what weight boolits are you using for 45acp?

[hickfu]

I have a 200gr and a 230gr but what else is out there to use?

[osteodoc08]

185 is the other popular weight.

Personally I only use a 200gr LSWC (H&G 68 clone) and a 230gr LRN. Mostly the LSWC though.

[Old Caster]

I have seen them as light as 155 but I don't see any point unless you just want to use less lead and don't care a lot about accuracy. Just about every bullseye shooter around uses a 200 and we are all interested in the best accuracy. Lighter bullets won't get you less recoil because you need to have enough power to operate the action no matter what.

[mdi]

185 is the other popular weight.

Personally I only use a 200gr LSWC (H&G 68 clone) and a 230gr LRN. Mostly the LSWC though.

Me too. I have a 4 cavity mold for the 200 gr. 68 clone, and 85% of my 45 shooting is done with this bullet. I also shoot some plain old 230 gr. LRN (My Ruger doesn't like SWC so I shoot the RN in it).

[scattershot]

I mostly use lead boolits, 200 grain swc, and 230 grain, ltc. The most accurate load to date is the 200 grainer over 4.0 Red Dot.

[hickfu]

Does anyone shoot any thing heavier? I have seen 255gr .452 boolits, will these work in the small 45acp case? or are they for 45 Colt?

Doc

[jonp]

I tried some 165gr but did not have much luck. Ive settled in on 200gr.

[Dan Cash]

I have tried 255 grain bullets but getting enough velocity out of them to have any reach made it very hard on the gun. I load a service load of 230 truncated cone bullet over 5.8 grain of Unique. Quite accurate and authoritative.

[Bigslug]

230 to 245ish. Saving lead with a .45 just seems. . .wrong somehow.

[wv109323]

The 200 and 230 gn. are by far the most common. Going up or down in weight means that you got to "tune" the gun to the load. ( with the 1911 style firearm). Some of the match ammo was 185 gn. jacketed SWC ( Winchester and Federal). My experience was the 185 gn. bullet, with the shorter nose,it was more difficult to get to feed in a 1911. The 165 and 155 gn. had to be driven a lot faster to get enough energy to work the slide. With the increased velocity the lead alloy content in cast boolits became more critical. The 1911 firearm and magazines was designed to function with a bullet the length of the 230 RN. The H&G 68 and 69 bullet (200 gn. SWC) has the same nose length as the 230 gn. Round Nose for this reason.
There is one exception to the above. The Nosler 185 gn. jacketed hollow point functions well due to the fact that with the hollow point the length of the bullet is near the 230 gn. RN.

[Artful]

I have used between 185 and 255, I have settled on 230 grain Truncated Cone as best compromise with lyman 452460 200 SWC as next choice due to accuracy at 50 yards. The 255 load was in 45 Super class and I don't recommend running in unmodified 1911's.

[Jupiter7]

I shoot an 260gr ideal 454424 over decent charge of unique occasionally. Probably going about 800fps. I do 99% of my 45 shooting(1911 specifically) with 200grn boolits over enough powder to get 850fps or so, mostly loaded with bullseye. Ive thought about lighter but I've got 1911's in 9 and 40 if I want less weight/powder without playing with springs.

[Cowboy T]

My choice is the Lee 452-200-RF. Works great in 1911's and plastic guns, even with the wide-ish meplat. Was originally bought for light .45 Colt, but it worked so well in .45 ACP also that I just stuck with it.

[Mk42gunner]

My cast boolit of choice is the Lyman 452460. It works well in my Kimber, shoots to the sights and saves a bit of lead over the 230 grain boolits.

If I anticipate needing more power than a 1911 in .45 ACP can reasonably give, I have other more powerful calibers on hand.

Robert

[C. Latch]

Does anyone shoot any thing heavier? I have seen 255gr .452 boolits, will these work in the small 45acp case? or are they for 45 Colt?

Doc

I bought a NOE 453-230-HP mold which drops around ~232 grains as a hollowpoint and as a flat point it drops around 252. I have shot some of those with 800-x and had no trouble getting 900' MV with what I believe to be a safe load for a steel 1911 (well under published loads for 230-grain jacketed bullets); I don't plan to shoot many of them but my 1911s do have a couple of tweaks to help with heavy loads, the biggest one being the squared-edge firing pin stop.



I have also shot my Lee 452-255-rf in the .45 ACP with 700-x, but I probably won't do it again; you have to seat that bullet DEEP to make it function in my 1911s and I think there could be pressure issues at that seating depth.

[Freischütz]

I use 452423, and it weighs 241 gr

[hickfu]

C. Latch, That is exactly the reason for the question! I love that NOE mold and wanted to get it (short of funds right now) I was wondering if anyone had shot anything in the 250ish range because of this boolit.

Doc

[mikeym1a]

Years ago I bought a lee 6 cavity 200gr microgroove mold for my .45. I've had great luck with it. Never a problem. So, I've never tried anything else. mikey

[DeanWinchester]

The only 45 auto I own is a little turd Taurus pt145. My wife bought it when they first came out like 15 years ago. At the time, they were the bees knees.

It's tired and worn and worse than that....I had the factory refurbish it. It was free under warranty and I got just what I paid for! Long story short...the ONLY. Load I can come up with it will reliably cycle is my RCBS 250g FN. A very modest charge of Nitro100NF & seated as long as the chamber and magazine would allow. It shoots extremely well considering it's paltry barrel length and less than top shelf design. What's more? I only do ONE .452 boolit these days. The 250g RCBS runs awesome in my Blackhawk and I've stoked it up pretty good too.

[dudel]

Pretty much stick to 200gr. I've gone as low as 165gr and as high as 240gr. 200gr works best for me. Also use it in 45GAP.