Cowboy boolits and the autoloading 45ACP

[rvpilot76]

Has anyone loaded the RNFP cowboy boolits for the 45 Colt in the 45ACP? I'm thinking about this as I'm looking at a Lee 452-200-RF. My concern is that the blunt nose in this guy won't feed from a Springfield XD 45ACP that I'm about to purchase. I have one of these pistols in 40 Short and Weak, and it swallows everything I feed it. I think this RNFP boolit in the autoloader would make a great woods SD load. Even better would be the 452-255-RF. Last month in Handloader there was a great article about heavy bullets in the 45ACP, and it got me to thinking. Does anyone here cast either the 200 or 255 RF boolits by Lee and/or use them in the ACP?

Many thanks,

Kevin

[Springfield]

I cast both, use them all the time in my wife's 45 Colt, but haven't tried them in my 45 autos yet. I just use them as cast for the 45 Colt, works well.

[StarMetal]

I have that mould and I have loaded some both for the 45 acp and my Long Colt, but I can't remember shooting the 45acps ones yet. I did shoot the 45LC loads. Have no fear though because I believe Anthony on our forum has lots of experience with that bullet and I'm just about positive he shot those out of his 45 auto's with good result and I believe he stated that it's a darn good heavy bullet with a good flat nose on it that does feed well and would be great for a defense bullet. Maybe I'll go ahead and shoot the ones I got loaded and report back..

Joe

[Shepherd2]

I have the mould too. I load it in .45acp for my S&W 625. I have fired it a few times thru my Kimber 1911 without any feeding problems. I prefer the Lyman 452374 in .45acp autoloaders.

[Dale53]

My favorite bullet for the .45 ACP is the H&G #68. Over a five year period I shot 75,000 of these through my 1911. Lee has a good copy that should work well for you. It should feed well (most .45's are now throated for this or a similar bullet). I head space on the bullet, not the case. Extremely accurate and in 75,000 rounds I only had one "alibi" in competition (alibi's are not allowed in IPSC). That is a remarkable record. Further, since it is 200 grs, recoil is less and recoil recovery is quicker.

Excellent bullet for target and also self defence.

Of course, like any load, it must be proved in YOUR pistol before you use it for anything serious.

Dale53

[cherok9878]

I have used the lee 452-200-RF for a while in a .45 ACP. National Match barrel is throated and magazine is set up for Wad cutters. Feeds and functions without any problems at all. Have taken three white tail's with the bullet, all under fifty yds, one required a second shot, full penetration on all, side to side. Turkey's fall dead in their tracks with little tissue damage. These are pure WW with a home made lube of unknown content. Older gentelman cast these for me a while back and before I run out I will have a mould. Just my opinion on what works for me, hope this is helpful..........larry

[StarMetal]

Okay, just got off the range. I shot that RCBS Cowboy bullet you're talking about. It's a pretty stiff load and I was shooting it out of my Gold Cup Combat Commander. First function was perfect. It shot very well, under two inch easy at 25 yards. Maybe if I would have loaded it as a target load it would have tightened up more as that pistol is capable of extreme accuracy...it's highly tuned. I also put the 45acp cylinder in my Ruger Blackhawk, old three screw model with 4 5/8 in barrel, and it absolutely loved that same load. It even cut a much smaller group and at one point was chewing a hole.

My personal opinion, Anthony is right, this is THE defense bullet for the 45acp when using cast. The important thing is it feed very reliable out of a variety of 45acp pistols and like Anthony had said one time it has a very large flat nose. I'd pick it any day over the Lee.

Joe

[35remington]

One thing you've got to watch out for with the Lee 255RF bullet; it seats deeply in the ACP and powder charges need to be reduced to keep pressures in line. I use it with 5.5 grains Unique for around 800 fps or a little over in my 1911's and Ruger autoloaders. Standard charges of Unique that are used with 230 grain FMJ's, like 6.5 grains, will result in a +P load if the Lee 255 RF is used instead of the FMJ.

Like the post mentioned above, my 1911's will feed the Lee 255RF with magazines tuned for wadcutters. A little experimentation with magazines may be in order because the shorter OAL with the 255 Lee bullet may require different release timing. The Ruger P97 simply doesn't care what you stuff in it, as it will feed anything. It does have a barrel where the rifling starts immediately ahead of the chamber, so it cannot tolerate much bearing surface forward of the case.

Accuracy is usably decent with the 255 RF, and it sure clobbers the bowling pins, but as an owner of the 230 RCBS Cowboy FP mould I'd also have to say it is superior to the Lee 255 RF in nearly every way. That bullet is capable of higher velocities than the Lee bullet at standard pressures, more so than the 25 grain weight difference would indicate.

The Lee mould for the 255 is cheap and if you just like to mess around with bullet styles you won't be out much if you don't happen to have good results with it. I have a number of guns in 45 ACP including revolvers, and the 255 RF serves very well in the wheelgun.

I'd say your chances of the 255 feeding from the XD are good; I also understand it's pretty reliable, with more straight-line feeding.

[Blackwater]

It's not quite the exact same thing, but dang close. A buddy had some Oregon Trail 200 gr. RNFP's left over from a .45 LC, and he tried them in his .45 ACP, and they fed as slick as anything. 100% reliability for most of the 500 rds. he had left. He was using 7.2 gr. Unique for 1065 fps. in his 5" Springfield stainless gun, completely stock. Not even the feed ramp had been polished.

In my experience, it's overly long bullets that give the most feeding problems in most .45's. I know he had to seat the 230 gr. Lee TC bullet a tad shorter to avoid feeding problems. He seats that one just the tiniest smidge behind the beginning of the TC ojive. Then it functions 100%.

I kinda' like that bullet because of its flat base. The 200 gr. SWC Lee has a beveled base. I'd rather it be flat, but one takes what he can and learns to live with it. I've just never been a fan of beveled bases, and that's why I'm considering getting the 200 RNFP 6-cav. Lee. FWIW.

[motorcycle_dan]

As an XD .45 ACP owner (the tactical model woo hoo) Be very choosy about the bullet you decide on. I though I could make a SWC feed in the XD. The quick answer is NO ya can't. The extracted case smacks into the ledge of the SWC in the top of the mag. Mushing the mouth and making it cycle unreliable. It will feed H&G #34 RN okay. It will feed Lee 228gr RN two lube groove 1R, but you must seat it DEEP. OAL of 1.225~1.230. I too was giving serious thought to the Lee 200gr RF. What I'd like is a TC style bullet with bevel base about 200gr.

I've been busy working up a load for my XD over the last several weeks. I love the gun for action pistol competition. I am much faster with the XD over my 1911 in recovery time for multiple targets. I was a 1911 shooter and thought all the glockish guns were just toys. No longer, I'm sold. Even considering an XD 9mm for the spousal unit. (For her to use, not to use on her. Keep your mind outta the gutter)

[AnthonyB]

Fellas, been away from the computer for a few days and just got back. I have very little experience with the Lee 200 RF. I bought that mold several years ago because it was the closest thing I could find to the LBT 200 FN. The Lee mold was a royal PITA, so I quickly shipped it to BD when he was designing the BD45ACP. It is probably in a snow drift somewhere in northern Maine now, but the boolits fed and shot well. I finally found an LBT 200 FN on eBay and paid out the nose for it, only to find that it was temperamental in several 1911s. I finally developed a load that worked in my Kimber but couldn't use the same load in the Glocks, so my search continued. I eventually found the RCBS 45-230 CM, and Joe stated my thoughts pretty well: that is the best readily available 45 design for defense/hunting. The LBT and BD45ACP remain staples on the bench for specific pistols, but I can count on the RCBS to work in anything. Tony

[ANeat]

As an XD .45 ACP owner (the tactical model woo hoo) Be very choosy about the bullet you decide on. I though I could make a SWC feed in the XD. The quick answer is NO ya can't. The extracted case smacks into the ledge of the SWC in the top of the mag. Mushing the mouth and making it cycle unreliable. It will feed H&G #34 RN okay. It will feed Lee 228gr RN two lube groove 1R, but you must seat it DEEP. OAL of 1.225~1.230. I too was giving serious thought to the Lee 200gr RF. What I'd like is a TC style bullet with bevel base about 200gr.




I agree 100% with MC Dan. Ive had very bad results trying SWC's out of my XD45. Ive tried Star 185swc, H&G 68, and H&G 130. The 130 is the most reliable but it will still tear up the edge of the brass at least once per mag.
I think the 200 gr RNF would be good to try. It would be nice, you could certainly get a lot more bullets per pound out of a 200 gr slug:roll:

Adam

[Dale53]

I've been looking at the Lee .452 200 gr RF myself (I have used the Lee .452 255 RF
a good bit in my Ruger Bisley Vaquero and even won some matches with it - both smokless and Black Powder). It is a dandy bullet for the revolver. I really like the wide, flat, meplat. The lighter 200 gr appears to be just a shorter version of it. It should work well in the .45 ACP. With that wide flat meplat, it should work really well for hunting and self defense as stated above. Lord above, if I don't stop buying bullet moulds, I will have to build another building to house them:confused:

Dale53