185 gr 45 Hornady XTP loads

[gerritm]

I am a new at re-loading. I was given 300 -- .45 Hornady XTP 185gr Hp bullets. I have a basic Lee 4 turret loader and am re-using brass. I used the Lee suggested load of 5grs of Titegroup to load 20 test shells with a light crimp with CCI large pistol primers. I just want to make sure I am in the ballpark. I used their suggestion for OAL and measured everything with a digital caliper. Any other suggestions. I also have some Accurate powder.

[Too_Slow]

That charge looks to be a starting charge weight. I am seeing 5.0 to 5.5 of Titegroup for a 185 jacketed bullet at about 1.155 OAL.

Edited May 7, 2010 by Too_Slow

[gerritm]

I went back and checked my notes and remeasured what I have loaded and it was 5.0 of Titegroup and OAL is 1.215. Can I bump the charge up a little and press the bullet in to 1.155, Lee shows 1.195 OAL for 185gr jacketed bullets. Do you think that OAL is OK, I checked some shells with the bullet pressed but no powder for feed and ejection and they seemed to work.

I have some Accurate #7 also to try. Any feedback on this powder? Lee has a load for the Hornady 185's @ 11.7grs @ 1.210 OAL.

[DWFAN]

What load manual do you have ? Check out http://data.hodgdon.com/ and they will have lots of info for titegroup and other Hodgdon/winchester/IMR powders. Any of the published OAL's should work, I wouldnt shorted the load unless the bullet is hitting the rifling, or the short 185gr is loaded too long where there isnt enough bullet for the brass to hang onto.

Edited May 7, 2010 by DWFAN

[Too_Slow]

If the OAL that you have fits in your magazines and feeds well then dont mess with it. The main thing is to find the OAL that your gun likes and feeds and then working up a load that is accurate that you like. AA #7 might be a bit on the slow side for 45 and again that is listed as the starting charge weight with a max of 13gr.

[gerritm]

What load manual do you have ? Check out http://data.hodgdon.com/ and they will have lots of info for titegroup and other Hodgdon/winchester/IMR powders. Any of the published OAL's should work, I wouldnt shorted the load unless the bullet is hitting the rifling, or the short 185gr is loaded too long where there isnt enough bullet for the brass to hang onto.\

I went off the Lee sheets included with the press. I just found the Hogdon site and I also have purchased a couple of manuals. These were some loads that I used to set up everything. I have 3 different .45's including an open gun to feed. All of them shoot the 230 and 185gr FMJ's with no problems and my little Kimber Ultra Carry likes the 185gr HP's the best. So I am thinking I may want a little softer shooting round for the .45 open gun. I am shooting 185's Winchester FMJ White box right now. I just need to make sure it makes the correct power factor and are reliable.

[gerritm]

Thanks for the help. I shot my first 30 -- .45 test loads in my Ruger P90. They all fired fine except 2. We were shooting at a plate rack and they seemed to have plenty of power. I had 1 stove pipe ejection and one primer that was high and I think made it's OAL too long. It jammed feeding and took a little work to get it out of the chamber unfired. You could see the rub marks on the primer. I will have to be more careful and make sure the primers are seated all the way.I am going to shorten my OAL slightly to Lee's recommended 1.195 for the next batch and bump up the powder to 5.5gr's.