45ACP Alloys

[Good Cheer]

Basically I've always been a wheel gun guy that thought if a Model 1909 Colt or a French M'le 1892 couldn't handle a task then it must be time to break out the 1888 or a big'un. But I've been given the opportunity to work up loads for a 1911 and have a little time to play with.
:arrow: Oooo! Fun! [smilie=p:

So, in generally is it better to start with hard alloy, medium or it's just a great opportunity to use up that pile of mystery metal stacked in the corner?
My suspicion is to start medium hard. What are you fellas finding in your years of tinkering with the .45ACP?

[Char-Gar]

Air cooled wheel weight is about optimum. A little harder or a little softer won't hurt anything.

[nagantguy]

Mystery metal, yep use it up. Thats what I started with for .45 acp my first mold and attempt at casting was with a bunch of lead scrap from a barn, no idea what it used to be. Worked fine now just wheel weights is what I use, works so well I stopped looking for any other answer.

[Good Cheer]

OK, thanks.

[Good Cheer]

Need to add some lead. The mystery metal is soft but mealy. The right edge of the mushroom looks smooth because it smacked into the plastic of the container of water.
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/mysterymetal_zpsb27efe0f.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/user/SNARGLEFLERK/media/mysterymetal_zpsb27efe0f.jpg.html)

[Good Cheer]

That's a modified 452484 and ancient brass Lymans gas check. But the DAX lube didn't keep it from getting split ends.

[9.3X62AL]

The 45 ACP is VERY lead-friendly. As long as the boolit diameter at least matches the throat--which very seldom exceeds .452"--things are pretty uncomplicated. COWW is well-nigh perfect. The Colt barrels use semi-shallow rifling, so uber-soft alloys may skid a bit. A little hardness will prevent such things, and help the boolit noses scoot up the feed ramp as well.

In my experience, a gas check on a 45 ACP boolit is superfluous and a needless expense. Plain bases have worked well for me since 1981, when I first got into this game.

[Good Cheer]

Superfluous? Well, ok, just as long as it doesn't make my pleurisy any worse.

[MtGun44]

+1 on Al.

GC on a 45 ACP boolit is like a wing on a Ford Falcon. Silly looking and a waste of
time and money.

Bill

[9.3X62AL]

Superfluous? Well, ok, just as long as it doesn't make my pleurisy any worse.

You're welcome.

[Good Cheer]

Gentlemen, I actually do know that a slow moving low pressure of short duration pistol cartridge doesn't need gas checks.
I bought this mold in '82 when Lymans did the mail flyer sell off of out of tolerance blocks. It was something like two for five dollars. Got ten molds for next to nothing. The cherry had extended further into the blocks than the drawing called for and it makes the bullet cast a little heavy, hence they held back such blocks to avoid customer complaints. So I never used this 452484 because it wasn't of much use in a 1909. Made some once for a friend around '83 and they worked well in his long slider but they came out to around 249-250 grains. Was probably using wheel weights. So now it's being used for another 45ACP but has been lightened up a bit by the addition of hollow point pins. Making the cavities flat point would not have lightened it up enough due to the limitations imposed by the Lyman blocks. As for the brass gas checks, remember the old brown cardboard boxes with the glued on Ideal labels? Got plenty. Sometimes being a pack rat pays off and I can restore the bases that are missing from these boolits. I considered taking the gas check portion out of the blocks or even having the top of the blocks milled off to get rid of the gas check base and lighten it up even more, but ended up thinking that having the versatility in the blocks was a better idea. It was a bit of a gamble but the boolits ended up at as near the perfect weight as I could have asked for. Next the gas checks are going to be tried out as fouling scrapers with black loads in a single shot carbine.

Looks like the old brass check hung on pretty good on it's way through the water.
http://i791.photobucket.com/albums/yy192/SNARGLEFLERK/gascheck_zps55393f7e.jpg (http://s791.photobucket.com/user/SNARGLEFLERK/media/gascheck_zps55393f7e.jpg.html)

[9.3X62AL]

I at one time had a #452484 mould block on hand, and sold it to someone that wanted it for one of the 45 Win Mag autoloaders. I never heard back from its buyer whether it worked out for him or not. It did fine work in my 45 ACPs, but made expensive boolits at a time when Top Ramen figured highly in this young deputy's meal planning scheme. :)

[Scharfschuetze]

COWW have always been my "go to" alloy for the .45 ACP. With 1970s vintage RCBS 200 grain SWC and 225 grain RN moulds I'm pretty well set for targets or field work with the COWW alloy, but I've had equally good success with hard cast commercial SWCs. As noted above, the 45 ACP is not too particular regarding alloys, although some say that the shallow rifling can cause issues with very soft alloys.

[Good Cheer]

Picked up a 452400 on the forum a while back figuring it would cast large enough for the 1909.
Nope, it really is a .452. Falls out at 242 grains with mystery mealy metal. If I didn't have the 452484 already hp'd then the 452400 would have been a good candidate. As is I might have to use straight lead and see how the 1858 Remington likes it!