Agreed on not going above those - and I have to admit that the 6 Grains of Bullseye I might start off with 4.5 Grains on, acute paranoia is good on faster powders in handloading LOL
Agreed on not going above those - and I have to admit that the 6 Grains of Bullseye I might start off with 4.5 Grains on, acute paranoia is good on faster powders in handloading LOL
I'll have to second that. Personal opinion here.... I would opt for W231 or Unique which are proven to work not blow up the gun or injure the user. Caution still needs to be employed as one never starts out with a max load. How much roll over on the mouth is going to help dictate pressure to an extent. Always error on the light side again my opinion.
There is a video out there that is showing a load of 6.3 gr of 231 which I absolutely would not try. Again...my opinion.
W231 can and did blow up a gun for me. I have the scar to prove it. Took about a year to get almost all of the feeling back in my thumb. And yeah it was a Glock in .45 acp, the lower receiver was toast but the slide with a new barrel is fine. The barrel was split the length of the chamber. Since it was a reload I wrote it off to a double charge of W231.
West of Beaver Dick's Ferry.
Any gun can be blown up with an overcharge with a number of different powders. Sound like you might have had a bullet stuck in the barrel and then fired a second round and I've seen this happen with a Glock. I've seen both barrel bulges and barrel splits as a result of a squib load followed by a good round.
I wasn't trying to say that 231 is infallible by any means. I'm saying that I trust it more than I do other powders simply because I have used it in excess of 40 years. I know for fact that a proper load of 231 or Unique will work fine. An overload of either will result in a blown up gun and possible injury or both.
Thanks guys for the additional information. When I get to my old loads I will drop the 231 charge down from 6.1 to 6.0. I did fire several and they did function pretty good in my old 45 on and old Essex frame that I cobbled together from parts. I didn't try any in my Colt Officers . Pretty fun project. The snakes I have around here that I need something like this on are copperheads. I usually don't bother black snakes as long as they don't bother me.
Mark 5:34 And He said to her (Jesus speaking), "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction."
If you have a problem with it ejecting a spent round the fix is an easy one and that would be to drop the spring from the 16lb for a 5" barrel down to a 14lb spring and it will eject fine. I watched a prime example of a video on you tube telling people to just increase the load until it ejects. Most here know that is dangerous and faulty information to hand out still it needs to be said so people don't do something dangerous and stay safe. The last thing you want is to miss a snake your shooting at have the gun blow up with you getting injured falling down on the ground having the snake bite you in the face.
6bg6ga good info on the spring strength. I have a couple of extra springs here from my Essex frame build. Is there a way to tell how strong these springs are for a 5" barreled 45? I will check into the springs available for the Officers. I also have a S&W 645. I may check into spring for it as well after I try some loads in it.
Mark 5:34 And He said to her (Jesus speaking), "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your affliction."
If you purchased a 5" barrel 1911 you can bet on having a 16lb spring. If you bought something used its a guessing game unless you construct something you can install the spring in and test the strength upon compression.
GONRA uses WW231 for Auto Pistols in my semiauto collection.
BUT like Blue Dot for .44 mag, .44 Auto Mag and .45 Winchester Magnum semiauto pistols.
My O M Colt will function shot loads with stock springs ,22lbs. I use 5,2 gr. of Unique with a Win. 410 wad, cut off 1/16" short of the case neck filled with #8or 9 shot. It works in my 1991A1 Colt ,5" with a 16lb. spring too.
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The 3 people a man must be able to trust completely are his gunsmith his doctor & his preacher ..,his gunsmith for his short term health ,his doctor for long term health ,and his preacher incase one of the others mess up.
I'll have to find a piece of cardboard and try a few of them out in the back yard today.
Any idea what powder would be in a 12Ga Federal with 7 1/2 shot 1 1/8oz and 3 Dram? I'm currently opening a few of these up for the shot and was wondering what the powder is. Appear to be factory loads.
Pattern at about 8 feet away from my cardboard appears to be a spread of 8"x 8" good enough for me. I should add that it didn't eject the round with the stock 16lb spring ....Springfield Range officers 1911. Also crimp at the top didn't open up to 40 cal OD.
Last edited by 6bg6ga; 01-27-2020 at 06:38 AM.
I always use the .410 shot sleeve cut to 3/4 inch.
also I use a cardboard wad overpowder to keep from blowing the pattern.
just 1/8 inch wad.
then I glue a 9mm size card wad over the shot.
trying this, I cut the 308, used 40sw to size and fit in a chamber, stopped there it does not load in a 1911 mag, may sneak thro with the crimp Im guessing taking another 0.02 off tomorrow.
question I have do you reload these? is there any way to install the card on the powder now it has to fit thro the end crimp
Last edited by laurencen; 06-08-2022 at 10:05 PM.
need some ideas, made 25 brass and after shortening 0.015 they load in the magazine, got the first card on top of the powder load the shot then the thinner waxed card on the end, all looks good but having issues crimping the end, tried the round nose seater from 2 makes and the brass is not leading into the concave, thinking making a custom crimp die, cutting the concave feature with a ball nose cutter in toolpost offset to get the right diameter entry.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |