What are your favorite .45 acp light loads?

[NoZombies]

I've been playing with a few light loads in the .45 acp, but thus far haven't nailed down a favorite.

If you've got a light load for the .45 that still cycles the action of an autoloader, please share it, along with what makes it your favorite.

[DougGuy]

4.5gr W231 under a 230gr plated HP boolit from I.Q. Metals sized .451"

I like it because it's pleasant to shoot and easy to learn rapid fire and left hand/offhand combat shooting skills because it's very controllable.

[btroj]

How light is light?

I shoot pretty much only one load right now. 200 swc and 4 gr of Clays. Goes 775 fps in my gun.

[Sgtonory]

My light load is a 200g lee TL cast with 4 grains of bullseye. Very little recoil and cycles my slide on my glock 21 with no issue. And keeps brass about a foot or so away.

[sparky45]

I have two loads I use depending on which powder I have available: 1) 230gr TC Lee in front of 3.6gr of Trailboss @ 1.2" or 230gr LRN Lee over 5.3gr of GreenDot @ 1.26/1.27 . Either load to me is a light load and cycles the action of my XDM45 and Taurus PT1911. YMMV! Load safely and carefully... Neither have been chrono'd but I suspect they travel a bit on the slow side.

[bobthenailer]

4.0 / 4.5 grs of Bullseye or Tightgroup powder, i now prefer TG because its keeps the gun cleaner than BE or 5.0 grs of disconued WSL powder with 170 to 200 gr cast bullets has been very accurate from at least 10, 45 acp pistols, stock or accurized, most testing done with a ransom rest or with optics from a rest.

[gtgeorge]

4.1 gr Red Dot with 200gr LSWC or 3.8gr Trail Boss with the same 200gr pill

[Pb Burner]

Here's another vote for a 200gr LSWC over 4.0grs of Clays. Not minimum load but very accurate with low recoil.

[Wayne Dobbs]

4.0 Clays with either 200 or 230 bullets. Nice and soft. Also 5.0 231/HP-38 with a 200 grain SWC. Very accurate in my guns.

[Idz]

Range lead and Lee TL452-230-2R, 4.1 gr W231 w/ CCI300, OAL 1.260, pan-lubed. Chrono @644 fps out of RIA 1911 5" barrel. Easy on elbows and wrists and cycled reliably.

[DrCaveman]

3.8 gr ramshot competition behind h&g 68 200 swc

Easy shooting, low blast, clean gun, pretty darn accurate. Clocks about 820 fps

Brass lands about 6' away with 16# recoil spring

[mainiac]

4.0 Clays with either 200 or 230 bullets. Nice and soft. Also 5.0 231/HP-38 with a 200 grain SWC. Very accurate in my guns.

These are the 2 most accurate loads for my 1911,as well. Most all i shoot lately is 4 grs of clays,,gun stays so clean,i dont even have to clean it.

[fourarmed]

The traditional paper-punching load is 3.5 gr. of Bullseye with a 200 gr. swc. My M&P .45 handles it (so far - knock on polymer) just fine with the stock spring. I decided to leave my 1911 wad gun in the safe, and shoot summer bullseye league with the M&P just to learn to use it. My best score so far in the NMC is 264, and that is only the third week. Recoil is much more noticeable than with a red dot mounted 1911.

[NoZombies]

Thanks guys, I'm wanting to load for plinking with a .45 acp carbine (well, essentially) and hoping to find a load that doesn't throw the brass all over the county while doing it.

I think I'm gonna try 3.5 of titegroup under the 185, and see if it runs okay. I'd like to find a nice clean load as well, as the gun seems to be very picky about running dirty. If the 3.5 load is too light for the auto, I can always shoot them through my 625 or 1917.

Anybody played with a load like that?

[NoZombies]

Well, I've got some rounds loaded:

452488 from AC WW (about 190 grains)
3.5 grains Titegroup
Tula Magnum LP primer (they were cheap and available)

Planning an outing to the range tomorrow, so we'll see how they do.

[bikerbeans]

200g LSWC, 3.5g 700x, 1.245". Cycles a Colt 1911 that has been modified for shooting "Bullseye". Brass lands on your foot. No chrony, but probably around 600 fps. I load several thousand of these every year for a friend who shoots in Bullseye (service pistol) and no complaints. This ammo will also cycle a factory Taurus 1911 but I think the recoil spring provided by Taurus is weaker than 16#.

BB

[44Vaquero]

Thanks guys, I'm wanting to load for plinking with a .45 acp carbine (well, essentially) and hoping to find a load that doesn't throw the brass all over the county while doing it.

I think I'm gonna try 3.5 of titegroup under the 185, and see if it runs okay. I'd like to find a nice clean load as well, as the gun seems to be very picky about running dirty. If the 3.5 load is too light for the auto, I can always shoot them through my 625 or 1917.

Anybody played with a load like that?

Now you have changed the rules! .45 ACP carbines are a horse of another color. Most are blowback operated and ejection is usually quite vigorous to say the least! My Marlin slings brass hard enough to cut your hand if you attempt to catch them and put several dents in my buddies truck parked over twenty feet away!!

[NoZombies]

Now you have changed the rules! .45 ACP carbines are a horse of another color. Most are blowback operated and ejection is usually quite vigorous to say the least! My Marlin slings brass hard enough to cut your hand if you attempt to catch them and put several dents in my buddies truck parked over twenty feet away!!

Yessir, you're right of course, most .45 carbines are blow back. Mine operates on a delayed blow back system, and isn't as violent in the ejection department as the old marlins I've shot. but it still flings brass further than I'd like with standard velocity loads.

I'm hoping to find a load that just dumps the brass right at my feet, but still allows the gun to function properly.

This is the gun:

http://nozombies.com/R1.JPG

[Outpost75]

Lightest load which reliably cycles M1A1 Thompson for a continuous 20-rd. long burst with Saeco #954 230-gr. flatnose is 4.5 grs. of Bullseye.

[2shot]

Thanks guys, I'm wanting to load for plinking with a .45 acp carbine (well, essentially) and hoping to find a load that doesn't throw the brass all over the county while doing it.

I think I'm gonna try 3.5 of titegroup under the 185, and see if it runs okay. I'd like to find a nice clean load as well, as the gun seems to be very picky about running dirty. If the 3.5 load is too light for the auto, I can always shoot them through my 625 or 1917.

Anybody played with a load like that?


Yep shoot 3.5 of Titegroup or Bullseye under either a 185 or 200 grain SWC in 2 1911's I use for NRA Bullseye shoots. Both have 12# springs in them and both have slide mounted Ultradots (30mm) on them. One is a Clark long slide and the other I built myself. Both powders are accurate but the Titegroup is much cleaner but also a much hotter powder.

I can shoot these in my stock Kimber Custom 1911 but sometimes get FTE and stovepipe jams. Still accurate though!
2shot

[pipehand]

Cool Reising. Can we assume it will function with boolit profiles other than roundnose? An old friend of mine has one that he bought in the early Eighties- he used a 225 grain Lyman RN with just enough Bullseye to get it to run f/a.

[1500FPS]

I also like the good old Bulls Eye using 4.0 grains with any 200 grain SWC I may have on hand. I like 231 too and for heavier loads, which this isn't about, I like the good old Unique.

[NoZombies]

Thanks guys!

I went and shot the Reising this afternoon with the light loads, and both feed and function were fine in semi and FA. The brass wasn't as dirty as with the bullseye loads I used last time, and it wasn't flung nearly as far either, but still had positive ejection.

I suspect with a little more tweaking, I'll have my "perfect" load for the gun.