reloading the 45 acp?

[lonewolf5347]

I been reloading for some time 40 plus years but pistol reloading it been a long time think I stop back in the 80's .
I am going to get back into it for the 1911 SA mil-spec and have a few questions? need help on.
I see a few bullets of choice I would like to use
OREGON TRAIL LASER CAST 230 GRAIN RN BB .452 DIA
BERRY'S PLATED BULLETS 230 GRAIN RN .451
RAINER BULLETS 230 GRAIN RN .451 DIA
I like to here from guys who use the above and what is the better choice,I also see.451 or 452 dia:
Powder selection
ACCURATE NUMBER 2
BULLSEYE
WINCHESTER WST
I have a few reloading books but they date back to the 70's

[No_1]

I have shot the Berry's and the Rainers. Both with Bullseye and with titegroup. Both are very accurate, both shoot good. The choice is yours as far as loads go.

[Dave C.]

Plated bullets in general do not group as well as good cast bullets.
Go with the OREGON TRAIL LASER CAST sized .452 and the fast burnning powder
of your choice.

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[KYCaster]

Lonewolf, It's a rare 1911 that will shoot better with .451 than with .452.

IMO the plated bullets are not necessary at .45ACP velocities (or anywhere else for that matter).

Any of the three powders you listed will do fine.

You should be able to find a commercial caster close to you so you could save the shipping cost. If a guy can't make a decent .45 boolit he shouldn't be in business.

Jerry

[mike in co]

i think you have a couple of good choice in this mix
i have shot:
OREGON TRAIL LASER CAST 230 GRAIN RN BB .452 DIA
RAINER BULLETS 230 GRAIN RN .451 DIA
ACCURATE NUMBER 2

as far as the books, i think in the case of the 45 acp....
not a big deal, and lots of fresh data available online
I have a few reloading books but they date back to the 70's

you just gottta go try a few


in my case a 230 rn hit 790/800 fps below the listed started load for aa2i...
just shows ya, all guns are diff

[danski26]

IMHO stay away from the plated bullets. For target any of the 185 gr SWC boolit or bullets will do well. For just plinking a 230gr RN boolit is hard to beat. MAybe a 200 gr RN would by a close second. I always liked Unique in my 1911's but i want to try some red dot soon.

[Fireball 57]

lonewolf5347; Good advice given! Might I suggest, for the 45ACP, watch the seating depth of your boolits, use a taper crimp, as too deep will cause pressure problems even with light loads. I've had some good luck with Titegroup and cast 200 grain cast but, I have a light recoil spring (10 lbs.).

[k0rww]

I reload 45 ACP for target practice using an RCBS Little Dandy power measure:
Winchester 230 gr FMJ using 5.0 gr Bulleye (Rotor 9)
Hornady 185 gr FMJ SWC using 4.0 Bulleye (Rotor 7) A little cheaper to shoot and makes a nice clean hole.
The Little Dandy power measure may have lost favor with reloaders. I have accumulated every rotor except 00 over the years so I have a vested interest.
I generally reload a tray of 50 at a time. After dropping the Bulleye load into the 50 cases, I use a flashlight to ensure that I haven't dropped a double charge. This is easy to check by checking the height of the powder in each case.
For faster velocities I use Unique.

[NC_JEFF]

Lone wolf I've loaded all three of those bullets at one time or another. My Colt is a GI midel and I'm going thru a box of 500 Berry's right now and they seem to be as accurate as my 1911 has ever been. Unique is the powder behind them. The 45 acp was developed using Bullseye so that's a good starting point. I've always shot 230s thru it
Jeff

[noylj]

You would be surprised, but the larger bullet is often the better bullet.
1) I wouldn't use ANY of the chosen bullets.
a) plated suck. If I want to get >8" groups at 25 yards, plated are the way to go.
b) HARD cast bullets suck, and they really suck with low pressure rounds. I find that bullets over about 13 BHN need to be at lease 0.002" over ACTUAL MEASURED groove diameter to prevent leading.
I would look to Zero (see Powder Valley) or Magnus for SWAGED 200gn long-nose H&G #68 clone bullets or Precision Bullets SWAGED and COATED 200gn long-nose H&G #68 clone bullets. These are all super accurate.
Precision Bullets 200gn L-SWC: A case (2250 bullets) is $203, or 9 cents/bullet
Zero 200gn L-SWC: From Powder Valley, $154/2000, or 7.7 cents/bullet
I see no reason for 230gn bullets—unless you are shooting something like Bullseye Service were 230gn FMJ is required.
I believe that JMB developed the .45 Auto using 200gn bullets and the Army demanded something heavier and closer to the .45 Colt.
2) Powders: the most accurate powder in my .45s has been 231/HP38. Next would be Bullseye, Red Dot, and AA2.
3) Load plated like lead bullets.

Bullet diameter: lead bullets should be at least 0.001" over the actual groove diameter of the barrel.
SAAMI specifies the groove diameter to be 0.450-0.454", thus, lead bullets could be any where from 0.451-0455", depending on the barrel.
SAAMI says the industry must use jacketed bullets that are 0.449-0.452" and lead bullets that are 0.4500-0.4530". Thankfully, as a handloader, I load for MY guns and not ALL guns, so I use the right size for MY barrel. Thus, if you wanted a "nominal" bullet size, it should be 0.4520" for jacketed and 0.4530" for lead.
If I had 0.454" groove, you can bet that I would have problems getting any of my lead bullets to work.

[TNsailorman]

Many years ago I shot Combat Pistol Matches(yes we could call them Combat Pistol back in the early to late 70's). My powder was W231 and a 200 gr. SWC lead bullet by Lane bullet company. Today I have gone back to Bulleye powder as it burns cleaner and still gives good accuracy. If you have one of the Colt 1911's (70 Series or earlier) you will need to polish the feed ramp to reliably feed the SWC's. As already stated, match your mainspring to the level of your load. Shoot a lot of heavy velocity loads with a light spring and you will be rebuilding your pistol with a cracked frame or a barrel with peened locking lugs. Springs are fairly cheap, frames and barrels are not. my experience anyway, james

[Char-Gar]

Just a short response to your question,

1. Avoid plated bullets.
2. .452 is the better diameter.
3. The 45 ACP was designed around Bullseye powder and that powder was used in billions of arsenal and factory loaded round. It is a very useful and versatile powder for many applications.
4. 4.5 to 5.0 grains of Bullseye is where it is at. 4.7 or 4.8 is a good place to start.
5. Always use a taper crimp on your finished rounds.

I hear good things about WST in the 45 ACP, but I have 1/4 million or more 45 ACP reloads down a number of 1911 pistols, using Bullseye, so I am not about to change a winning combination now.

Addendum: Be careful about spring nomenclature. The recoil spring is the long coiled jobbie that goes under the barrel. The mainspring is located in the housing at the bottom of the grip that provides power to the hammer.

The factory recoil spring is 16 pounds and for normal loads I don't recommend going either lighter or stronger in power. Wolfe make a 16.5V (variable) that is an excellent all around spring.

The factory mainspring is 23 pounds. You can go to a 19 pound mainspring that will give a better trigger pull and still provide 100% ignition and function.

[AZ Pete]

I would add, do not over crimp cast or plated bullets. And I am in the pro cast, anti plated bullet crowd. I just have not had good results from plated bullets in
.45 or 9mm.


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[Mike Kerr]

I really enjoy reading posts about reloading the 45 ACP, but the original post is from a 10 Year Old Thread. Then this morning the topic was revived and already we have 5 new posts. Wonder what happened to the interest in reloading the 45ACP in the intervening 10 years ?

[Hamish]

We just got up from our nap,,,,,,,

[AZ Pete]

ha ha , I never look at the date of the post.....gotta try that some time


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[Kevin Rohrer]

It is time for the OP to invest in a few new reloading manuals, one of which should be Lyman #50.

230gr is 230gr lead, no matter who makes them. Use any safe load and you are good.