Best Auto loading pistol caliber for cast

[RyanJames170]

What do you guys think is the best overall caliber to load cast in an auto loading pistol?
Ie do you think 45ACP, or 9mm ect and why?

[35 Rem]

45ACP without a doubt. Larger caliber bullets are always easier to cast. Velocity is lower so that makes it more forgiving on alloy. Pressure is low which is good for cast. Also the availability of SP and LP brass gives you flexibility during these times of primer shortages.

[kungfustyle]

All will work if there is enough throat. You can or have someone ream out the throat and any just about any gun will shoot well. Problem is most of us are cheep and pick up range brass and reload with it. Range brass have different thicknesses, lengths etc. That makes it difficult to get to get everything lined up for a flawless day at the range. A chamber checker will help, but you have to go through the hassle of testing every round. If I had to vote, 45 ACP. I have noticed great results with a bullet shaped like this: https://noebulletmolds.com/site/product-category/bullet-moulds/452-454/454-237-rn-ac4/ seating to the edge of the top driving band.

[WRideout]

Here is another 45 ACP fan. I was at the just-for-fun pistol league yesterday with my Star PD, and had great fun with a box of my handloads. Lyman 200 gr over Bullseye. Even in my lightweight gun recoil was manageable, and it is more accurate that I am able to use.

Wayne

[schutzen-jager]

45 acp 230 grain because of the larger diameter + weight -

[Barry54]

45ACP without a doubt. Larger caliber bullets are always easier to cast. Velocity is lower so that makes it more forgiving on alloy. Pressure is low which is good for cast. Also the availability of SP and LP brass gives you flexibility during these times of primer shortages.

This about sums it up. The only downside is 45 uses a little more lead, but using a cheaper alloy offsets that for me.

[dverna]

9mm for me. It allows me to have a "light" carry gun (Kahr) and a full size Glock when I can carry something bulkier. Having a few extra rounds in the magazine is a plus. The lower recoil allows a smaller "light" gun and it allows my fiance can use the same guns and ammunition. She bought a Sig 365 in 9mm and loves it. One self defence load for all our guns and one cast practice load. KISS

There is a slew of very effective and affordable jacketed bullets for self defense loads. I have never had to shoot anyone, so 100% of my rounds so far have been at paper and steel and 99% have been commercial cast bullets.

Brass is cheap $30-35/k. SP primers have been cheaper and easier to get during shortages. If you are buying lead, you get 56 124 gr bullets to the lb vs 35 200 gr - 60% more.

We added a 9mm carbine for home defense and critter control. In the carbine, 1250 fps with the 124 gr HP's gives us 430 ft-lb at the muzzle and 100 yard effective range.

[ioon44]

With .45ACP you can run 185 gr, 175 gr or 155 gr cast bullets to save on lead going down range.

[fivegunner]

Hand`s down 45ACP

[schutzen-jager]

9mm for me. It allows me to have a "light" carry gun (Kahr) and a full size Glock when I can carry something bulkier. Having a few extra rounds in the magazine is a plus. The lower recoil allows a smaller "light" gun and it allows my fiance can use the same guns and ammunition. She bought a Sig 365 in 9mm and loves it. One self defence load for all our guns and one cast practice load. KISS

There is a slew of very effective and affordable jacketed bullets for self defense loads. I have never had to shoot anyone, so 100% of my rounds so far have been at paper and steel and 99% have been commercial cast bullets.

Brass is cheap $30-35/k. SP primers have been cheaper and easier to get during shortages. If you are buying lead, you get 56 124 gr bullets to the lb vs 35 200 gr - 60% more.

We added a 9mm carbine for home defense and critter control. In the carbine, 1250 fps with the 124 gr HP's gives us 430 ft-lb at the muzzle and 100 yard effective range.

original poster was asking about cast + not jacketed bullets -

[SSGOldfart]

I'll go with the 45acp caliber just plain fun with a 200gr. SWC in a 1911 you can't go wrong.:coffee:

[HWooldridge]

H&G 68 in 45 ACP. Accurate in most guns and will typically feed with a little bit of throating, sometimes none at all in some barrels.

[sureYnot]

I found 45acp to be easier to make happy. But, if you can make your 9mm happy, it's easier on your lead pile, and the brass grows on trees.
What you're willing to go through depends on what you need.
When I was single, I carried a .45. With a family, I figured the ability to suppress and facilitate escape might be better than putting d's in the dirt. So I switched to 9mm with almost 3x the ammo in the pistol and on the belt.
For a 9mm, mine was very cooperative. I understand some are not so much. I'd start with a cheap 2-cav Lee mold and see how it treats you and move to something better if it doesn't put up a fight.
Decide what you need. Then, do whatever it takes to bend it to your will. There's always a way. Cost sometimes outweighs the benefits. Years of reading this forum suggests I got lucky with my 9mm.

[Bigslug]

"Best" or "easiest"? Sometimes you might need to do a little homework, but there really isn't much difference between them if you do.

.45ACP is very forgiving if you aren't going to do that homework. There's very little mystery to it dimensionally, the dies easily accommodate jacketed or cast, and pretty much any alloy slightly harder than pure lead will work. Stick a lubed bullet of .452" on top of a reasonable powder charge and check the diameter of your taper crimp and hey - it usually works.

9mm hits many of us with the problem of the brass swaging our bullet down below nominal diameter creating a leading issue. The answer is simply expanding the brass slightly more with one of several options available - such as using a .38S&W sizing die (Lee is cheap and works). Once you understand that quirk, it's no harder to run the Dillon for 9mm than anything else.

If you get a Smith 52 or Colt Gold Cup in .38 Special, you've probably got one of the most accurate wadcutter guns in existence. There isn't much mystery to making a 148grain wadcutter shoot, but it's only a wadcutter gun and will never be anything else.

Would I deliberately choose the fairly intense 7.62x25 Tokarev as a cast bullet platform? No, but I wouldn't shy away from casting for one either.

So basically, I'm not going to define my pistol choices around cast vs. jacketed bullets. Pick the gun for whatever reason you need the gun for, start casting for it and address any issues as they arise

[Finster101]

I have had pretty good luck with 9mm, 45 ACP and 32 auto. I'd say pick a caliber you are happy with and go to town. Might there be a little learning curve? Yes, but once you find the right combo it is easy to keep a good supply of ammo in any caliber of your choice. If you are just starting out, then I would have to go with the majority that 45 ACP if the most forgiving but don't be afraid of going a different route.

[sureYnot]

These last two contributors nailed it.

[tejano]

Amigos, would one of you explain to this dummy how to use the 38 S&W sizing die for 9mm. Is it used in place of the 9mm resizing die? Thanks.

[sureYnot]

Amigos, would one of you explain to this dummy how to use the 38 S&W sizing die for 9mm. Is it used in place of the 9mm resizing die? Thanks.Nobody does that. The expander is used because it reaches further into the case and helps prevent the brass from swaging down the bullet upon seating.

[Cheap Trick]

Ive cast 45 ACP for several decades but I think that the 38 Special is at least as easy and accurate. Ive been mostly casting 125 grain round-flat and I certainly use alot less lead plus, I don't have to search for my empties! In bear country I feel a certain security packing the 45's.
oops "auto loading" of course my 38 isn't a automatic.

[RyanJames170]

I have been thinking twords 45 ACP just because it could share a lot of molds with my 45 colt revolvers,
As far as 9mm vs 45ACP I think it’s a horse a peace both got there ups and downs but perhaps sharing bullets with my 45 colt revolver would be a big upside to it, I mean in average defensive shooting it would be more then sufficient, in the poo was hitting the fan world, ehh both are the wrong choice your much better suited to a rifle as Evan 5.56 hits harder

[MostlyLeverGuns]

45 Auto, 200 SWC is easy, the .40 S&W and is surprisingly easy to load, IF you just go for moderate/easy shooting loads, lots of cheap brass. 45 ACP has advantage of large or small primers if you have/need them. The 9 is NOT a reloader's friend, high pressure, small case volume, case taper make for more difficult reloading. .380's not bad, .32 ACP about the same as .380, milder pressures but they are small to handle. A S&W 52 in 38 Special shooting full wadcutters may be the 'best' cast bullet fun pistol.

[Bazoo]

I'm another 45 ACP fan for cast. I had great results with the Lee TL452-230-2R (https://bulletmatch.com/bullets/lee-tl452-230-2r-90346-90350), the Lee TL452-230-TC (which weighed closer to 240 grains with my alloy), and the RCBS 45-201-SWC (https://bulletmatch.com/bullets/rcbs-45-201-swc-82047), all in a 1911. It was just an easy cartridge and gun combination to work with. Wheel weight alloy worked fine for me, and I used both traditional lube and tumble lube without issue.

[BamaNapper]

I'm not a master when it comes to reloading, maybe a decade messing with semiautos. My wife and I shoot 9mm almost exclusively, but I have friends I've reloaded 45 for. I can say honestly that of the last 20K 9mm rounds I've loaded, I've had less than a handful that have not chambered and fired as expected. That's using a dozen guns of varying brands, plus what's been shot by others at the range. The 9's seem super reliable and easy to reload. On the other hand, 45's have been a headache for me. Some guns will cycle and fire round nose just fine, while other guns want a truncated cone. Some want a slightly shorter OAL, while some accept OAL as listed in the manual. Of the handful of 45 guns I tried loading for, I've yet to find a reliable round that will work for maybe all but one. I'm not saying 45's are a nightmare, just that reliable 9mm ammo was a cakewalk for me.

[Ford SD]

I have been thinking twords 45 ACP just because it could share a lot of molds with my 45 colt revolvers,
As far as 9mm vs 45ACP I think it’s a horse a peace both got there ups and downs but perhaps sharing bullets with my 45 colt revolver would be a big upside to it, I mean in average defensive shooting it would be more then sufficient, in the poo was hitting the fan world, ehh both are the wrong choice your much better suited to a rifle as Evan 5.56 hits harder


the 45 acp can be .450 -.451- .452 in diameter 185-230g

the 45 colt will need Bigger / heaver so you would not be able to share moulds

[Barry54]

https://noebulletmolds.com/site/shop/bullet-moulds/452-454/452-232-hp-ab1/452-232-hp-ab1-rg2-cavity-pb-brass/

I use this mold for 45 acp as a 230 grain hollow point. It’s around 250 grains as a flat point.

[Winger Ed.]

I'm a big .45ACP fan on the 1911 platform.
You can tune the gun to go from mild to wild, and there is plenty of different molds
to do anything with it.

I like that little stumpy 190 SWC in my old Gold Cup, but the Lee 200 trunciated cone SWC is a close 2nd.

[charlie b]

I also love cast in my 1911 .45's. I especially like the 185-200gn SWC's, my 200gn are from Lee molds.

My HK9mm does not like cast. The barrel is not throated and shaves lead no matter how I size them (including oversize expander).

But, all of the casting and reloading has been 'easy'. From .25acp to .45 colt in pistols. The only 'difficult' ones were the .25 and .32 acp just because I had trouble handling the small cases and bullets in the press. One of the most accurate was a 1903 Colt (.32ACP).

Make your choice on what you want to shoot and how much you want to shoot it. Buy a mold for that gun, even if all you can afford is a Lee.

[jimb16]

I've shot cast in .45 auto, 9mm, .380 and even .25 auto. Cast has always worked well in any of them. The only one that gave any difficulty is the .25 auto, but that is due to getting it to cast well. I usually use nearly straight lino for that to get good bullets. It isn't the caliber, its the experience. When you know how, it gets easier.

[K43]

7.63x25 (30 Mauser) and 7.62x25 Tokerev. They're like little bottle neck rifle cartridges and just crank out easy. The only thing I change between the two is the volume of Unique and boolets. The dies stay the same.
After that .45 ACP.

[shooting on a shoestring]

RyanJames170,
Regarding using the same molds for 45 acp and 45 Colt, might work but might not.
I’ve got a couple of 1911’s in 45 acp. I’ve got mmmmm let’s say several revolvers in 45 Colt. No crossover between them for my boolits.

The 45 acp 1911’s both require 0.452” boolits. Not unusual.
A couple of the 45 Colt revolvers need 0.453”, some need 0.454” a couple need 0.456” and one needs 0.458”.

For boolit shape, the 1911’s get either a truncated cone or a semi wadcutter with rounded edges on the nose to feed well.
The 45 Colts get semi wadcutters with square edges on the nose or full wadcutters to hit harder.

Boolit weights for the 1911’s run from 196 grains to 215 grains.
Boolit weights for the 45 Colts run from 200 grains to 310 grains.

So for me and my guns, I don’t share boolits between 45 acp and 45 Colt.
Is it possible for you to do it? Maybe. Depends on the diameters of your 1911 throats and your 45 Colt chamber exits. If they’re the same, then yes….provided you’re ok with light weight boolits in 45 Colt hitting a little low with 45 acp boolit weights.

[Rapidrob]

.38 Special ( not .38 Super or .38 Auto) A very inexpensive round to reload due to 158 grain bullet or less weight bullets, a light powder load, very light recoil and deadly accurate. You can even shoot it indoors with Speer plastic bullets and a primer only.
My 1911 in .38 special is just a joy to shoot.

[wilecoyote]

TL-452-230-2R #90358: this six cav. Lee mold has worked without problems even on my HK45_
easy to cast, easy to feed, easy to shoot_
cheap, boring reliable, reasonably accurate even in my hands, btw_
not a .45 lover, but for sure my 1st semiauto caliber of choice about cast bullets, and with double choice of primers as bonus_

[Texas by God]

The .45 auto is my favorite pistol cartridge period.
Easy to load with hundreds of recipes for jacketed or cast bullets.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Hick]

the 45 acp can be .450 -.451- .452 in diameter 185-230g

the 45 colt will need Bigger / heaver so you would not be able to share moulds

Actually, you can share molds. The Lyman 452-374 is a 230 grain round nose that works fine in both. (load data for the 452-374 in 45 acp is in the Lyman cast bullet handbook 4th edition). Getting it to work well in the 45 acp is a bit tricky (PC seems to work best) but the performance makes it worth figuring out.

[HWooldridge]

My Ruger Old Model Blackhawk in 45 Colt likes .4515 diameter pills, which also work well in my 45 auto. Most modern guns run around .452, while older revolvers might be closer to .453-.454. I’ve never seen any problems with interchangeability, but I don’t own any old pistols in 45 Colt.

[.429&H110]

Dunno about best, but worst had to be my Kimber .45 before the tight camber was reamed.
Flunked the pluck test with factory loads when dirty no chance for my reloads.
All good now, though, an example of expensive not worth the money.

[35 Rem]

Regarding multi-use bullets for both 45 ACP and 45 Colt, the RCBS 45-230-CM is often mentioned as working with both cartridges. For that reason it's on my list of molds to get one of these days. Looks reasonable to think it could be made to shoot in the 45ACP.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1010279526?pid=651749

[wch]

Plus one!

[Bass Ackward]

I think I see a pattern here. From handgun to rifle …. 45 ACP. Then when you get tired of chasing brass, you can get a wheeler. You can buy small primers that are cheaper and generally more available too. And if you go 45 Colt at some point, you can use the ACP sizer to neck size the Colt to get enough neck tension. But …. in the end, you’ll own everything anyway at some point. Then as you become edgumacated, come back to the 45.

[rintinglen]

I'm voting 45 ACP. It has undoubtedly been loaded more over a longer period, so there is plenty of data available. I suppose the 9mm might be seeing more favor these days, but from the 1920's until the 1980's, more 45 ACP's were reloaded than all other semi-auto cartridges combined. This had more to do with the guns available than the case. Unlike the heavily tapered 9mm, or the various bottle necked cartridges, the straight walled cartridges slide easily into a carbide die, and IME, I have had less trouble with gross variances in case thickness in the 45 ACP than in the 9mm. Plus, the greater volume is more forgiving to minor differences in the powder charge, A tenth of a grain or even two seldom makes much difference. Likewise, a few thousandths difference in length has less impact on pressures than in the case of smaller, higher pressure rounds. All in all, for cast, the 45 ACP.


And the larger case is more forgiving of minor variances. John Browning's pistol cartridges are all, save the tiny 25 ACP, easier to load than the likes of their competitors from 120 years ago. Whether the 32, 380, 38 or 45 is easier to load depends more on manual dexterity than any innate difference in the cartridges themselves. Heck, I am just finishing up a run of 400+ 6.35/25 ACP's. Size, flare, charge with powder and seat, then taper crimp so the case mouth is .472. Chances are you'll have a fine cartridge capable of excellent accuracy with no or minimal leading.


All that said, I freely confess that I carry smaller, lighter guns that kick less these days. I am older, and weaker, and a bit more bunged up than I was when I went on patrol with my SIG 220 thirty years ago.

[P Flados]

Depends on the need/desire.

The 45 ACP with the 200 gr SWC seems to make most guns happy with minimal effort. It can be loaded down to just cycle the action or loaded warm to deliver plenty of punch and/or satisfy the need for some bang / recoil.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, 32 ACP and 380 do very well. As they are much less popular, finding a gun in either of these that you want to shoot a lot is not as easy as for the 9mm.

One of the biggest potential downsides of the 32 ACP is brass. At every range session, some always seem to hide better than your ability to track them down. Routinely loosing and replenishing is likely. Unless you are very lucky, resupply via range pickup is not going to work. If you buy used mixed headstamp brass, you will find significant dimensional variations in the rim such that fit for many in your shell holder may be poor.

For 380, getting a good load that does not lead your barrel is about as easy any. Brass is easy to loose among 9mm at the range. However, I find enough free range pickup to replenish my supply. For "just shooting", the reduced muzzle blast and recoil of the 380 as compared to the 9mm is a plus for me.

[Harter66]

The easiest from 380,9mm,40 , and 45 ACP has been the 45 ACP .
Of course having 6 cartridges in .451/2 cal , another in .458 and 12 bullets from 141 gr RB to 535 gr makes that a prime choice for me . The 340+ gr aren't really suited for ACP so only 6-7 moulds . The lone auto will feed anything that will fit in the mags .

The 380 doesn't offer a lot of flex and basically none in the 10' pocket pistols.

The 9×19 is better and will share to greater or lesser degrees the 38/357 moulds like the 45s , 4 of the 8, 85-250 gr moulds aren't really practical at magazine lengths . Fortunately the lone HP9 doesn't mind my explorations .

Now if I were going to pursue an easy effective auto I like the 40 so I'd step up to a 10mm and maybe get a 165 gr mould to go with the 175 and definitely a 200 gr .

[wilecoyote]

I believe that .380auto and .45acp are to be preferred especially for the low original speeds even with j.bullets, therefore not excessively reduced performances even with cast.
personally I would stick with traditional round noses, cast o.c., to avoid feeding surprises, anyway_

[WRideout]

"Best" or "easiest"?

Would I deliberately choose the fairly intense 7.62x25 Tokarev as a cast bullet platform? No, but I wouldn't shy away from casting for one either.



Basically, I don't own a gun I can't shoot cast boolits in. I have put perhaps two boxes of white box Win factory ammo through my Romanian Tok, and probably several thousand cast loads. I had to learn a few tricks to make it completely reliable, but it is great fun, and with a 100 gr cast lead boolit is fairly hard-hitting.
Wayne

[RyanJames170]

I already have a few 45 colt 6 guns already, one of my more favorite revolver cartridges, as far as sharing molds between 45 acp and 45 colt, it can be done just need to get molds that drop big enough and size them down as needed, I plan on having 200-255gr for my 45 colt all of witch can be used in 45 ACP.

[Jtarm]

My experience with bottom feeders is limited, but I would say .45 ACP, if for no other reason than there’s a much larger body of knowledge for cast bullets in it vs other rounds.

[gwpercle]

The 45 ACP is a lovely walk in the park on a sunny day with your best girl who enjoys kissing you ...

The 9mm Luger is an absolute " Stinker " ... it made me say curse words and I gave up on it twice ... the third Time (and an NOE gas checked boolit mould) was the charm ... that tapered case is a bugger to contend with !

Go with the 45 acp and 200gr. cast SWC or TC or RF design ...
Be Happy-Happy :drinks:
Gary

[6thtexas]

Go with the .45 ACP if for no other reason the fired brass is easier to find when it is scattered on the ground...

[Low Budget Shooter]

My favorite is 45 auto with a 200 grain SWC like everyone else. 380 casts and reloads cheap and easy. But the kids and I also have shot a bazillion cast bullet 9mm rounds over the past several years. 38 S&W stem in the Lee powder-through expander die, with a bullet that doesn't seat very deeply into the case, WITHOUT the Lee FCD, just a taper crimp die, minimum charge that just works the action, and 9mm reloading has gone very well for me.

[Bigslug]

I already have a few 45 colt 6 guns already, one of my more favorite revolver cartridges, as far as sharing molds between 45 acp and 45 colt, it can be done just need to get molds that drop big enough and size them down as needed, I plan on having 200-255gr for my 45 colt all of witch can be used in 45 ACP.

I guess I can call it one of my lasting contributions to the casting community: I convinced Ranch Dog to design a .45 ACP bullet based on his other WFN concepts which required a group buy at NOE to confirm enough interest. During the group buy discussion phase, one of the participants asked if we'd be alright with converting the front tumble lube groove into a crimp groove for .45 Auto Rim and .45 Colt. None of the other players had a problem with that and the TL452-234-RF was the result.

From a 1911 feeding perspective, I've since landed on the the profile of the Accurate 45-230A or 45-230H (both very similar to the LBT 452-230 LFN) as about the ultimate. Having Accurate add a crimp groove to a custom order that would be concealed in the case of the ACP, but made use of in the revolver would be easily achieved on those or many other ACP bullets in the catalog. Asking for a diameter increase to .453" or .454" would be no problem either - depending on how your wheelguns are set.

If you're after a "one-bullet" solution, those 230 grain LFN profiles would be a great compromise. Cast soft, you can probably get them to pancake a bit on impact. Cast hard, they are capable of penetrating A LOT even at GI hardball speeds. The .30" to .32" meplat is not as spectacularly destructive as the .34" of a WFN profile, but it is still no joke and will feed reliably up a GI feed ramp. Ran at "Redhawk" speeds through a sturdy revolver, there's little on this earth it couldn't deal with.

I wouldn't say this answers your OP question, but it may be "best" for you. I mean, really, if you don't have a 1911 in .45 ACP, you're in danger of having your citizenship revoked, so you better get to shopping.;)

[RyanJames170]

i decided to go with the 45 ACP, i will be making a new post about bullet molds

[DMC707]

is there any other answer than 45 ACP ? :drinks:

[beemer]

I have loaded the 45 acp, 9mm, 9mm Makarov 380 and 32 acp. Can't say I am as experienced as most folks here loading autos but I have learned that the smaller the case the more finicky it is. I can make them work, sometimes just takes a bit of tinkering around. Most agree 45 acp is the easiest, especially after Doug had a serious talk with the barrel.

If given a choice of one auto it would probably be a 9mm. I really like the small package, round count and reasonable power in a compact CC pistol. This is not really a fun gun but a tool.

Given a choice of one caliber for a handgun it would not be an semi-auto but a 38 Special and my wheel gun.

[MT Gianni]

Two others to add are the 40 S&W and 10 mm. I am surprised at the groups I get with each. Larger bullets are easier to cast and even with higher pressures and velocities accuracy is good. I rate both ahead of the 9 but behind the 45.