bowling with .45 auto

[looseprojectile]

I posted here about a week ago about pin shooting with a single action .45.

I have since then traded for a Para Ordnance P 14 with a compensator and red dot sight.
I shot at the local club last Thursday and did pretty good for an old guy with no practice. Never shot pins before. Hadn't shot a handgun in a few months.
I am told I came in sixth out of twenty four. Beat several LEO's that shoot regularly.
Now the problem. The gun lead fouled so bad I got to the point it wouldn't hit a pin at twentyfive feet after about twentyfive or so shots. I used some Lee 230 grain flat point straight ogive regular lube groove boolits that were tumbled in moly and lubed with LLA. These also are bevel base.
I am in the process of making some loads that won't lead and will do some testing before the next shoot. I have the 200 grain SWC with a flat base and will test some of these. Will also try harder alloy.
Need to slug the barrel and get the size right and go from there.
Thought I would update you guys and would appreciate comments.:coffee:

[Sprue]

You don't mention any load data of the ammo you were using??

I used to shoot Lee TL-230-RN sized at .452 and LLA. I got more leading than I wanted although it wasn't heavy. It came to the point however, that I didn't shoot them much anymore at that point.

A couple months back I bought a RCBS 201-SWC mold. I then came by a RCBS Luber/Sizer with a .451 die. Next, I made up a batch of Felix lube. I have zero leading now. Once again its fun to shoot the 45 ACP.

Leading- I don't think it necessarily was due to the lube, I lean more towards the bullet size as being the real issue.

[scrapcan]

It takes some creativity to find something as fun as mowing dead wood off the table with an acp.

You sound to me like you are on the right track to solve your leading issue. slug slug slug and then findout if you are chnging the bullet diameter when you seat and crimp. Too heavy of a taper crimp will do that for you if not careful.

Keep us updated on the fun you are having with the new hobby.

[DanM]

The Lee 230TC style boolit is great for pins. Good sized flat nose, feeds fine, and accurate. I have two of the TL style 6cav molds for this boolit. I was getting only fair accuracy, and too much leading until I realized that there was a lot of variation between the two. One drops all cavities at .452-3", and the other drops at .451-2"Now I only use the fatter mold, and size
.452" with LLA. Accuracy has improved, and leading has disappeared. What I am saying is that your mold could be a little undersized. Generally, the Lee 230TC is among the very best all around .45acp boolits, and a top choice for pin matches.

[quasi]

if you are using a Lee carbide factory crimp die, it could be the cause of your leading from sizing the boolit smaller.

[looseprojectile]

Gents;
Thanks for the replies
I have gone back and cleaned, cleaned , cleaned the barrel and it slugs to, .444 bore, .451 groove, this is good, no? Rifling tops are very slick though the grooves have some machining marks, not too pleased with that.
I size to .452 and will change to my home made lube with the 200 grain SWCs.
I just started using Tite Group powder in this gun as I have read that most that use it have had good results. Probably using too much, 5 - 5.5 grains with the 230 grain boolit.
I may try some W 231 next. I have a good friend that chides me for not using Unique, he says Unique is THE .45 powder.
Also, do any of you condition or prep the bore with anything such as Thompsons Bore Butter before shooting cast boolits? Would it help?
I probably need to come up with a load in the 750 to 800 fps. area to function the gun though have not had any problem at all with feeding. I did have one Blaser aluminum case not eject.:roll: Have since thoroughly cleaned the extractor and firing pin, was pretty sooty. Life is good

[DanM]

Titegroup is an excellent choice for 'hardball' equivlent .45acp loads. It is my powder of choice for the Lee 230TC boolit. I tuned my hardball load pretty carefully, and came up with 5.3grs HTG for 860fps. This is in my 1911 Colt that is equipped with an EGW square cut oversized firing pin stop, standard recoil spring, and standard mainspring. Reading the primers from this load shows them to be mostly rounded, and with no flattening or breech marks. Accuracy is better than I can hold, with one ragged hole groups at 25yds from a rest. I found 231 to be less accurate in my pistol, and Unique to have noticeably more pressure when loaded to this level. 4.9grs Titegroup gives me equal accuracy, and a slightly milder load, at about 820fps. 5.5grs HTG gave me a 910fps average. Accuracy was still good, and the load might be considered acceptable by some, but I see no reason to load this hot. YMMV
I have no experience with moly coating, but assuming your boolits are really a full .452", leading should be minor in your good .451" Para bore, if your lube is working like it should. Folks say that LLA is fine on pistol boolits with standard lube groove(s). Personally, I use LLA on TL grooved boolits, and stick lube on others.

[Cherokee]

452 sounds like the size for you. I use the TC design in my pin loads and ww231. Measure the OD of the body of a loaded round before and after taper crimping to see what is happening there. My bullets are lubed with stick lube.

[Lloyd Smale]

I can give you load data for the 45 too but good advise was allready given. I will add this though. As most here know im a big advocate of bullets a little harder then alot of guys here use. But for pin shooting ive allways used a softer alloy. Never an alloy harder then air cooled ww. I noticed early in my comp days that softer bullets seemed to grab the pins a tad better on marginal hits and sometimes seemed to make the differnce in a pin dropping or not.

[looseprojectile]

I have discovered a Lyman 454190 mould for the .45 Colt and checked the weight of some that I had cast a year or so ago and they weighed 245 grains. Don't remember what that alloy was. I loaded some up with 5grains of TG and had no issues, good accuracy. Leading is getting manageable.
Now when I cast some more I got 255 grain boolits with WW & one eighth lino.
I will try some of these with 4.5 to 4.7 grains of HTG. Will size and lube to .452 in the Lyman 45. May even try some with LLA.
I think I am getting there.
This gun has a very long chamber and seems to eat anything I put in it. Most everything I load seems too short,[case length].
Also I have backed off on the taper crimp, as the roll crimp, when seating takes out the bell pretty much. Just use the taper crimper as a gauge mostly. 1.245" OAL
fit in the magazines and feed well with this RNFP boolit. Thanks again for all the pertinent tips.

Life is good