Kosh75287

If you try the bullets I mentioned would you please keep in touch about how they work out for you? BTW, Missouri Bullets also makes a wide-meplat 215 gr. .452" SWC that works WONDERFULLY in .45 ACP! Let me also suggest that you get in touch with Brad Alpert at MB, and ask him what he recommends.

I'm kinda late to the party on this question, but I'd like to suggest a 158gr. LRN Flat Point for general purposes. It has a wide meplat that seems to work well on whatever gets shot with it, and is bereft of the sharp shoulder of the SWC, which always seems to hang ME up, when loading from a speed loader. The design is safe for use in tubular magazines, and lends itself to feed through a lever-action carbine far better than the LSWC. I haven't exhaustively tested these projectiles on bowling pins, but the limited experimentation I did suggests that they'll work well in that application. I get MY cast projectiles from Missouri Bullets (whom I recommend unreservedly), but I'm pretty sure that there are other sources for them. When I try other sources, I usually find that Missouri Bullets" product is a shade more accurate, so I use them for matches, and the locally sourced ones for practice.

Unless there's something pretty unusual about your pistol, you should be able to make 170+ PF with any of those powders. Bullseye or WST will be more economical, WST tends to be cleaner than the other two, and Unique will do anything the other two will at lower pressure, with less economy, slightly more dirt and flash, and a wider margin for titration of charge weight vs. velocity. I'M a huge fan of Unique, so if I had access to more of it (and didn't have 6 pounds of Alliant Promo I'm trying to use up), I believe I'd use it. I'm not convinced that I can feel the difference in recoil between loads making 170 PF using Bullseye/WST vs. Loads making 170 PF with Unique, but many shooters are certain they can. For the versatility offered, I'd probably still stick with Unique. By the way, if you find Alliant RedDot or IMR-700X on the shelves, these powders are remarkably similar to W231 in burning rate. DO NOT use W231 loading data with them, use data intended for that particular powder. But don't be surprised if your results are similar for similar charge weights.

I think the school of thought is that repeatedly letting the slide go into battery full force on an empty chamber can result in "peening" the bolt face, and doing unsalubrious things to firing pins and their springs. I try to keep it to a minimum because I was trained to, not because I've seen any weapons ruined from it. That said, any firearm should be handled in a manner that does not ire its owner, or not at all.

STEVE RA, what charges and bullet weights are you using and what velocities are you getting? I tried Clays with 200 gr., 225 gr., and 230 gr. cast bullets, and got nice clean target loads, but lost accuracy as velocities moved toward "major" velocities. Also got what I think were pressure signs. Coulda just been my pistol, I guess.

WHY would you EAT them in the FIRST place? MY inclination would be to try to find the most accurate load using the components and rifle you specify. If the round's power equates to 55 gr. at 2750 f/s or above, it'll have the desired effect on-target (animate or otherwise). If you attempt to load hotter than where your "accuracy sweet-spot" is, groups can get big in a hurry. At double-digit yardages, this isn't a huge matter, but it can be disastrous at extended ranges. I have a Mini-14 that shoots 2.0 MOA , when I do MY part and I use a particular load, with 55 gr. Hornady FMJBTs. I'd LIKE to find a comparably priced 60 - 65 gr. BT projectile that isn't as hard on the steel targets as the M855 ball. I get the impression that the heavier projectile's momentum will send the steel down a bit more surely, and I suspect I'd get better groups beyond 300 yards (which is somewhat problematic, already). Until I find a BETTER projectile, though, I'll stick with the Hornadys.

They should go to a gun range where they can rent different revolvers. Whatever they shoot best is what they should end up with. Failing that, they should find a used Taurus M65 or something similar in .357. Get it checked by a gunsmith, to make sure the trigger hasn't been lightened to the point of unreliability. Shoot 100 rounds (each of them) through it, half .38 Spl. +P and half .357 Mag. Whatever load they hit best with is what it should have in it if it must be used.

I've been wanting to try it for quite a while, now, but cannot find any locally. I keep hearing good things about the powder, but it's scarcer than free love, in my parts. Loading data depends on the configuration of the 180 gr. projectile you want to use. Alliant lists a max load of 6.3 gr. for a JHP (not a Speer GDHP, tho) to 7.0 gr. for a 180 gr. Speer "CPFN". All cartridge overall lengths were 1.12", and velocities range from just over 1000 f/s (JHP) to approaching 1100 f/s (CPFN).

I think CFE-Pistol is the one that Hodgdon lists as propelling a 200 gr. LSWC at 1142 f/s. That's 10mm Auto territory. I feel like Mulder and Scully... I WANT to believe...

I've been researching brands and models for the same reason. I can't remember what brand the reviewer had, but he solved the light problem by putting battery-powered lights under the sky-screens and anchoring them there from the other side with a handful of those niobium "supermagnets". He reported that it worked well from there.

I compared rounds with Promo (I, too, am whittling down an 8# jug!) that I made with hand-trickled & weighed charges, powder-scooped charges, and charges thrown by a powder measure. The load was 4.0/Promo/230 LRN. I couldn't tell any difference between them, and neither could two other shooters. You can check your actual charge weight from a powder measure by throwing ten charges, weighing them and divide by ten. I'D wager that if the weight of 10 charges is 31.7 gr. - 32.3 gr., your ammo won't be the weak link in the accuracy chain.

ZZT, I concur with your calculations. I entered the wrong weight for the firearm, when I did the calculation. It sounds like I need to build some loads using different powders and run them past a chrono. Step one, buy a chrono....

Sounds like I need to do some actual testing. Oh well, that's half the fun.

A friend owned a 10" T/C Contender in .45 Colt, and we'd try to hit clay birds with it at short distances. It was more fun and edifying than practical, but it left some lasting lessons. The pistol came with a detachable "shredder tube", designed to slice up the shot cup on the CCI-SPEER .45 Colt "rat shot" loads. It worked okay with .410 shot shells, too, but DO NOT leave the thing attached when shooting a single-projectile .45 Colt round through it. You'll end up with what resembles a single-shot, 10" barreled, .45 Colt caliber "trombone".

Yah, that or know someone who owns land and is sympathetic to the cause. Thanks for your reply. It gives me a direction.