45 acp 200 gr load

[Mike Hughes]

I recently cast some MP 452-200hp boolits(very nice mold). Last night, I loaded 150 rounds with data from Lymans 48th edition handbook. Loaded 50 with 4 gr of clays, 50 with 5 gr of bullseye, and 50 with 6 gr of bullseye. OAL is 1.24. The Lyman manual shows the 6 gr bullseye in bold print as possible most accurate load. After checking data from other sources, this is quite a bit more than others recommend. Lee shows 4.0 for start and max. I have looked around the net and most people use anywhere from 3.5 to 5.0 of BE. I am worried that the 6 gr load may be too much. Have any of you used these loads? What do you guys think? I will be shooting these through a Hi-Point carbine
48946

[randyrat]

All depends on YOUR gun. i wouldn't be surprised 6 grains of BE is a little stiff for an accuracy load. All you can do is work em up and find your accuracy loads for that bullet.
6 grains of Bullseye under a 200 gr boolit is around 950 ft/sec of fun. It may work in your gun and it may not. It can be safe if you work your way there.

[StratsMan]

I have loaded 6 grains of Bullseye... It's more "sporty" than I care for... All 3 of my 45's run just fine with 4.0 grains of B'eye, so that's what I load nowadays... If I really wanted a zippy load with a 200 grain projectile, I'd punch it up to 5.2 max... But that's just me... 4.0 - 4.4 should make any 45ACP hand-cannon function well... Bullet selection/quality must match, of course.....

[garym1a2]

Good loading practice is to start 10% under and slowly work up. 6gr of BE is very stout for 45acp.

[zomby woof]

WST is my go to powder for 200grain boolits. Low recoil and clean, very accurate. I'm right around 3.8-4.5 grains.

[Larry Gibson]

5 gr Bullseye is my standard "go to" load for the 45 ACP with 190 - 205 gr bullets. It has been for yeears and I've shot thousands through many different handguns, sub guns, my Contender and a M98 Mauser converted. I've also measured a bit of psi's with the Oehler M43 in the Contender barrel. The psi of 6 gr is right at the SAAMI MAP for the 45 ACP with a 200gr cast bullet ( hardcast Laser Cast). It is asnappy load in M1911s and isnot quite as accurate as the 5 gr load. The 5 gr load made IPSC Major w/o problem and I've used that load for years.

Larry Gibson

[HANDYMAN]

3.7gr clays works great in my .45's for 25yd paper punching with my Lee 200gr SWC.

[Beau Cassidy]

I habe had good luck with clays and super target. Clays seems to max much quicker. WST is much smoother throughout the spectrum and doesnt spike pressures as fast.

[Moonie]

3.7gr clays works great in my .45's for 25yd paper punching with my Lee 200gr SWC.

I've used down to 3.2gr of clays in my PT-1911 with factory spring, VERY light, empties at your right foot. VERY clean burning even that low.

[xringshutr]

Try 4.5 of Red Dot. For some reason all my 45's love this load. I have 5....or 6 45 ACP's. It just works...and with this exact boolit too. It's my favorite boolit in the 45, shoots almost as good as his H&G 68 clone and feeds like butter. Mihec is a magician.

[Boyscout]

I have done well with 5.5 grains of Win 231 and 200 gn cast. 6 gns is a little stout and not as accurate.

[gray wolf]

4 of BE will get err done just fine, 4.8 of tite group is about the same load,
both are one hole shooters for me at combat range.
A safe way to step it up is with long shot powder, no spike and pressure stays down. 6.5 with that bullet will end any argument, 6.8 is max for about 1000 FPS.
Always check the hodgons site before using anyone Else's data.

[Mike Hughes]

Thanks to you guys for the suggestions, I am going to try some of these loads and I don't think I will be firing those rounds with 6 grains of bullseye. I never start at the max, but with Lyman showing it as most accurate, the temptation got the best of me. I am surprised they show this load in bold print (seems like it might be borderline to dangerous pressure)

[Sven]

I use 3.7 gr Red Dot for timed and rapid fire bullseye loads and 4.2 gr Red Dot for the 50 yard slow fire -- both with SWC boolits and I get excellent accuracy. I would think 4.2 would work well with your carbine.

Mike -- are you from Minnesota? I did a double take when I saw your name!

[Mike Hughes]

I use 3.7 gr Red Dot for timed and rapid fire bullseye loads and 4.2 gr Red Dot for the 50 yard slow fire -- both with SWC boolits and I get excellent accuracy. I would think 4.2 would work well with your carbine.

Mike -- are you from Minnesota? I did a double take when I saw your name!

No, I'm from Texas. Don't think I've ever been to Minnesota. Monday, I am going to pick up a pound of the Red Dot. Seems to be a lot of peoples favorite in the 45 acp
Thanks

[buyobuyo]

I've been loading this bullet with Unique. I started out loading 6 gr which is stiff. I was getting 950 fps. I've since gone down to 5.5 gr and it is much nicer to shoot.

I get a lot of velocity variation because Unique doesn't meter well through my LNL powder measure, so I'm going to switch to AA7.

[fouronesix]

Thanks to you guys for the suggestions, I am going to try some of these loads and I don't think I will be firing those rounds with 6 grains of bullseye. I never start at the max, but with Lyman showing it as most accurate, the temptation got the best of me. I am surprised they show this load in bold print (seems like it might be borderline to dangerous pressure)

The reason you'll see many load manuals give a "potentially most accurate load" is NOT that they actually went out and shot a bunch of them thru different guns at paper targets. Usually it simply means that those loads, in their test platform using their pressure and velocity equipment, showed the lowest standard deviations of pressure and velocity within the "Maximum Average Pressure" (MAP) limits as determined by SAAMI.

BTW, I shoot 200 grain plain base bullets out of my 1911, equipped with an average weight spring, using mild loads of Trailboss. Accurate, easy on the gun, accurate powder metering thru the measure, fairly clean burning, no leading and no chance for double charge.

[saz]

4 grs of red dot is my go to load with any 200gr boolit.

[williamwaco]

I really love Bulls Eye.
I favor it in nearly all handguns.

The load you are quoting, in my opinion is too hot for best results.
Lyman lists 5.6 to 6.0 depending on bullet.

I like 4.2gr and for sure would not exceed 5.0.

HOWEVER:

For occasional use for hunting or self defense, I wouldn't argue with a hotter load. But even then, I wouldn't exceed 5.5gr.

[dnotarianni]

6.0 of BE will probaly be a bit sporty but still safe to shoot as opposed to take apart. My preference for steel plate shoots is 4.2 with a 185 or 200gr or 4.0 with a 230. Does the job but give fast follow up shots.
Dave

[Mike Hughes]

6.0 of BE will probaly be a bit sporty but still safe to shoot as opposed to take apart. My preference for steel plate shoots is 4.2 with a 185 or 200gr or 4.0 with a 230. Does the job but give fast follow up shots.
Dave

yeah, I would much rather shoot these 50 rounds, instead of taking them apart. My Hi Point carbine is rated for +P loads. I shot some of the 5 gr bullseye loads and they seemed pretty stout. I liked the 5 gr BE but I am going to try some at 4.5. I had some loaded with 6.2 gr of unique and got some pretty good accuracy, but they too seemed a little stout. Gonna back it down to 5.5. The clays that were loaded at 4.0 were a pleasure to shoot, light recoil and good short range accuracy, but not very good past 50 yards. picked up some red dot, I already had some trail boss (didn't even think about trying it). This Mihec brass mold drops the most accurate boolits I have used. He recently had some in stock, I just got mine a few weeks ago. I think it was like $156 shipped. A bit pricey, but worth every penny.

[HiVelocity]

Mike-

I load this same bullet with 4.9 grains of Titegroup. This load produces about 950 fps out of my 5" Taurus, and 920 out of my sub-compact Kimber. Accurate and reliable. If you water quench these, they become frangible should you decide to use it for hunting or (outdoor) protection.

(I have 2 of these [4-cavity] molds if someone wants to trade me out of one; I need Ranch Dogs C452-290-RF mold to feed a vintage Rossi 92 in 45 Colt.)

HV

[DRNurse1]

Mr Hughes:

There is a lot of great information preceding this post. I have only one comment and one suggestion to add.

The comment relates to your intended use for this load. If it is a HP and you desire maximum expansion and weight retention, you are going to need many test loads into your preferred test target medium. I would test untill I am satisfied I have a reliable load and maximum expansion/weight retention at the highest reasonable velocity.

Regarding m suggestion: Consider using a powder that overflows our case with a double charge. Hickock 45 on youtube sggested that formally and I have used such a load successfully since I sarted reloading (of course I did not realize what a good idea this was until the Hickock fellow mentioned it).

Just my $0.20

Have fun reloading and testing YOUR load.

[Mike Hughes]

these boolits are mainly for killing paper. The thing that attracted me to this boolit design, is the light weight with the length of a heavier boolit. My other light boolits for the 45 are so short, they dont seem to stableize as well. One of the projects this weekend will be casting some with plumbers lead and killing a couple of over ripe watermelons (gonna try to put camera close to melon and then play back in slo mo) Having way to much fun. I forgot to mention the loads with 5 gr of titegroup. These were one of the most accurate and and recoil was not bad (was hitting my 3" x 5" spinner target at 75 yards, thumping the steel plate with authority). I wish I didn't have to go to work today, I need to be loading boolits

[Nocturnal Stumblebutt]

my 1911 like 4.6 grs of Bullseye under a 200 grain boolit.

[rexherring]

A friend of mine is a detective and wins most of the law enforcement shooting competitions here in ND. His accuracy load is 5.1 grs of BE behind a 185 SWC in his .45.

[Michael J. Spangler]

i have shot a ton of these with 4.5 to 5 grain of bullseye and they're sweet shooting at that.
i have been trying out some W231 and ran some with 4.5 which were dirty, and had some unburnt powder, so i've been running 5 grains and it's sweet in my 1911 and my 625.

i think i like the BE better than the W231

[acemedic13]

3.5 gr of BE behind a 200 gr all copper bullet is nice to shoot at close range and cycles my sigs and 1911's just peachy. If I have a suppressor screwed onto the end of any of them i bump it up to 4.0. you lose a lot of recoil with that thing on the front and they wanna hang up once in awhile. That lighter load lets them hit hard and still keeps them subsonic. 4.0 of red dot is medicine in my 45's too....I Like em' both a whole lot. factory loads of 231 did'nt want to cycle any of my 45's when a suppressor was on them.It did do pretty okeedokee running them unsupressed. Im sticking with BE and RD for mine

[Reverend Al]

I have done well with 5.5 grains of Win 231 and 200 gn cast. 6 gns is a little stout and not as accurate.

Ditto here ... I've shot a ton of 200 SWC from my Colt Government Model with from 5.5 to 5.8 grains of WW231. Best results in my tightly fitted up Bar Sto match barrel were at about 5.6 grains ...

[DrCaveman]

Mike

I'm no expert, but I believe the behavior & resultant pressure and velocity, and accuracy with the carbine will be much different than with our 1911's. Generally, slower powders will work better with longer barrels is my experience and conclusion from others' testimony. I think unique falls in this category for 45 acp.

Based on everyone's green flag of safety, I think you should shoot them and see how the harmonics work out with your barrel. Maybe less charge is better, but maybe the rifle likes a little bit more than the pistols.

[OregonCaster]

3.7gr clays works great in my .45's for 25yd paper punching with my Lee 200gr SWC.

Couldn't agree more with that recipe my Sig P220 will eat that load all day & all night if I had enough rounds to feed it, it's a winner.

[dnotarianni]

I find that bullseye runs cleaner than Clays and with less smoke
Dave