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.45 ACP Minor (production class)


Diesel

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I'm shooting a Glock21 in production here in Colorado. I have never reloaded yet, but have several friends that are encouraging me to do so.

I wonder if anyone has any experience running lighter weight bullets (I currently use Winchester WhiteBox 230 grain rounds from Wal-mart).

I'm hoping to reduce muzzle rise, and I hear some people saying that I need lighter bullets, other say heavier.

Thanks for helping the new guy!

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Diesel,

I posted the same question a few months ago and then had to sell my G21. However, go the the Glock forum (here under miscellaneous forums) and serach for my post on Glock 21 for production. There's some load info there.

Good luck and welcome to the game!

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Diesel, Try some 230gr bullets loaded with a faster powder, like Titegroup and CLAYS, Just Straight CLAYS!. The felt recoil will be different, and to most everyone that trys it, softer. As you are shooting production, you can go down on your load as well. You will see a big difference when you roll your own, or have some of your friends load some ammo for you to try, only ones that you trust in their loading abilities, of course :blink: . The biggest reason most of us reload is so we can tailor a load to the game we play, and the particular weapon system we use. Good Luck and enjoy! DougC

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I've loaded some wimp loads to shoot steel in my .45. My major load is 4.6gr of WST under a 200 gr LSWC bullet. I tried some 155gr LSWCs from LaserCast, using 4.6, or even 4.4gr of WST, and got loads down around 125, or even slightly lower PF!

In order to get them to work I did have to go down to a 10lb recoil spring, and the really light loads (4.4gr WST) were a little smoky, and had a larger velocity spread than most loads in the "mid range".

I've also tried some loads with 180gr bullets, with similar, but less extreme results.

Recoil with these loads is indeed very light.

The 155s have a pretty weird shape. I didn't have any problems with them feeding in my Kimber, but I don't know how a Glock would handle them.

Good luck,

DD

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My .45 minor load is a 200gr SWC and 4.0gr of N310, but I haven't chono'd that and I suspect it could be further reduced by a few tenths.

A super-fast powder like N310 or Clays is definitely the way to go in this application.

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My experience with 45 acp (for 17 years that's all I've used in IPSC competition)...the lighter the bullet weight, the less muzzle flip you'll get. You'll get more recoil ( back and forth motion) but the muzzle flip is reduced.

I too have a G21 that I'll be using in Production Division as soon as my new holster gets here. I've been working up some loads with 185 grain jacketed bullets and WST. If you send me your e-mail address, I'd be happy to share the results with you.

Heavier bullets are NOT the answer in reducing muzzle flip but they ARE the answer in reducing felt recoil. You don't need to launch all that excess weight downrange especially when all that's required is minor p.f. ;)

Not many people use 45 acp anymore but if you look at what the top guys are using in Limited Division, they use 180 grain bullets in their 40 caliber guns instead of 200 grain or heavier bullets.

T. Jarrett used 135g bullets in is Para LDA when he won the Production Division title.

Just like in auto racing...Light Makes Right ! ;)

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I tried out some Hornady 185s with 5 grains Hodgdon Titegroup in my single stack.

It was about 150 PF and very soft shooting.

I might knock it down .1 or .2 gns, but probably won't go any farther than that for minor.

My previous minor load was 135PF: 155gn plated +5.5gn Winchester 231.

Penny

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