Short OAL on 45 acp

[30Carbine]

So I want to load a 200gr rf boolit in a 1911. so I take the barrel out and start making dummy rounds. what I find is a OAL of 1.14 for them to pass the plunk test, ok so I dry run some and yep it takes 1.14 for it to go into battery. So my problem is I have never had to set a acp this short before, I am sure some of you guys have, what I am needing Is a starting load that you guys have tried and worked in a acp this short. my train of thought is 3.5 of bullseye to start but not sure.

what I have on hand is,
Bullseye prefered
Clays
W231
and of course Unique

[35remington]

What bullet? The 1911 design is known to prefer longer OAL's, and the ability to seat to longer OAL's depends mostly on the bullet used.

[35remington]

The round/flatpoint, if that is what you are using in a design by Lee, is essentially a nonstandard bullet not designed for the 1911 and when loaded this short things start becoming less than ideal. 4.0 grains Bullseye will work fine and cycle the action, but if you get repeated failures to feed with this bullet consider another one.

1.14" is seriously short. This makes a late feed ramp strike, is rather "nosedivy" in terms of feeding and the feed angle is steep all due to the short OAL. This makes the rim approach the extractor at more of an angle, making it less likely to get there. In terms of a "stake your life on feed reliability bullet".......this ain't it.

[30Carbine]

452-200-rf lee oh yea I did forget to finish that. I have used it in other 1911's at 1.20-1.25 no problem this one seems to have a shorter throat.

[35remington]

I'll repeat that 4.0 grains Bullseye will be fine to start. I would go up to as much as one grain more if desired but you can fine tune for velocity after your 4.0 grain beginning.

[30Carbine]

thanks 35 this is not a stake your life on feed reliability bullet. and I know about the late feed ramp trike. had it happen in a 9 luger. this is just for fun. also I am going to use mags that have the open feed lips to help minimize hopefully late feed ramp trikes.

[35remington]

Since the OAL of the round governs late feed ramp strikes, you can't do anything about that. Later is worse regardless. Nosediving is worse as well, another symptom of the late feed ramp strike. Magazines that release not too late are the best you can do as the other factors are beyond your reach with this OAL. The rim still is at a steep angle to the extractor on feeding as well.

[Cmm_3940]

452-200-rf lee oh yea I did forget to finish that. I have used it in other 1911's at 1.20-1.25 no problem this one seems to have a shorter throat.

I load that boolit at 1.10" and it feeds fine for me in my 1911s. It needs to be that short to plunk properly. Use a good magazine like a Wilson Combat 47D.

[Geppetto]

I had to load it to about 1.11" to fit the Ruger P98 I had at the time. Used a small amount of titewad (~3.5 grains) and it really shot fairly well. I didn't have any feed problems (different gun of course), but didn't do extensive shooting with it (maybe 50 rounds or so) before selling the gun. Titewad is a bit faster than bullseye, so I would think the 3.5-4 range of bullseye will be fine, take that as you will, confirm your load data, etc.

[30Carbine]

I always confirm data before, I was just looking for a stating load I can work off of and you guys seemed the best to ask. no one here seems to want to blow anyone up. thanks for the responses I find out what works this weekend for sure, i'll let you guys know how it went.

[wv109323]

3.5 gns. of BE might be a little light to work the slide with a standard recoil spring. Somewhere around 4.0 to 4.2 it should be reliable and accurate. Many Bullseye shooters use 4.0 to 4.2 gns. of BE for their target loads. That is with a 200 gn. SWC.
Max load is 5.0 or greater.