45 ACP pet load

[Willie T]

Let’s see them. I will go first. I’m new here. Just recently found this forum. I learned what I do mostly from reading the Lyman cast bullet manual and figuring out what works for me through trial and error. I mostly shoot revolvers. I do enjoy shooting my 1911 less the Easter egg hunt for my brass though.

Bullets are cast from a 50/50 mix of clip on wheel weights and pure soft lead cast from a six cavity Lee Tumble lube 230 round nose mold. I have other .45 molds but these are what I usually cast for my 1911. Holding my alloy as close as I can to 720F, once the mold is up to temp and a consistent dwell time and pouring tempo, the Lee TL mold drops them at .4525 with consistency.

I size to .452. Through trial and error and maybe somewhat against conventional practices, these micro band Bullets get conventional lube on my RCBS Lube A Matic. Bullets are seated and crimped on the same stroke with a Hornady taper crimp seating die. I know a lot of loaders prefer to seat and crimp separately but i do not experience any ill effects with this taper crimp seating die.

Pistol is a 1911 colt government model. Old school flat mainspring housing and short trigger. Powder charge is 5.3 grains of W-231 and a CCI large pistol primer. The load has no leading and shoots better in this pistol than I can shoot it. It makes this combo a lot of fun. At age 61, my eyes and shoulders fatigue sooner than they used to. In light of that if I shoot for groups these days, it is while the eyes are fresh at the start of a range session. My nerves betrayed me yesterday. I started off with one magazine of slow fire at the 25 yard line. The low one was the last one in the magazine and I pulled it out of the group but that is what it is….

I dug one of the slugs out of the dirt bank I was shooting into. For expansion and weight retention I like the 50/50 alloy. Overall a solid load in my government model.

[Thumbcocker]

You have a working formula. Good job.

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[fastdadio]

Some nice shootin there Willie! Wish my 65 year old self could still print like that.

[derek45]

3.9gr CLAYS

any 230gr bullet.

[vhntr1]

Darn nice shooting looks like you have a good load,i use WST in my 45acp with a 200gr swc i have a good supply of that powder.

[1006]

4.0 BullsEye, any bullet will do..

[pworley1]

I don't get very fancy. The Lyman 452460 over 4g of Bullseye, 4.5g of Red Dot or 5.5g of Unique. I haven't found a 45 that didn't like at least one of these.

[Dieselhorses]

5.2 HP38 under a 230 gn powder coated RN does well for me. Great shootin'!

[44MAG#1]

Let’s see them. I will go first. I’m new here. Just recently found this forum. I learned what I do mostly from reading the Lyman cast bullet manual and figuring out what works for me through trial and error. I mostly shoot revolvers. I do enjoy shooting my 1911 less the Easter egg hunt for my brass though.

Bullets are cast from a 50/50 mix of clip on wheel weights and pure soft lead cast from a six cavity Lee Tumble lube 230 round nose mold. I have other .45 molds but these are what I usually cast for my 1911. Holding my alloy as close as I can to 720F, once the mold is up to temp and a consistent dwell time and pouring tempo, the Lee TL mold drops them at .4525 with consistency.

I size to .452. Through trial and error and maybe somewhat against conventional practices, these micro band Bullets get conventional lube on my RCBS Lube A Matic. Bullets are seated and crimped on the same stroke with a Hornady taper crimp seating die. I know a lot of loaders prefer to seat and crimp separately but i do not experience any ill effects with this taper crimp seating die.

Pistol is a 1911 colt government model. Old school flat mainspring housing and short trigger. Powder charge is 5.3 grains of W-231 and a CCI large pistol primer. The load has no leading and shoots better in this pistol than I can shoot it. It makes this combo a lot of fun. At age 61, my eyes and shoulders fatigue sooner than they used to. In light of that if I shoot for groups these days, it is while the eyes are fresh at the start of a range session. My nerves betrayed me yesterday. I started off with one magazine of slow fire at the 25 yard line. The low one was the last one in the magazine and I pulled it out of the group but that is what it is….

I dug one of the slugs out of the dirt bank I was shooting into. For expansion and weight retention I like the 50/50 alloy. Overall a solid load in my government model.

If you can shoot that good consistently offhand standing at 25 yards you sir HAVE ARRIVED in the shooting world. 99 percent of all handgun shooters envy you. What is your secret?

[faraim]

Hello from Central TN. It looks like you have found a combination that works.

[almar]

5 grains of w231 is my typical target load under 230gr round ball. For higher power i use 8gr cfe pistol under a 200gr RNFP.

[alfadan]

That is one dang nice pistol.

[almar]

Double post.

[Jal5]

Nice shooting sir!


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[Willie T]

If you can shoot that good consistently offhand standing at 25 yards you sir HAVE ARRIVED in the shooting world. 99 percent of all handgun shooters envy you. What is your secret?

I will take that like you meant it like you were looking me in the eye, rather than trying to be an Internet smart aleck making snarky comments behind a computer screen. Most pistols and loads won’t do that. If you shoot much, you already know that. That is what makes finding a combination for your handgun like I shared special. It is why a segment of us do it. There is no magic easy button to hit what you are shooting at. It takes putting in enough time to manage what limits you. It takes developing the coordination and the small stabilizing muscles to steady up and hold dead nuts through the break of the trigger. That is a perishable skill and it takes maintenance to maintain it. If you shoot well you already know that too. It takes that to take advantage of loading consistent ammunition that brings alive an accurate pistol. You probably already know that too. I don’t see any percentage in talking to you about what it takes to shoot silhouettes freehand at 200 yards with revolvers. That is a thing too. “We all set the bar in different places” and can all enjoy this hobby like that… This bug bit me as a kid. It was long before there was an Internet. We had alot more time to shoot than the young men and women today on account of it. A half a century later here I am, still scratching the same itch.
I thought maybe I had found some like minded hand loaders/shooters and a place for an old guy to share and continue to learn about loading, shooting, and casting.

[44MAG#1]

I will take that like you meant it like you were looking me in the eye, rather than trying to be an Internet smart aleck making snarky comments behind a computer screen. Most pistols and loads won’t do that. If you shoot much, you already know that. That is what makes finding a combination for your handgun like I shared special. It is why a segment of us do it. There is no magic easy button to hit what you are shooting at. It takes putting in enough time to manage what limits you. It takes developing the coordination and the small stabilizing muscles to steady up and hold dead nuts through the break of the trigger. That is a perishable skill and it takes maintenance to maintain it. If you shoot well you already know that too. It takes that to take advantage of loading consistent ammunition that brings alive an accurate pistol. You probably already know that too. I don’t see any percentage in talking to you about what it takes to shoot silhouettes freehand at 200 yards with revolvers. That is a thing too. “We all set the bar in different places” and can all enjoy this hobby like that… This bug bit me as a kid. It was long before there was an Internet. We had alot more time to shoot than the young men and women today on account of it. A half a century later here I am, still scratching the same itch.
I thought maybe I had found some like minded hand loaders/shooters and a place for an old guy to share and continue to learn about loading, shooting, and casting.

Calm down. I would like to know how to do what you do. Any handgun shooter would like to know. If they are honest they would. That is fantastic shooting at 25 offhand. I shot a lot with a high master bullseye shooter and he couldn't shoot like that anywhere consistently. Occasionally he could and he was a high master which is no small feat.
I sure would like to know how you do it. Instead of getting hateful share your knowledge with us.

[BJung]

That is a very good load and very good shooting. Both the load and my shooting is not as good as that. Congratulations.

[h8dirt]

H&G 68 cast with 92/4/4 sized to 0.452” and lubed with White’s BAC ahead of 4.1 grains of WST in sorted Starline brass sparked by a WLPP through a Wilson Combat Classic. Works great as a paper load for me. YMMV.

[Budzilla 19]

WillieT, I cast, load and shoot the exact same boolit ( 50/50 wheel weights/pure with 2% tin, though),in both of my .45’s. Only difference is I powder coat them, and use 4.8 grains of 700X.
Mighty fine shooting that is right there!
You DID find a place to share, learn and continue to learn about casting,loading and shooting!!
There is a wealth of knowledge here, and some of the nicest people on the net, also. Welcome aboard, fellow caster, keep us posted. We all can learn from each other.

[AlaskaMike]

Mine used to be an H&G 68 style bullet over 5.3 grains of 231.

However, these days it's a 210 grain SWC from a Lee group buy we did here many years ago over 4.0 grains of Clays.

The bullet is very similar to Accurate 45-210N:


It requires a little deeper seating, but is still 100% reliable in all my .45 autos, and superbly accurate.