45 auto bullet hardness

[jim 44-40]

What is the lowest BHN most of you guys use for the 45 auto in a 1911?

[jcren]

45 is a low pressure round and doesn't need much. I don't have a BHN gage, but I shoot air cooled 50/50 coww and pure lead + a little tin solder. Some of the smarter guys on here can give an exact figure, but I would guess around a 10 on brinell.

[bangerjim]

10 Bhn.....then powder coated.

[fouronesix]

9-10 BHN (20:1 alloy), 200gr RNFP, sized .452", light taper crimp.

[offshore44]

As was said before, the 45 ACP is a low pressure round. I've shot most everything that looks like lead from both 1911s in the family. Mixed range pick up brass. What ever powder that is close to being right and has published loads.

The 45 ACP round is not particularly picky if you are not going for that last little bit of accuracy. As always, bullet fit is King. The worst results come from too small and too hard. Range scrap with just enough tin for good fill out works great. I don't even bother to check hardness for the 45 any more. I just add enough pewter to get fill out and cast away.

[paul h]

I don't have a bhn tester so can't say what the bhn is of the alloys I've used. I have used range scrap and 50/50 coww and pure and both work well. I may even go 70/30 pure/coww to stretch my supply of coww's. You don't need much harder than dead pure so I'd look for the cheapest way to get a bit of hardness. Tin is fine stuff, but too darned expensive to get a harder alloy.

[Love Life]

I like 30:1 for carry.

WQWW for accuracy at the range.

[oldfart1956]

Was casting up some roundballs a while back for the muzzleloaders. Had the pot full'a lead roof flashing and mebbe some lead pipe which really isn't as soft as some might believe. (no joints) Mine ran between 6/8 bhn and if I recall pure lead is 5 bhn. The Lyman 452374 mold was on the bench so snatched it up and cast about 100 or so. They worked fine, no leading. Lubed with Felix if I recall. The only minor issue was on running them thru the Lyman 450 the top punch made a little ring on the nose. Didn't seem to affect anything. Audie...the Oldfart. p.s. fired under 800 fps.

[bobthenailer]

WW alloy water dropped from the mould

[RobS]

My hollow points in the 45 ACP are as soft as 7-8 BHN for proper expansion. I use straight WW alloy for solids and have shot water quenched WW boolits as well. With the right load development there are many different ways to work the 45 acp cartridge.

[Love Life]

In my guns, harder is more accurate. Now, this is just my guns.

[RobS]

In my guns, harder is more accurate. Now, this is just my guns.

Very possible with the shallow rifling and use of fast powders.

[18Bravo]

8.5 to 9.0 BHN on the Lee tester. Basically COWW with a little regular WW for good measure. Water quenched and PC. With 230gr LTC in front of 4.7gr of TiteGroup I get around 810fps. No leading and nice groups in all three 1911's.

[Dave C.]

You can get soft boolits to shoot in a 45 ACP with out leading.
But for the best accuracy you need around 15 bhn.
The average shooter with the average gun will not notice this.
Dave C.

[jonp]

Ive been using both 50/50 and straight COWW. I don't notice the difference.