so...
Initial shots today now that the gunclub was open finally after the county finally cleared a COVID restriction.
I bought a selection of recoil springs (7, 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18) and I'm starting with the 7# spring and will work up from there from each desired loading.
All loads were with 5.0gr of CFE Pistol powder and the 7lb recoil spring:
90gr RN Berry plated .380 ACP bullet - no recoil, no cycling of the action. heavy smoking of the side of the case signifying not enough pressure to fully seal the case.
93gr RN Ideal 356242 mold (another .380 ACP bullet) with polymer coating and sized at .356". very short bearing surface of the bullet made for a real pain in ensuring the bullet seated squarely even with a properly set M Die to expand the case neck. - no recoil, no cycling of the action. heavy smoke residue on the side of the case.
There will be no further testing of these light bullets
115gr Winchester silvertip hollowpoint 9mm bullet. seated nicely and in a 3 round test fire, it cycled, ejected and fed the next bullet with no recoil. But the two other bullets fired but failed to cycle. (will increase the powder by .2gr to determine potential for more pressure to fully cycle the 1911 govt. length slide with the 7lb recoil spring)
124gr Lyman 356402, truncated cone mold. polymer coated and sized at .356". two bullets stove-piped after firing and the third cycled the action and ejected. (will increase the powder by .2gr to determine potential for more pressure to fully cycle the 1911 govt. length slide with the 7lb recoil spring) recoil was minimal and will be a bullet that will see further testing.
The next set of tests will be more of the 356402 bullets along with a 148gr WC from LEE Precision (a mold for a 38 special WC sized to fit at .356" the formerly chambered 38 Super barrel at 5.2gr with that 7lb recoil spring.)
In addition, I intend to load several cases with Lyman's 358311 mold which is a 158gr Round Nose bullet for the .38 Special. with the ladder test for the CFE Pistol starting at 5.0gr and doing .2gr increments with first 7lb spring and if its is fully functional at the 7lb, I'll swap out the heavier 9lb spring to see if the heavier spring is functional as well.
Lots of experimenting in the future. lots of fun hopefully and not frustration.