45-200RF a slowpoke

[ole_270]

I've been trying some loads through the chronograph (Pro Chrono not Chrony)the last few days. Using my Sig 1911 5" that DougGuy throated for me. One thing that struck me was the difference in the 2 Lee molds, 45-200RF and 45-200 swc(H&G #68 clone). Yes I know there is a big difference in the bearing length of the two and the RF weighs 8 grains more, but I didn't expect quite this much speed difference.
200swc 5.2 HP-38 800fps
200RF 5.2 HP-38 670fps

I kicked it up to 5.5 HP-38 with the 200RF and got 757fps, but had some scorching on some of the cases.

6.0 Universal went 793

I'm thinking if I want to run the 200RF into the 800s for occasional hunting use I will need slower powders. I'm not sure what to think on powder or charge because of the long bearing length.

[ole_270]

Forgot to add, the swc is seated to 1.25 which is about .12 off the lands in the newly throated barrel. The 200RF is seated to 1.235 which is about .03 off the lands and about .005 short of hanging up in the factory magazine.

[mnewcomb59]

I run that bullet as my primary acp bullet. You have it backwards, you want a faster powder for the light for caliber bullet seated shallow in the case.

I have also had my gun throated by Doug so I run the same OAL as you. Before I got throated, I would run it at 1.2" and velocities and pressures were about what you would expect. Now with the shallow seating depth I start at max loads in books and go up to 10% higher from there.

. Think about it- I have data from Alliant with a 200 gr JHP at 1.16" which in NO WAY compares to our shorter bullet seated 70 thou longer.

With our long seating depth and 20k PSI limit, we can get this bullet up to 1000 fps using the fastest powders such as Red Dot, American Select, Bullseye and Titegroup. If you use slow powder, you will be full on 45 super velocities before you reach 20k PSI pressure. In my case, I have my gun set up for 45 Super and can get Super velocities with ACP pressures (and brass!) using Power Pistol.

http://forum.m1911.org/archive/index.php/t-47224.html

[ole_270]

Thanks for the reply, I'm new to handguns and handgun loading, but have been working with rifle loads for 40 years. The long seated 200RF does leave quite a bit more case capacity than the standard 200 swc. The only really fast powder I have on hand at the moment is Solo1000 and anything over mouse fart levels was showing huge extreme spreads on velocity with it. This jug is old enough that it's still labeled Scott powders. I've got a little bit of Green Dot, guess I'll need to start towards the upper end of listed loads for a trial.

[mnewcomb59]

Even though I can seat the 200-RF long because of throating, I still seat at about 1.2" when doing lighter loads (800-900 fps) because powder economy and velocities are closer to what you would expect from book data.

Lots of 200 JHP data around 1.2" and 200 SWC around 1.25", which correlates to the seating depth and case capacity of the 200-RF around 1.19".

The throating is really nice for running heavy bullets and maintaining pressure safety like the Lee 255-RF and 250 XTP at 950 fps.