a bit tight and I need to be pretty aggressive with the taper crimp, hopefully the .451 sizer will correct that. But even after crimping them all to freely fall into the chamber I was having feeding issues. I had been seating boolits deeper and deeper, without much improvement.
The second issue was way too much extractor tension... I just ran 50 rounds (the short ones) through the gun without a single hiccup. Extraction/ejection was crisp and positive... sending all the empties in the same direction. I must have gotten the extractor tension "close enough"??

I still need to deal with the low point of impact from the 200 grain boolits, hopefully the 230s will give me enough correction... or at least close enough.
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[David2011]

Hope I dont repeat myself here. I've responded to several .45 ACP threads lately. Your .4505 bore is pretty normal. I taper crimp to .469-.471 just behind the case mouth, preferring the .469 side. If the cases won't plunk at .469 then either the cases are bulged somewhere, the boolits are seated out too far or the chamber is too tight. I seat SWCs so that just a tiny amount of the sde of the boolit extends beyond the case mouth, like about .02". Just enough that the shar brass shoulder is "cushioned" by the lead.

Size and taper crimp some cases to .469 but don't load boolits and plunk test them. If they fail the test you're either not getting the cases full length sized or the chamber is tight. Won't hurt to check the length of the brass but I've never seen a piece of .45 ACP that was too long and I've shot a lot of it.

Good luck!
David

[Whitespider]

Hmmmm.... thanks David2011
I am taper crimping to .469-.470... maybe I'm not being as overly aggressive with the crimp as I think I am??
And now that I've got the gun running, I'll be seating the boolits back out so about .02 of the driving band will be outside the case.
Maybe I don't need the .451 sizer after all?? Either way, I've made a trade for one and it's on its way... just one more thing to play with I guess.
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[dondiego]

I'm takin' a little break, in the house to eat something.
So I loaded 29 rounds in some miscellaneous mixed headstamps... seated the boolit at COL 1.220 inches (except one a lot shorter by mistake). Whatever my powder dump was set to just happened to be 4.4 grains Bullseys, so I started there. I had three failures to feed... rounds #3, #27, and #29... #3 and #27 were some obscure headstamp with thicker case walls than any of the others, #29 was the short one and I figured it to fail (that's why it was last).


Point-of-impact at 25 yards was about 5 inches low, but didn't group to bad at all considering I was shooting off-hand with a new pistol and mixed headstamps... around three inches. I'm gonna' back the load off to 4.0 grains and see if that raises point-of-impact closer to point-of-aim. If that don't do it I may haf'ta go with a heavier boolit.
*

Be careful of those short bullet rounds that are seated too deeply. They can cause a rapid pressure spike.

[Possum Lickaa]

Thanks guys... I'll start with the Lee version of the H+G 68... heck, a new 2 cavity can be had for less than $30 and if it works for me I'll up grade from there.

Does everyone agree with the 1Pb/1WW alloy?? That's what I seem to remember from reading in the past.
*

I shoot straight COWW, Lee 200 gr swc. on top of 4 gr Bullseye. I think I size them .001 over bore. I do not get any leading to speak of. I think having the correct diameter boolit is very important. More important than hardness. YMMV.

[David2011]

Hmmmm.... thanks David2011
I am taper crimping to .469-.470... maybe I'm not being as overly aggressive with the crimp as I think I am??
And now that I've got the gun running, I'll be seating the boolits back out so about .02 of the driving band will be outside the case.
Maybe I don't need the .451 sizer after all?? Either way, I've made a trade for one and it's on its way... just one more thing to play with I guess.
*

If you were seating the wadcutter shoulder flush with the mouth of the case I think you'll see a significant improvement seating .02" out. You're right in the ball park on the taper crimp as far as my experience has shown.

Let us know how it works out.

[Whitespider]

Let us know how it works out.
Since I adjusted the extractor tension I've not had a single failure to feed.
Heck, it will feed an empty case now.

I am now seating the boolit out so about .02 of the shoulder is outside the case (but ain't shot any yet).
I also begged some 230 grain round nose from a friend and they print right on top of the 200 grain boolits... 4 to 5 inches low at 25 yards.
I've ordered a new low mount rear sight from Novak that's .05 inches taller than standard height, that should raise point of impact about 5 inches or a little more at 25 yards.
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[David2011]

Cool! I bought a 1911 years ago that had the extractor set so tight it wouldn't feed or go into battery. Sounds like you're on a roll.

It's amazing how much boolit weight and velocity can affect POI. A few years ago I got a Contender with a scoped 14" .44 Mag barrel. Not wishing to beat myself up with full house Contender only loads (even at the starting point they're impressive) I sighted in with .44 Special loads using the same boolit. The difference in velocity was about 950 fps (14" barrel with no cylinder gap) vs. 1600 fps. The first magnum group at 50 yards was about 14" low due to the boolits getting out of the barrel before the gun moved very far.

David

[DougGuy]

You are going at it the right way, extractor tension is critical in a 1911, and the bottom of the groove needs to be radiused and polished, the back side of the hook needs a slight radius and polish on the bottom only, and you can usually slide the extractor halfway out of it's bore and bend it with your thumbs to get the tension right. I do the shake test with a live round. Also the front of the hook should not be touching the groove in the brass cases when the gun is in battery and I have had to shorten and really round off the front side of the hook on some of my guns.

I have two finishing reamers for 45 ACP, if you do decide to have the barrel worked on, I could check the chamber with pin gages and see if any improvement could be made. I would rather see you work the barrel over and size to .452" than fight with a chamber that is too tight and a throat that is ehh, there but rather minimal in freebore, and then if the freebore is less than .452" it certainly won't let you seat out where the gun feeds better.

[Whitespider]

Update-
I received and installed the "taller" Novak sight and it actually raised point of impact further than I expected at 25 yards. It moved from 4-5 inches below to about 3-4 inches above point of aim... which puts it right in the center of my steel plates with a 6-o:clock hold. I haven't tried shooting at 50 feet yet, but I'm assuming it should be pretty close to point of aim at that range. The original rear sight had the 2 white dots on either side of the notch (to match the single white dot on the front). I went with a solid black rear sight for the replacement and I like that much better... the single dot on the front sight draws my attention and focus to it.

I'm now seating the Lee 200 gr SWC with about .02 of the shoulder out side of the case... feeding and extraction/ejection have been flawless since adjusting extractor tension. However, I haven't been impressed with the grouping from that boolit... it ain't horrible, but it ain't great either. Maybe I'm over driving it with 5.0 grains Bullseye?? (I never have great luck with bevel-base boolits - shrug) The 230 gr RN I begged off a friend grouped much better (using 4.5 grains Bullseye). Either way, I have a new 230 gr RFN mold coming from Arsenal Molds that should be here tomorrow (hoping tomorrow anyway).
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[tazman]

This thread has been very interesting and informative for me. I recently purchased a Springfield Armory Mil-Spec 45 auto and am working through getting it broken in and getting used to the pistol as it is my first 1911 in 30 years and a bit different than my other pistols.
I am following the advice about boolit selection and powder and am having good success with it so far(no failures to feed or function in last 250 rounds). I just need to get used to the trigger as it is a bit heavier than I am used to.
Thanks to all who responded to this thread. Your information reaches more people than the original poster.

[Whitespider]

Just a self serving bump to this tread... Pics of the gun (with boolits from the new mold in background) and the new Novak rear sight installed.
Ain't had a chance to shoot any of the new boolits yet.

194424

194425

194426
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[tazman]

On my most recent trip to the range with my 45acp, I tried a new load with the Lee 452-200-SWC and got absolutely outstanding results. Instead of loading it hotter, I loaded it down to around 800fps or just a bit slower. The group shrunk by about half and was very pleasant to shoot.
Previously I was getting ok groups but not really good, just like you were.
I was using WST and loading 4.1 grains which is slightly less than what the Hodgdon data site uses as a starting load. It ran my gun(Springfield Mil-Spec) perfectly. You might try loading the 200 grain boolit down to 4.0 of Bullseye or even a little less and see what it does.

[Whitespider]

Ya know? I was thinking about loading them down tazman.
I did try 4.0 grans Bullseye briefly but the cases were ejecting pretty smoky. However, I hadn't worked out the ejector/feeding problem yet, and didn't have the OAL settled on neither. I've got around 100 loaded at 5.0 grains right now, maybe I'll load some at 4.5 and 4.0 grains again and run them side-by-side in a day or two when it stops raining.
The 230 grain RN (powder coated) I tried were loaded at 4.5 and they definitely out-performed the 200 grain SWCs at 5.0 grains.
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[TexasGrunt]

I run 4.4 gr of WST for my 200 gr SWC. I'll have to give the 4.1 a try. I know in my full size 1911 the 4.4 gr is an easy shooter.