45 acp round ball.

[WHITETAIL]

New project for me.
I dug out my lee 451.
round ball mold.
And made up 100+ balls.
I did some reading on some old
post about shooting 453 round balls
in 45 ACP. What I came up with is
4gr. of Red Dot should cycle the gun.
I used JPW for lube and made up 10
to try. Am I on the right track?

[Dusty Bannister]

Your powder might be OK, but under round ball loads, I use a wax wad and heavy LLA to help hold the ball in the case mouth. The wax wad (CFVentures, no longer in production) prevents powder in the action when the ball is dislodged in handling. I use #3 and #4 buck in Contender pest loads.

[Baltimoreed]

Good idea for .45 acp revolvers using moonclips, don’t know how it will work/feed in a 1911. But I’m all in favor of trying something out. I’ve had a lot of failures over the years. Falls in the category, ‘seemed like a good idea at the time.’

[gwpercle]

I would make up a few dummy rounds , no primer , no powder ...bullet only . Load them into the magazine and see if they will hand cycle from magazine into chamber. If they will then try a live fire at the range.
Round balls may work in the semi auto if the ball can be crimped enough to resist the force of hitting the feed ramp.

In the back of my mind I remember an old article in a old Handloaders Digest that covered this topic... I'll go see what I can find .
Keep us posted ,
Gary

[Thumbcocker]

I tried that in a Smith 1989 with IIRC 3 grn of red dot. Good accuracy just not sure what it was for but it was fun.

[WHITETAIL]

That is why I made up only 10.
If I have any problems with powder and
ball slippage I will make some wax gas checks.
Will keep you up on the progress.

[dbosman]

If you enjoy the round balls, consider running some larger ones through a sizing die to make footballs. The longer bearing surface may improve accuracy.

[Larry Gibson]

Many years ago George Nonte wrote an article on using RBs in his M1911 45 ACP for casual "plinking" in his office. He used Bullseye which is comparable in burn rate to Red Dot. I tried his loads and they worked fine in an unaltered m1911A1 I had at the time. I forget the exact charge but I think it was 4 or 5 gr of Bullseye. The RBs were also lightly lubed back then and seated in sized cases with the case mouth flare taper crimped back onto the full diameter of the RB. They fed and functioned fine. However, I found it easier since I was casting the RBs to just cast 190 or 200 gr SWCs. Those always performed much better than RBs accuracy wise.

[tsubaki]

See if the Speer #11 data in 45 auto rim is useful.

[big bore 99]

Never did any in 45acp, but plenty in 45colt and 45-70. Light loads of unique and the rifle sounded like a cap gun with enough accuracy and power to pass thru a tin can at 30 ft. I'd go a little larger and crimp tight to keep them in place.

[yeahbub]

I do these on occasion and they work well. I use a LEE .456 RB cast of WW's, seated .010 deeper than halfway, so OAL is case length + .456/2 -.010 which comes out to 1.116", but mine are usually 1.110". A great way to reduce/eliminate the flared case mouth is to take the depriming stem out of a 7.62x54R sizing die and adjust it to size the swell just enough for reliable chambering. The idea is to leave the ball a bit larger than groove diameter to provide a positive seal, and the .456 RB will have a generous wedding band of engagement. The load is 6.5gr of Universal, card wad and 3/16" lube cookie of 541, aka Emmerts. They're snappy enough to feed and eject from the magazine and I get 25 yard groups I can cover with the palm of my hand. No sign of leading and a lube star starts forming on the muzzle after a few rounds. I haven't gotten any MV numbers yet, but it'll happen the next time I get the thing out.

[dbldblu]

I have loaded .451 RB over trailboss in a 45 win mag (contender barrel). It was shooting cloverleafs at 35 yds. Quite fun.

[Dave C.]

Tried them years ago. I had a lot of trouble with tumbling.

Dave C.

[Smk SHoe]

Tried them years ago. I had a lot of trouble with tumbling.

Dave C.

mine keyholed pretty bad, but it was hard to tell from the others

[Dusty Bannister]

How can anyone verify that a round ball is tumbling or key holeing?

[Martin Luber]

Tumbling? How could you tell with a round ball?

[Petrol & Powder]

I'm not sure I see the attraction. You're not saving that much lead, you end up with an oddball length cartridge and it's not a great shape in terms of accuracy.

[Texas by God]

A round ball can bounce but not tumble. Perhaps a better target backing is needed to show clean holes. I killed a squirrel and a cottontail with my old 1917 and rb/ Auto Rim loads. In .45 ACP, they wouldn't funtion in my Ballester but they shot well at close range.

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[reddog81]

I tried some round ball loads in 45 ACP once. Never have I had such problems getting the expander, seating and crimp dies adjusted correctly. With the very small bearing surface there's not much neck tension and its very easy to create a round were the bullet just falls out of the case. I quickly graduated to 155 grain SWC loads. They're about the same weight, but can be treated like normal bullets.

[yeahbub]

With the very small bearing surface there's not much neck tension and its very easy to create a round were the bullet just falls out of the case. I quickly graduated to 155 grain SWC loads. They're about the same weight, but can be treated like normal bullets.

Good point, reddog81. That's why I went with a WW .456, which creates a more pronounced driving band when the case swell is sized down. and gives the case mouth and crimp something to hang onto. I never messed with the 155's and don't have a mold yet, but now that you mention it, that may happen. They would be nearly as economical as a RB.

. . . I'd heard of the tumbling problem, keyholing and how some even went through the target completely reversed! Didn't seem to affect accuracy much. It's all in the wrist, ya see . . .