Powder for soft 45acp boolits?

[Swede 45]

I´m about to start casting for my 1911 45acp now, and have been collecting some rangelead that turns out aircooled to 10bhn on the calculator and to 9-10ish on a penciltest. The boolits are the Lee 200grSWC H&N68 clone and the 230 tumblelube TC, and I plan to keep it to lower vel loads for 25m papertargets, accuracy is the goal here..

I have a selection of Vithavouri powder on the shelf and wonder if a fast, like N310 or a slower like N340 is the way to go? Vithavouri lists them all, but is it in general any prefered powder for softer lead?

I picked up somewhere a statement that a faster powder launches a soft boolit to hard at the start, and may cause leading and poor accuracy.. ( I guess the theory behind that statement is due to the faster peak in preassure on fast powders, the acceleration would be more "brutal" on a soft boolit?)
Any truth to that?

I´ve used the N-310 for jackeded and hard commercial cast boolits with good result before, but now my alloy casts softer..

Thanks/ Swede

[RobS]

It all depends on what diameter the boolits are once they leave the case. If they are swage down due to the case tension (measure the very edge of the base of the boolit) then you may need a quick powder to bump/obturate the boolit to seal the bore. It's hard to say what your firearm will like though so the best way to figure it out is to run both powders behind some of those boolits and see where it takes you.

[twc1964]

Wsf powder @ 6.0 and 1.185 work great but my version of that boolit is not the tumble lube version, although i do tumble lube them. Shoots real nice. Ymmv

[zomby woof]

My favorite powder for 45acp and lead is WST. I use the same LEE 200 grain boolit with 4.0-4.3 grains. I've tried the N310 but could not get the same results as WST.

[bangerjim]

Use powder coating to shoot softer lead! Many are doing it very successfully. I PC all my boolits including those for the 45 ACP. I cast 9-12 for all subsonics.

You can try the dry tumble method....very inexpensive.......to try it. Check the stickys for method. Or use ESPC gun to spray the powder on.

Both are baked in a toaster oven for 10 min at 400F. Oven is dedicated to ONLY PC!

bangerjim

[LUCKYDAWG13]

i have good luck with Bullseye and RedDot in my 45 also i just use range lead

[Swede 45]

the question was if theres any truth to the statement that softer lead need slower powders..

And thanks for your tips on loads.. but US powders are rare here in Sweden..
/Swede

[RobS]

the question was if theres any truth to the statement that softer lead need slower powders..

And thanks for your tips on loads.. but US powders are rare here in Sweden..
/Swede

Considering the operating pressures of 45 acp the powders used do not have that much difference in starting pressure vs lets say a rifle round or even magnum large bore revolvers. I've not been one for relying on obturation and rather have my boolits moving down the barrel at the right diameter as they exit the brass case. I do know that when I have had case swage with 45 acp in the past my "slower" powder that I like to use, Herco, does not create enough initial pressure for a boolit of 15ish bhn to obturate until an inch or so down the barrel which meant leading the first inch starting at the lands due to an undersized boolit. There are more variables than just the statement you purposed.

[Swede 45]

I just finished a testcast of the tl230-TC in my new Lee 6 cavitymold.. boy does those eat up my lead stash in a blink?!
Twice the lead, three times the cavities to my normal casting! 600 boolits in a short session!
Boolits turned out very nice and I cant wait to get some loaded.

Rob: No worries about the faster powders then!
So, I will try out all my Vithavouri powders and see what works best..
Also will take som measurements and keep track on that.

Thanks

[stu1ritter]

I have been loading and shooting the 200 gr Lee SWC H&G #68 for several years with VV powders. I have settled on N320 and load between 4.0 and 4.6 gr. depending upon which recoil spring is in my gun. Accuracy seems best between 4.4 and 4.6. Recommended for this bullet in the VV chart is 4.7 - 5.1. For my loads I am using BHN 10 lead and air cooling. All the usual warnings apply about underloading :~)
Stu

[Char-Gar]

I´m about to start casting for my 1911 45acp now, and have been collecting some rangelead that turns out aircooled to 10bhn on the calculator and to 9-10ish on a penciltest. The boolits are the Lee 200grSWC H&N68 clone and the 230 tumblelube TC, and I plan to keep it to lower vel loads for 25m papertargets, accuracy is the goal here..

I picked up somewhere a statement that a faster powder launches a soft boolit to hard at the start, and may cause leading and poor accuracy.. ( I guess the theory behind that statement is due to the faster peak in preassure on fast powders, the acceleration would be more "brutal" on a soft boolit?)
Any truth to that?

Thanks/ Swede

That statement IS NOT true as related to your lead in a 1911 pistol chambered for 45 ACP. It might be somewhat true in some rifle rounds.

Your range scrap is just fine as fast powders like Bulleye or 231 will work great. I am not familiar with your powders, but one of the same burning rate as the forgoing will do just fine.

[bangerjim]

the question was if theres any truth to the statement that softer lead need slower powders..

And thanks for your tips on loads.. but US powders are rare here in Sweden..
/Swede

The reason I mentioned PC is it brings to soft lead a hard coating (24-40Bhn depending on who you ask) and you can treat your boolits as harder when working up your loads. Mabe that will help you with your available powder loads. Just a thought to consider.

Your location is blank on your ID area, so we have no idea where you are.

banger

[Swede 45]

Good to know, stu.. warning noted. Ill work up my own loads as usual..

Char-gar: It was just a conversation I overheard long time ago, don´t know what caliber they was discussing.. it just stuck back in my head and surfaced when i was thinking about my soft boolits and fast powders..

Banger, thanks for the advice, but I´ve just invested in casting. And since I haven´t yet tried a commercial powdercoated bullet that even are close to the accuray I´m looking for, I´ll wait until i go down the PC road myself.. (and I fixed my location.. Sweden, as my nick hints..)

Thanks

[MtGun44]

I have used as slow as Unique and as fast as Bullseye and Titegroup with hard cast
commercial and dead soft swaged commercial with excellent results. My MOST accurate
ever .45 ACP load is a very soft swaged Speer 200 gr SWC with some sort of black coated lube,
looks like soft wax and graphite, all over - with Bullseye.

I don't think fast powders hurt even pure lead boolits in the .45 ACP as far as accuracy is
concerned.

Bill