M&P 45 OAL

[Mike62]

I am getting ready to reload 3,000 rounds of 230gr Berry's for my M&P 45. I use the gun in CDP so I must make Major PF. I have been using 5.4gr of W231 but I have found various data on what OAL I should be using. It seems depending on the source I should be somewhere between 1.25 and 1.35. What OAL seems to work best for you?

Thanks!

[mcracco]

The one that puts the bullet .010" off the lands in the barrel. Test fit your load in your barrel to determine best OAL. Final check is to insure rounds fit in mag and feed properly.

I load 10 rounds with no primer or powder to do the above.

[ZombieHunter]

It's a handgun - distance from the lands will make no difference. As long as it chambers and fits in the magazine you're good; there is no magic OAL with relation to power factor or accuracy. Either of those will work fine given it chambers correctly. If you're not familiar with the gun or your load, I definitely would not load 3,000 rounds. If this is a newer load or new gun, I'd load 10 rounds each at a starting load to a max load with the same OAL and determine which one you like best. You will probably notice somewhat of an "accuracy curve"; meaning that some of those loads will shoot tighter groups than others. But if you're not shooting bullseye competitions, I wouldn't even worry to much about that.

[Mike62]

Thanks for all the responses. I loaded up a few different loads and they all made PF, and I had no jams. I didn't have enough ammo to really test for accuracy. I settled on 1.25 since that is what the Atlanta arms ammo I recently used was loaded at. I loaded about 500 rounds so far. I will do my best to check for accuracy this week and post some results in case it helps anyone else. I am not a bullseye shooter (just IDPA EX) and I'm not sure I'm really accurate enough to notice unless it was more than 2-3" difference at 25yds. If anyone else has any experience (especially with an M&P) I'm all ears.

Thanks again,

Mike

[FLSlim]

You may have had a typo, but the max OAL for that cartridge is 1.275". Plunk test some dummy rounds to see what OAL reliably fits in the chamber of you pistol. If feeds through your mags, load that length. If it were me, I wouldn't load big batches until I experimented with powder and bullet to find the performance I am looking for. The last thing you want is a bunch of loaded rounds that don't function properly in your pistol, are unsafe, or don't meet the accuracy or recoil criteria you have set. Good luck!

[Mike62]

I made it to the range today to test 100 of the rounds I loaded up at 1.25 OAL. The rounds fed fine and accuracy was as good as I could do with the factory rounds I brought. I rechronoed them and they were right at 750 liked I wanted however a couple rounds (3 out of 30) dipped drastically to 680fps. Not sure it had anything to do with not using the chrono shade covers or what. I guess I will see how they fair at the chrono at the PA State match.