45 Size

[tbierley]

I just made a sizing die for a 45 ACP in the size of .453. Some of the books show .451 and some show .452. So can someone shed some light on this matter.

[dgill99]

I use .452 for 45 Long Colt and .451 for 45 ACP.

[MtGun44]

I recommend and use .452 for all .45 ACP and for some modern .45 Colt. Old .45 Colts are often
much happier with larger, frequently they have a .454 groove diam and throat diams can be anywhere.

It is a rare .45 ACP that isn't happy with .452, some will lead at .451 or turn in reduced accy.

The best way to know for sure for your gun is to slug the bore and shoot about .001 or so bigger.
If you really want to, have at it. Personally, I just shoot .452 in all of them, haven't slugged
a .45 ACP barrel in a couple decades.

The most common reloading problem is failure to taper crimp with a separate TC die. Strongly
recommend this, use about .470 or so diam at case mouth, smaller by .005 or so is OK,
larger is often not.

Bill

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i use .452 for 45 acp and 454 casull

[Silver Jack Hammer]

I just tried some .454" sized boolits in my very reliable newer Colt 1911 5" and they wouldn't chamber.

[khmer6]

454 sounds a but large for a new 1911. It needs broken in and even then night still not chamber

[Char-Gar]

I have used .452 in dozens of 1911s over the past fifty years with good results. Prewar Colt SSAs had .454 barrels but New Service models were .452. Post war Colts, Smiths and Rugers in 45 all will run .451 - .452.

I size six gun bullets according to cylinder throat size, usually .452 or .454.

[Larry Gibson]

.452 is pretty much the standard size for cast in 45 ACP semi autos. Some pistols with "match" chambers need a .451 size bullet to reliably chamber ( my P14 for instance). The 45 ACP headspaces off the case mouth and there is a sharp shoulder in the chamber where that happens. An over sized bullet (.453+) can bump into that headspace shoulder and cause the slide not to close unless the bullet is seated deeper. With such bullets seated deeper lead is then scraped off the side of the bullet on firing as it enters the throat by that headspace edge of the chamber. The result then is leading. Size to .451 or .452.

I've shot a bajillion .451s and .452s in many, many 45 handguns and even a few subguns. With a good alloy and a good lube you won't get leading with either. I tested several M1911 match pistols in a Ramsom Rest once and could not find any difference in accuracy either. Unfortunately we are led to believe that we must size cast bullet .001 - to whatever size over the groove diameter or we will get leading and inaccuracy.........many times it just isn't so. The 45 ACP in semi auto pistols is a good example.

Larry Gibson

[376Steyr]

I have a Government Model that gobbles up .453" boolits with no leading. Seeing how you can't turn that .453 die into a .452, I recommend loading up a few .453" rounds and see if your pistol likes them.

[Love Life]

If it will chamber than no worries.

.452 is what I size to for 45 ACP. Even with significant tool marks in the barrel (good ol' Colt quality) thre is no leading and accuracy is good for capabilities.

[jonp]

.452 works in my bh45lc and my 45acps but my non-1911 45acp likes .451. I can use .452 in it so that is what I buy

[TCFAN]

I have a Lyman 4 cavity 452374 mold that drops WW boolits at .453. I size and lube in a Lyman H die marked .452 that does not touch the sides of the boolit.So I am really loading the boolit unsized.I use a Lee Carbide Crimp die and pulled boolits come out at .451.I have never had any leading issues with my Colt 1911 Combat Elite.
I have also tried some of these boolits at .453 using a RCBS taper crimp die with the same results.No leading.......Terry

[searcher4851]

I've had several 1911's over the years and .452 was pretty much all I ever used in any of them. The .453 wouldn't be that much of a problem, as long as the round chambers reliably.

[Jack Stanley]

My 1911 is a mid-eighties Springfield aromory that for years I used .452" slugs in it with moderate loads because more would lead . I got a .453" dies and tried that and now loads are about factory equivalent without leading . So I guess I'd just have to say try it and see what works for you .

Jack

[Char-Gar]

Jack.......Have you slugged the bore of that Springer to get the groove diameter. I am betting (guessing), that it is on the large size and the .452 bullets were allowing gas to slide by part of the bullets.

I had one Springer but became unhappy with the performance. I put in a good Colt barrel and groups shrank in half. This just to say, I didn't have good luck with the one Springer barrel I owned. It was not of good quality.

I have had very good luck with newer Colt barrels in the 1911 pistols. I have them in my Colt GM and both Norinco 1911A1s. They are all a uniform .451 and very slick with no burrs on the end of the chamber. .452 bullets do very well in these barrels.

[Jack Stanley]

No .... haven't slugged it that I remember , I think what made the light come on for me was a bullet mold that I had that dropped .453 and a little bit more . I was fooling with liquid Alox a little at the time and thought why not and lubed a small batch of bullets . Powder charges increased untill I was satified it was close to hardball so I got a regular sizer for the Star and tried that . They did indeed work and worked well with the only proviso that this particular barrel likes the lead to be about eleven BHN in hardness .

I don't shoot the 1911 platform near as well as an "N" frame Smith & Wesson but I'm now happy with the way it groups . I'm sure someone with more skill could tell it's a bum barrel .

Jack

[Char-Gar]

Bhn 11 is pretty soft, about like ACWW which I like. When I started with the 1911, the word was it took hard bullets to hold the shallow rifling. Keith and everybody else spouted this hard bullet mantra. About 1964 or thereabout Speer came out with soft swaged 200 SWC and 230 RN bullets for the 45 ACP round. These were quite soft and I figured they would not do well in the shallow rifling. To my surprise they shot as good or better than the harder stuff. Poof..another myth gone.

Still to this day, you will have folks repeating the myth about the need for hard bullets in the 1911 pistol because of the shallow rifling. This stuff has been repeated for so long, folks just assume it to be true.

[tbierley]

I loaded up some test rounds last night. And they would not chamber in any of my 1911s. I then slugged the bores of 2 of my 1911s they slugged out at .451. So I am going re size them to .452 and run with them.

[Jack Stanley]

And here we are Reverend , right in the heart of myth busters .

Jack

[hermans]

I have 2 x 45 ACP 1911 pistols, one with a Kart barrel and the other with and old Barsto that has 50k + rounds. I shoot .453 in both, no problem with leading, or any problems with feeding.