Questions for cast boolits for 45 ACP

[Reloader_2020]

Afternoon All - I want to first off say - Thank you for the GREAT post and advise. I would have never know about these 45s without posting here. As I try to load more of these, i am not sure what direction so go to from here. Apparently, all of these cast have different ways of being loaded, but without posting here, I have no idea on what that might be. Some of these have what looks like a crimp groove, and without assuming but asking, is that where you would load the brass to, them add a slight crimp? Not even sure where to look for this information.

Several years ago i was gifted a HUGE amount of cast in different calibers (.351, .358, .431 and .451) different styles, different weights. I also bought some quantities from Leadheads (who has since passed on. I know he cast a lot of Keith Black style) I looked at the mold link someone offered about all the different molds but could not identify a lot of these different styles. Different noses, different weights, some were similar , but still different. I have a Lyman manual and there are several online, but some of these styles are still very unknown to me.

I am sorry in advance for asking so many questions, but I would like to get these right the first time and never look back. I am not trying to overthink this, but apparently, there are some different methods to loading cast, that I do not know. As far as the loading part goes, once I can determine the right recipe, I can load that all day, been loading for over 30 years (that seems to be the EZ part). But it seems cast has a different set of rules, and I dont know where to find the rule book at.

Any input here would be appreciated.

Thanks again

[Bigslug]

If it's got a crimp groove, it's probably for a revolver, where headspace of the cartridge is determined by the thickness of the case rim.

On rimless auto cases like the .45, headspace is measured from the breech face to the end of the chamber, and forward progress of the round is brought to a halt by the case mouth on that chamber step. The roll-crimp applied to the crimp groove in a revolver bullet would take that brass-to-steel edge out of play. This is why we taper crimp the auto rounds - squeezing the case mouths down to a diameter that will allow chambering, but still wide enough to headspace.

And yeah, a lot of revolver bullets are carefully designed to put that crimp groove in a location for determining a functional overall cartridge length for a specific class of firearm.

The main "rule" for cast, is going to be that we typically try to start with a bullet that is slightly over our groove diameter. In the case of a jacketed bullet for .308 Winchester, we're usually shooting bullets that are .308" - matching the groove diameter exactly. With cast, we're often running .309", .310", or even .311", depending on the quirks of the rifle. Because of this larger diameter, and the greater swage-down that occurs on firing, the load pressure profiles are going to be a little different between cast and jacketed. You can't really do a straight swap of data between jacketed and cast. This is where the Lyman books are worth their weight in gold, as they have A LOT of data for both that lets you compare.

[Reloader_2020]

@Bigslug - TY for the GREAT response. That makes ALOT of sense. Going forwards - this info will help ALOT

Just for INFO - HERE is what I am working with currently. This is small sample for different profiles I have

Thanks much again

Mike

cast_misc_1r.jpg cast_misc_2r.jpg cast_misc_3r.jpg

[35remington]

Having chronoed a bunch of 45 ACP you will find, as I did, that the same amount of powder generally goes noticeably faster with the reasonably similar lead bullet. Not all the time but most of it.

Taper crimp is double case mouth thickness plus bullet diameter minus a half to full thou depending upon how much your case lengths vary. I have a wide assortment of 45 ACP brass at this stage of my life.

[justindad]

A Glock is not a 1911. Apples and oranges. The precise OACL requirements of a 1911 do not apply to a Glock. Glocks are reliable. 1911’s are only reliable when built perfectly, which often requires hand fitting and a total gun cost over $3k (unless you get lucky). Glocks have extremely high reliability right out the factory box.
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If your loaded round passes the plunk test and a full magazine feeds the rounds smoothly (too long of a OACL can cause rounds to jam inside the Magazine), then your Glock is good to go. So what if it jams a 1911? Everything jams a 1911, especially anything other than round ball ammo (unless you modify your gun so that it is outside of the 1911 spec). The main thing about COAL for a Glock will be getting the correct pressures when using powder charges from a load manual.
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Check your barrel after no more than 10 rounds. You might find it is painted with more lead than you ever imagined. If that happens, buy a KKM barrel with traditional rifling. Excessive leading in a Glock barrel (polygonal rifling) can act like a barrel restriction, which is not safe.

[35remington]

Funny. I shot at the range of the National Guard Armory in Lincoln for quite awhile with ratty range beater 1911s with mixed parts when they were group cleaned.

All ran fine. They were spec’d to be interchangeable. It is a myth that the 1911 has to be built expensively and perfectly to be reliable. They just have to be in spec which is hardly difficult to achieve.

[justindad]

One definition of poor quality is when different customers have different experiences with the same product.
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The Kunhausen manual on the 1911 explicitly states that a 1911 built to spec will only reliably cycle round ball ammunition.

[waksupi]

Funny. I shot at the range of the National Guard Armory in Lincoln for quite awhile with ratty range beater 1911s with mixed parts when they were group cleaned.

All ran fine. They were spec’d to be interchangeable. It is a myth that the 1911 has to be built expensively and perfectly to be reliable. They just have to be in spec which is hardly difficult to achieve.

Agreed. I have a Rock Island that will eat anything I put in it, and it is plenty accurate.

[Wayne Smith]

To add another complication to the 45ACP is that if you measure your cases you are likely to find that they have shrunk! Most of the cases I have measured were short and still functioned so I stopped caring a lot about it.

[35remington]

If that is what Kunhausen states, he is wrong. Hollowpoints with the correct curving ogive feed just fine in spec 1911s. I will point out there are several other errors in his work. His “balanced thrust vector” hypothesis of how the 1911 functions is another, for example.

[Reloader_2020]

Good Evening ALL
Had range trip this week end and was able to test the 45 round I posted - and I am happy to announce that thanks to yours great advice - it worked all my pew pews - good shooting round also - pretty accurate and was EZ on the hands.
THANK YOU all again for the great advice !!!!

Mike (Reloader_2020)