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Reloading .45 ACP?


Pee Wee #15785

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I am shooting a wild bunch match with my brother in Nov and told him I would load the ammo.  What cast bullet is being used in the 230gr weight.  He is using a stock Colt 1911 Model 70 that likes hard ball best. I would like to stay as close to what it likes as I can.  Black powder .44-40 I know but this new smokeless powder and 1911's are strange to me.  

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For your brother's needs - a round nose "ball" bullet, 230 grains - many different makers make something very close to the FMJ from military and factories.  The Magma mold 230 grain round nose is quite good.    A poly coated bullet is excellent in the 1911, because the 1911 gets fouled quickly using conventional lubed lead slugs.

 

Make sure you seat the bullet so that none of the straight section of the lower part of bullet sticks out of case above the mouth - at very most, only 0.10" above the case mouth.   If you leave the "full bore diameter" of the bullet exposed above the mouth, it jams while feeding with the slide refusing to close the last 1/8".   Test in his gun that you have the seating depth right before you load a big batch!  The 1911 has a very short throat in the barrel, so bullet seating depth is pretty critical.

 

About 4.3 or 4.4 grains of WST (Winchester Super Target) will have him making power factor while using the most common Wild Bunch pistol powder.  Muzzle velocity must be checked with a chronograph before they test his ammo at some future match and disqualify him!

 

Good luck, GJ

 

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And, case gauge every round that you load for him.   It's easy to leave a sliver of lead bulge at the case mouth, and that will quite often cause the round to fail to feed well.

GJ

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8 hours ago, Garrison Joe, SASS #60708 said:

For your brother's needs - a round nose "ball" bullet, 230 grains - many different makers make something very close to the FMJ from military and factories.  The Magma mold 230 grain round nose is quite good.    A poly coated bullet is excellent in the 1911, because the 1911 gets fouled quickly using conventional lubed lead slugs.

 

Make sure you seat the bullet so that none of the straight section of the lower part of bullet sticks out of case above the mouth - at very most, only 0.10" above the case mouth.   If you leave the "full bore diameter" of the bullet exposed above the mouth, it jams while feeding with the slide refusing to close the last 1/8".   Test in his gun that you have the seating depth right before you load a big batch!  The 1911 has a very short throat in the barrel, so bullet seating depth is pretty critical.

 

About 4.3 or 4.4 grains of WST (Winchester Super Target) will have him making power factor while using the most common Wild Bunch pistol powder.  Muzzle velocity must be checked with a chronograph before they test his ammo at some future match and disqualify him!

 

Good luck, GJ

 

WST is an excellent.45 acp Powder. I used it for years shooting Bullseye. 

 

Randy

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I use unique. Might switch to 231 when I run out. Gauging each round is very important. I use a lee bulge buster on the rounds that don’t drop in and out of the gauge. Very few that won’t go after a trip through the bulge buster. 

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20 minutes ago, Old Man Graybeard said:

I use unique. Might switch to 231 when I run out. Gauging each round is very important. I use a lee bulge buster on the rounds that don’t drop in and out of the gauge. Very few that won’t go after a trip through the bulge buster. 

 

There nothing wrong with Unique, it's been my go to load for years. As Garrison Joe pointed out OAL length is critical as well as a good crimp. Case gage every match round and the Lee bulge buster is a handy device for rounds that don't case gage. Use good quality magazines. Have fun in November!

 

Tully

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I would have thought you would have worked out the loading of 45 ACP "Before" you volunteered to load for someone else.  Good luck.  Invest in a good reloading manual.

 

PS:  Forgot.  I happen to be one of those picky people whom refuse to shoot ammunition loaded by "others."  "Others" may not really know what they are about.

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Something like the Lyman 452374 bullet works well in stock guns and closely copies the hardball shape. I have run them in my original made in 1916 Colt 1911 and it has never failed to feed and is scary accurate.

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12 minutes ago, Pee Wee #15785 said:

I need to know what bullet supply co to order from for a good cast bullet.

https://bulletsbyscarlett.com/shop?olsPage=products%2F230-grain-45-colt-or-acp-sized-452&page=2

 

OLG

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1 hour ago, Pee Wee #15785 said:

I need to know what bullet supply co to order from for a good cast bullet.

 

Cimarron Bullets. I have loaded well over 10000 and have yet to find a bad bullet. Lots of shooters in the NE Texas and south east OK area buy from him.  Excellent price, exceptional quality, and he supports SASS clubs in this area.

 

The 230 grain LRN bullets feed flawlessly in my 1911. 

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2 hours ago, Pee Wee #15785 said:

I need to know what bullet supply co to order from for a good cast bullet.

This question comes up often.  Here is a link to a recent thread.  I recommend loading a lot of at least ten rounds for testing before the match.  Ensure all rounds feed and the slide locks back after the final round is fired.  I'll let others advise you on how far the 1911 should throw ejected cases.  

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I use a 230 grain lead round nose bullet the same shape as a jacketed hardball bullet.  To figure out how to seat it, I took a single round of GI Hardball and set my dies to fit that round.  Resulting loaded rounds have the same shape and dimensions of GI ammo.


I use 3.5 grains of Trailboss.   This round works jut fine in my 1913 vintage GI 1911, a 1943 vintage 1911-A1 made by Remington Rand, and both of my Tommy Guns, drum or stick mag.

 

 

Good luck

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2 hours ago, The Original Lumpy Gritz said:

Scarlett gave me a box to try. Best bullet I've used so far in my Springfield.

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18 hours ago, Pee Wee #15785 said:

Thanks for the info, Have a box of Scarlett's coated bullets on the way.

I just made up some Wild Bunch ammo using Scarlett’s 230 grain coated bullets.  I used 4.0 grains of WST which was the starting load in one of my manuals.   It averaged 759 fps from my pistol which more than makes power factor.

 

A fellow WB shooter who does not reload found some factory ammo with coated round nosed lead bullets.  He had issues with that ammo.  It’s really hard to know until you try a particular load in a particular pistol.

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200gr bullet and 6.0 gr of Unique. 

Works great for me.

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4.0 - 4.2 grains WST/230 grain RN. Something with a slight shoulder at the case mouth seems to work best, such as in this pic. HSM, SNS, and others market a similar bullet.

45acpBullet.jpg

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I use Desperado Cowboy Bullets 235 gr. round nose with either 3.6 grs of Clays or 4.2 of VV N-320 with a magnum primer.

Won a World Championship shooting Traditional a couple of years ago with this load.

 

Marshal Stone

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