45acp size to .451 or .452

[seabat0603]

I have aKart barrel in my 1911. I sluged the bore and it is .450 Should I size my bullets to .451 or to .452?

[Shiloh]

Try and see.

Many folks use the .452 as the standard. Most commercial casters size at .452. Some will custom size for you. Mine is very accurate at .452. The LEE 200 gr TLSWC, LEE 230 TLTC and Lyman 452630 200 SWC all shoot very well at .452.

Shiloh

[billyb]

I size .452 for my kimbers, they work great. Bought a lee push through in .451 and tried them. Wasted my money, they shot great just like the .452 i already had in my star sizer. No gain, I did sell my lee sizers to a fellow member here and got some of my money back to expend on another experiment. All part of the game. Bill

[rbwillnj]

I have Kart barrels in both of my 45 wadcutter guns. I size to .452. In my guns I get sub 2" groups at 50 yards. Your milage may vary.

[shotman]

here we go again i shoot 1in groups at 100yds off hand with my old gov 45 that I had in ww1 shotman

[runfiverun]

i would go with 452 and i f the brass squeezes your boolit down a bit it should still be fine for ya.
and my new 1911's wont shoot no 1 or 2 inch group at over 25 yds.

[jcwit]

I got my 1911 from my father who captured it during the Spanish American war. He always said he took it from the cold dead fingers of a French partisan solder who was fighting for the Spanish.

BTW what does 1911 stand for anyway??????

[Echo]

Shotman & jcwit, I'm glad that I'm getting Old & Ugly - starting to shake some, so no longer shoot those one-hole groups @ 100 yards with my old 1911. It was embarrassing to shoot, and shoot, and then take one paster down to repair the target...

[snaggdit]

Echo... Nevermind, I'll leave it be!

[Crash_Corrigan]

"I got my 1911 from my father who captured it during the Spanish American war. He always said he took it from the cold dead fingers of a French partisan solder who was fighting for the Spanish"

I thought that John Browning's design was adapted by the gubermint in 1911?


When was that Spanish - American shoot 'em up? 1898?

[Willbird]

here we go again i shoot 1in groups at 100yds off hand with my old gov 45 that I had in ww1 shotman


A well tuned 1911 will shoot sub 2" at 50 yards from a ransom rest with cast bullets, as tight as 1.25" in my experience for 5 shots.

Most decent 22 target pistols with decent ammo(not even the fancy eley stuff) will shoot sub 1" at 50 yards from the same ransom rest. My K32 with alberts swaged hollow based wadcutters shot 1.5" at 50 yards.

Bill

[dubber123]

A well tuned 1911 will shoot sub 2" at 50 yards from a ransom rest with cast bullets, as tight as 1.25" in my experience for 5 shots.

Most decent 22 target pistols with decent ammo(not even the fancy eley stuff) will shoot sub 1" at 50 yards from the same ransom rest. My K32 with alberts swaged hollow based wadcutters shot 1.5" at 50 yards.

Bill

Exactly true. There are some makers, (Les Baer for one) who will GUARANTEE sub 2" 50 yd. groups. ( It's a bunch EXTRA $$$ for this level of accuracy). Baers LEAST accurate 1911 is guaranteed to shoot in 3" at 50. Can they shoot? you betcha! Will my Springfield do it? Not hardly!:roll:

[BD]

I'm going against the flow here. I've seen a number of Kimbers with .450 bores in which leading was eliminated completely by sizing .451 and seating the boolit out a bit farther so the edge of the front drive band was in the throat slightly. All three of my 1911 bores are .451 or under and I size all of my .45 acp to .451. In my "games" gun I routinely go 700 -1,000 rounds between cleanings and have no issues with leading at all. Any boolit, any hardness.

I once shot eight 1 hole groups in a row @ 100 yards out of my 5" kimber. Then I had to change the mag.

BD

[Y2K]

BillieB, Now I know why you parted with the Lee sizers. Knew if I stayed quiet, I'd learn sumpin'. Ha, Ha!

[rbwillnj]

The original poster said he had a Kart Barrel, and wanted to know whether to size his bullets to .451 or .452.

I have three acurrized bulleye guns with Kart barrels. I size my Lyman 452630 200 grain SWC bullets with a Star Sizer though a .452 Star sizing die (nose first) and get sub 2" groups at 50 yards FROM A RANSOM REST with all three guns. Two of the guns are built to shoot wadcutters, the third gun is a Hardball gun but does a decent job with wadcutters.

Oh, and my Grandpa's Gov 45 was a S&W 1917 Revolver. I have it, but I haven't tested it in the Ransom Rest yet.

[felix]

I would let your best shooter in the neighborhood do the shooting. Chances are he/she can outdo the Ransom rest. ... felix

[Hang Fire]

here we go again i shoot 1in groups at 100yds off hand with my old gov 45 that I had in ww1 shotman

My old Remington Rand 1911A1 is very accurate, but this child is satisfied with what I can do at 25 yards, and tain't no 1 inch groups.

[ASM826]

I took a friend who had never shot a 1911 to the range recently. He did well with the .22 and the .38, and wanted to try the .45. Watching him shoot a magazine, I realized that all the hype he had heard about recoil and the big bad .45ACP was making him anticipate, jerk the trigger, push the barrel down, just everything he wasn't doing wrong before, he started doing.

So I put a paper plate on the target board with a black paster in the middle, went back to the line and started back at the beginning, doing these things as I spoke, "Take a high grip, wrap your hand around, keeping your trigger finger pointed along the barrel. Wrap your other hand around your strong hand, stay clear of the slide. Brig the gun up and sight on the paster. Keeping a firm grip, put your finger on the trigger. Now, think about the sight picture, just maintain your sight picture and smoothly pull back on the trigger. Don't anticipate, keep the sight picture, and ...BANG!"

Looking downrange, there was a hole in the paster, not exactly centered, but fully in the paster. I managed not to look surprised, just put on the safety and handed the gun to him and said, "There, now you try it."

He did much better. It wasn't until we were in the truck going home that I started laughing and told him that I would have been happy with getting them all on the plate at that range. I have thought about it, though, and wondered... How often would I hit the paster if I was that conscious of each shot?