.401 long nose mold for 1911 platforms; recommendations?

[whitedingo]

This is my first post on the site; been reading for a while and I'm pretty new to casting in general. Got my feet wet with some 125gr .356s (9mm and .38 Super) and 175gr SWC .401 (.40 minor and major) bullets, but now I'm looking for something to cast that I can load longer for my 1911s and 2011s in .40 S&W. The 175s feed ok, but feed clunky at the OAL needed to chamber check when compared to commercially available 180 and 200gr projectiles (coated or jacketed)

I've been browsing the available mold diagrams on Accurate's website, and found two that are listed that I think may work; about .320" long noses on each of them which should allow me to load out to 1.200 without leade/throat issues in any of the three firearms I will be using them in.

I was hoping that some of the more experienced casters and loaders might take a look at the two designs and perhaps make a recommendation, even if it's something completely different.
I am powder coating the projectiles, so the lack of lube groove on the one is no issue.

The two molds are:
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=40-190D-D.png
http://www.accuratemolds.com/bullet_detail.php?bullet=40-180M-D.png

[shooter93]

Welcome to the site. I shoot 200 gr. in a 10 mm 1911 so my bullet doesn't help you much but.....what I often go is contact Tom at Accurate molds. Tell him what gun, weight and diameter you want etc. and even the oal you need. He will recommend a mold and cut it to your size and you will have it quickly. It works very well. He's very good at it and I have never been disappointed with his recommendations.

[whitedingo]

Thanks for the welcome; I've found this site to be an absolute wealth of information.

I will try and contact Tom and see what recommendation he might have, thank you for the tip.

[Bigslug]

Whitedingo - welcome!

I second the advice to contact Tom and give him your guidelines. I would leave weight entirely up to him aside from your minimum requirements for making Major - SHAPE is probably the more important thing.

I can't help you with the .40 S&W, but can share some of the things I leaned in selecting the "perfect" .45 ACP/1911 mold. Link to that quest here: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?255216-Feeding-Big-Meplats-in-1911-s-Continued-The-LBT-LFN There's a also a link within the first post to my earlier efforts with the 452423, which was REALLY educational in REALLY learning what's going on in an autoloader's feed cycle. But the short version:

1. You want the round to be as long as possible for the magazine.

2. A bullet that starts it's ogive taper right out of the case is less likely to hang up on the throat - either feeding or manually clearing. The only part of the bullet that's full diameter lives almost completely inside the case.

The nice thing about 1 and 2 are that you can have Tom reduce the amount of bullet that's inside the case to a reasonable minimum for holding tension and lube groove, move the extra lead forward and sculpt it for optimized feeding

3. A sharp meplat is going to get whanged on the feed ramp - you might as well radius the corner on the nose. That way, it'll be more uniform coming out the muzzle. Since it doesn't sound like you plan to shoot anything made of meat with this bullet, you can taper more toward Tom's minimum .18 meplat than I did. Fill the front of your magazine and you should be fine.

4. In .45 anyway, magazines with tapered GI feed lips ROCK. How that applies to a .40 I could not say, but the Mauser 98 controlled feed approach to the problem makes for a smooooooooooth running pistol.