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Bullseye/Titegroup


tires2burn

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I had some Bullseye left over from my first attempt at loading and decided to use it up. I'm loading 45ACP and since the Bullseye I have been using Titegroup. With the TG I loaded Rainier 230 RN 4.6gr and 1.250 OAL. Works great . I loaded the Bullseye according to the data sheet with 5.5 with 5.7 being the max and AOL at 1.265. It sounded like a cannon going off and bellowed a fireball out the barrel. I'm shooting a 3" SA GI micro. I went through about 30 rounds and figured that I was used to the lighter loads that's why the Bullseye seemed so overloaded. The first round really freaked me out.

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5.0 gr of Bullseye will equal the factory hardball ballistics. You are beating your gun to death with that load of 5.5 gr. 4.3 gr will make IPSC major easily. I don't have my loading manuals handy, but the 5.5 gr seems like an overload. The 5.0 gr range is considered maximum in most data. The 5.5 gr load would be +P+. I would certainly back off before something bad happens.

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I don't believe Lee develops their own data. I think they just copied it with permission from Alliant. Often, data listed in powder manufactures load selections, is missing critical information. They sometimes don't list pressure, under what conditions their figures are achieved, and what test firearm is used. Often it is a universal test receiver. Real world firearms occasionally act differently than these test guns. Various tolerences in chambering and bore sizes are also major players in this area. The purchase of a chronograph might be a good inverstment for you. An inexpensive one can be purchased for under $100. This will give you an idea of where you are at ballisticly during your load development.

In first starting out reloading, I had a similar experience with a different powder in the .357 magnum. The ballistics listed in the manual I used, seemed very impressive, so I had to try the load out. The result was, I had to pound the cases out of the cylinder, while using a listed "safe" load. No harm done, but it was a quick lesson.

This, and your experience, just reinforces the old addage, "start low and work up your load, while watching for signs of high pressure, and other abnormalties".

Edited by GBertolet
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Rainier suggests using lead data for their bullets. 5.5gr of Bullseye is crazy hot for that.

For reference, 4.8gr pushing 230gr Bayou gives me 809 fps out of a 5" 1911. 5.5gr would be somewhere north of 200PF.

If you know what you're doing with BE, it's actually a very good powder. A little dirty, but consistent, not horribly temp sensitive, very accurate and CHEAP.

Edited by Racer377
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I"m not going to shoot anymore of these rounds. I just went to the Aliant data page and copied this.

45 Auto 230 gr Speer TJM RN Speer 1.26 4.4 CCI 300 Bullseye 5.7 840

Check it out. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Aliant only publishes MAXIMUM loads in their data and they assume you will reduce the load and work up. For fast powders like BE I would suggest a 15% reduction. As stated above 5.0gr with a 230gr FMJ will give full hardball performance. No need to push higher than than that in your type of handgun.

Hope this helps

Bill

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I"m not going to shoot anymore of these rounds. I just went to the Aliant data page and copied this.

45 Auto 230 gr Speer TJM RN Speer 1.26 4.4 CCI 300 Bullseye 5.7 840

Check it out. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Aliant only publishes MAXIMUM loads in their data and they assume you will reduce the load and work up. For fast powders like BE I would suggest a 15% reduction. As stated above 5.0gr with a 230gr FMJ will give full hardball performance. No need to push higher than than that in your type of handgun.

Hope this helps

Bill

Thanks everybody, I appreciate the knowledge. I pulled the bullets and reloaded to 4.6 at 1.250 OAL. Thank god I only had a couple dozen or so. This should be more normal for my type of shooting. I guess you live and learn. Alliant should give you a spread on loading.

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The bulleyes, bulleyes crowd that I know. You know the guys who shoot one handed at a circle target and make me feel foolish cause their groups are smaller than mine shooting two handed!

tend to use 4.0 grains or less with a 200 grain SWC lead. that load seems pretty soft and very accurate

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