loading longer

[ss+P]

Why do most of us load longer then factory specs.

I am currently loading to 1.175 with mixed brass and 5gr of wst powder to get major

my friend has a dan wesson 1911 in 40 and bought some PRVI PARTIZAN. His factory ammo feels just as soft or softer than my reloads or atl arms and ammo. he says it will make major, but havent tested on a chrono yet. he is running at 14 lb spring and i at 11. is this causing the difference or is it the ammo.

[bbbean]

Why do most of us load longer then factory specs.

Better feeding in 2011/1911 frames.

[CocoBolo]

Why do most of us load longer then factory specs.

I am currently loading to 1.175 with mixed brass and 5gr of wst powder to get major

my friend has a dan wesson 1911 in 40 and bought some PRVI PARTIZAN. His factory ammo feels just as soft or softer than my reloads or atl arms and ammo. he says it will make major, but havent tested on a chrono yet. he is running at 14 lb spring and i at 11. is this causing the difference or is it the ammo.

5gr of WST means you are running a 180gr Jacketed bullet. Why longer, my reason is simple pressure, at factory length after a few loadings at 5.1gr I started to get case splits and blowing the top off cases. After going to 1.180 no more brass explosions. Beyond that I went Moly 185gr and then Bayou 180gr which is softer and flatter than the jacketed bullets and cheaper but that isn't why.

I run an 14# spring in my STI HPF Edge, its what I like, if I want to get hammered in the palm and give up some flip then I could drop the spring down. A stronger spring will soften recoil and increase flip during the first part of slide movement, a lighter spring will increase preceived recoil and decrease flip. So its all about preference. A lighter slide will take a heavier spring to slow it down as well. Very few limited guys run an 11 the most popular is 12.5# IMSI, and for the jacketed bullet crowd 13-14#.

WST isn't the softest load but it is a good one, and jacketed bullets take more powder to go same speed. Get some http://www.bayouBullets.net or precision moly and throw 4.5gr of N320 behind it, it will be much softer or go to 200 or 220gr bullets even softer.

Most factory ammo hits 180pf and it all has more recoil. Shoot some of his ammo in your gun, easy test. If you want some real recoil get a box of Federal CQB in 135gr, it will break your wrist.

[Chris Keen]

Why do most of us load longer then factory specs.

Better feeding in 2011/1911 frames.

More specifically because a 2011 magazine was originally made for 38 super, which is a much longer bullet.

I run an 14# spring in my STI HPF Edge, its what I like, if I want to get hammered in the palm and give up some flip then I could drop the spring down. A stronger spring will soften recoil and increase flip during the first part of slide movement, a lighter spring will increase preceived recoil and decrease flip. So its all about preference. A lighter slide will take a heavier spring to slow it down as well. Very few limited guys run an 11 the most popular is 12.5# IMSI, and for the jacketed bullet crowd 13-14#.

The lighter the spring, the lighter the recoil. I use a 10# spring in my Limited gun. My OAL is 1.150 I specifically load my ammo to meet OAL of factory ammo, because if I fly to a major match (such as Nationals) and for some reason my ammo doesnt make it there, I can go to Wal Mart and (hopefully) pick up a bunch of Winchester WB ammo that will work in my Limited gun just fine. Open shooters don't have this luxury.

[davidwiz]

I am loading to 1.135 for my SVI frame and not having any problems. One of the reasons people were loading longer was to reduce the pressure when the power factor was 175 and they were using fast burning powders and heavier bullets.

[Walküre]

The lighter the spring, the lighter the recoil. I use a 10# spring in my Limited gun.

Sort of. A lighter spring will result in greater slide velocities on the initial (rearward) action, which translates to a sharper impulse of recoil when the slide impacts the frame (or buffer, or whatever limits its motion). This could be seen as "greater recoil".

However, as light springs can also increase overall cyclic rate - in that the rebound off of the frame/whatever is fast enough that the entire cycle is faster than a heavy spring (which will have more force for the return motion) - the perceived recoil may be reduced. Basically, instead of a slower push combined with a "pulling" upon return to battery, you are getting a single sharp impulse. Some people find this to be a preferable recoil profile in that it feels "softer" or "more controllable".

It's really pretty complicated, though; different people respond to different recoil profiles in different ways. This means that what you perceive as a "soft-shooting" gun may not be universally considered "soft-shooting".

I have run down to a 11# with several coils cut for my Limited gun; it was giving less resistance than an unmodified 10#, so I'd guess it was around 9#. I played with that a while, but have switched back up the scale now. I'm currently running a 14# Beretta spring in my gun (Beretta recoil springs fit CZs; I have a collection of Beretta springs from another project, so I tested them out).

It's all about finding what allows you to get the best control over your own setup. Run whatever lets you get the most accurate shots off in the least amount of time.

[Cy Soto]

Why do most of us load longer then factory specs.

I load the rounds for my .40S&W 1911 to an OAL of 1.190" but this is also because I use 10mm mags in that pistol.

I have found out that loading at this length eliminates any feeding issues that I have encountered when loading at a shorter OAL.

[usmc1974]

1.145 180 lfp run great.5"STI

Edited May 26, 2010 by usmc1974

[calishootr]

I was told loading longer was to prevent rounds from nose diving in the mags??? least in the earlier versions, so I've always stayed w/ the 1.200 length for my limited gun, plus the bullet now has less travel to the feedramp so now in some small way, maybe cleaned up the realiability problems??? also longer bullet runout to the land and grooves is said to be more accurate??? (assuming the lead in the chamber is cut so you can gothat long) 1 or 2 thou. off ofthe lands is all it takes, assuming you have mags that will let you load that long. also loading that long, gives the reloader a lil more cushion between complete burn and detonation, that was seen in earlier attempts at loading for the .40