45 auto and cast boolits Questions

[Lights]

Hello guy's this is my first post here.

I have been reloading for about 15 years now for my rifles. But just started reloading for my 45 auto pistol. I seem to be having some leading issues and maybe someone here could help me out. I have some 200gr RNFP boolits that mic .452-.4525 from Missouri Bullet co. They claim that they have a hardness of 18Bhn. I was charging them with 5.0gr of Bullseye. When cleaning I found the barrel was leaded. So I cleaned the lean out and slugged the barrel and it is .453. Is my only choice to get rid of the leading issues to order some boolits in .454 dia if I want to shoot cast boolits? Or should I try and bump up my powder charge to widen the back end of the boolit out?

Thank you,
Mark

[felix]

Do NOT shoot the ACP pistol any harder than you are now unless the gun is intended to be a war gun. ... felix

[littlejack]

Lights:
Welcome to the CastBoolits.
How about a new barrell.
If you load bigger boolits, they may not chamber. I do not believe that bumping the powder
charge will remidy your leading.
Maybe softer boolits? With that powder charge, they may bump up some. Not for certain though.
Jack

[Bushrat]

You may also try a lighter charge of Bullseye, my 45 had a leading problem with clays until I dropped to 4 grains. Check your bookl and start with a light to mid range load of bullseye and see if it solves your problem.

[Lights]

The pistol is a Taurus 24/7 OSS Tactical. Which was designed for the military.

[geargnasher]

If you have leading, you have gas leaks, sharp edges perpendicular to the bore (like a sharp step from throat to rifling shaving lead), or rough spots from machine marks or copper fouling. Work back from there to diagnose the issue.

Most commerciall boolits are too small, too hard, and have lousy lube. All three of these factors can cause poor or loss of obturation (sealing of the bore) and the resulting gas leaks will erode the boolit, lay the lead dust down in the barrel, and iron it on when the boolit passes over it.

Gear

[jmsj]

Lights,
Welcome to Castboolits !!
Those are some really hard and undersized bullets for your barrel. gearnasher nailed it on the head regarding factory cast bullets.
littlejack's comments that .454 bullets may not chamber, try posting in the bullet exchange section of swappin and sellin and see if someone can send you some .454's to try. I will check but I don't think I have a 45 ACP mold that drops that big.
Good luck, jmsj

[camaro1st]

when i first started i used the Missouri Bullet co. the bullet was sized ok for my barrel but the lube was where my problem was. It was blue and almost as hard as the bullet. i changed the lube and no leading. it looks like you have a couple of issues. size is important.

[KYCaster]

.453 groove dia.???

That's unusual. You may have a hard time making that work.

Jerry

[geargnasher]

Never seen a .45 ACP with a groove dimension that large. Possible, but not likely. Sounds like something other than pure lead was used to slug it.

Gear

[MtGun44]

Please reslug, it is highly unusual to find a groove diam that big in this caliber, but
it is a Taurus. Also I'd back off to 4.8 gr and use a H&G 68 (200 SWC) for that gun.

I have burned about 200-300K of those and leading is very minimal in number of
1911s. Of course, they have .451 groove diameters.

Bill

[Lights]

I slugged it with one of my .452 RNFP boolits. I am a toolmaler (moldmaker) and know how to maesure things. I used a mic not a varynear caliper. The bullets never touched the groove diameter. So I smashed a boolit a little in my mill vise until it gat to .455 and it slugged at .453 Maybe I need to see if I can send the gun back and get a barrel that has the right grove diameter.

[Blammer]

Lights, please don't take offense to those suggestions about slugging and measureing.

Most do not know how to measure or use a caliper, and by your posts ( I mean we look and see you only have 3 or so, so you are "new" here) we most likely assumed the same.

I shall presume you meant toolmaker, not toolmaler.

if your barrel is .453 I suspect that .454 dia will fit just fine in the chamber. I have a chamber in my 45acp that will accept .454 dia boolits but .452 dia ones shoot just fine in my 45acp.

the powder charge changes are a good start, or try a diff powder. Overall I suspect you'll need a diff size boolit.

[Lights]

Lights, please don't take offense to those suggestions about slugging and measureing.

Most do not know how to measure or use a caliper, and by your posts ( I mean we look and see you only have 3 or so, so you are "new" here) we most likely assumed the same.

I shall presume you meant toolmaker, not toolmaler.

if your barrel is .453 I suspect that .454 dia will fit just fine in the chamber. I have a chamber in my 45acp that will accept .454 dia boolits but .452 dia ones shoot just fine in my 45acp.

the powder charge changes are a good start, or try a diff powder. Overall I suspect you'll need a diff size boolit.

No offense, just wanted everyone to know where i am coming from.

Yes I meant Toolmaker. Been doing it for 23 years now.

Thanks for all of your help guy's

Mark

[bigboredad]

check out Ranchdog's site he has bullet molds for the taurus .45 that drop at .457 or maybe he was just talking about doing it. He has Taurus guns in the .45 acp and claims they use a .457 barrel

[Char-Gar]

If you have leading, you have gas leaks, sharp edges perpendicular to the bore (like a sharp step from throat to rifling shaving lead), or rough spots from machine marks or copper fouling. Work back from there to diagnose the issue.

Most commerciall boolits are too small, too hard, and have lousy lube. All three of these factors can cause poor or loss of obturation (sealing of the bore) and the resulting gas leaks will erode the boolit, lay the lead dust down in the barrel, and iron it on when the boolit passes over it.

Gear

Da gospel truth.

Slug it again. You would have to pound so hard on that hard cast bullet to get it down the barrel, that any measurment would be suspect. Use soft lead.

[quilbilly]

I agree with geargnasher and would add that a lot of commercial lead boolit makers use bevel base boolits which is a bad idea. I have a T/C Contender barrel in 45 acp and it leaded terribly with factory cast boolits but as soon as I got my 200 gr rnfp Lee mold casting, the leading stopped completely with my own boolits plus Alox.

[gwpercle]

Before you do anything , buy some boolits designed for 45 ACP in a softer alloy.
For as long as I can rember Lyman # 452460 , a 200 gr cast SWC , air cooled wheel weights , sized .452 , have worked in every 1911 type and two revolvers that I have loaded for. I think it's you bullet not gun.

[garym1a2]

My fav 1911 load is a 200 SWC with 4 gr of bullseye. Also use a good soft gooey lube works well for me.

You may also try a lighter charge of Bullseye, my 45 had a leading problem with clays until I dropped to 4 grains. Check your bookl and start with a light to mid range load of bullseye and see if it solves your problem.

[MtGun44]

4.7 to 4.8 of BE or TG, and try to get some H&G 68 clones - even the too hard ones,
and if the diam is right these will guaranteed work. Not certain about that design, and
the crayola lube is no great shakes, pretty marginal.

Since you are qualified to measure and are using the right tools (LOVED the 'verynear' caliper,
this is something that I harp on a lot - use a mic) then a re-do with a soft slug is the
only possible reprive. It is probably .453. Not a good thing and pretty unusual, really.

Otherwise - it is a Taurus and I'd tell them what the issue is and see if you can get an
on-spec bbl replacement.

Bill