1911 load help for 10 year old shooter

[hardluk1]

I have a 10 year old grandson that loves to shoot and has little fear of snappy handguns with in reason . He has shoot my p320 with my carry ammo 155gr 1321fps . He has an interest in trying uspsa . He has shot my practice loads in most of my handguns but loves the 1911 platform . I don't shoot it much so setting it up for him is fine . May problem is I don't know what would make a good soft controllable 45 load . 155gr or 185 or the 200gr but don't know what powder to use or how lite to start , I have some unigue , a little tite group and a bunch of hp-38 . My old range load is a 200gr swc at 1040fps and he shoots it but it works him , moves him around . I'm still running a stock well radiused firing pin stop . I have 9mm's and 40sw's but he wants to try the 1911 and he can reach the trigger .

Also looking for any help with recoil and main spring for a 5" 1911 that should work with the load

[Steve RA]

Considering that is a 208 PF I'd suggest a load around a 170 PF with same bullet and let him try that. That would be around 850FPS.

17lb mainspring and try a 14lb recoil spring.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Steve RA

[hardluk1]

Thank you. Have something to work with now .

[UncleTK]

X-Treme 230 RN & 4 Grains of N310

As a rule of thumb a heavy bullet & fast powder gives a very soft load.

[peterthefish]

Considering that is a 208 PF I'd suggest a load around a 170 PF with same bullet and let him try that. That would be around 850FPS.

17lb mainspring and try a 14lb recoil spring.

This is still a bit stout for a 10 year old. I'd try 4.5-5.0 GR HP38 under the 200 and the 185 SWC to see what cycles the gun. I use 5 GR HP38 under a Berrys 200 GR SWC which is about 140 - 145 PF.

3.8 -4.0 GR N310 under a 185 SWC should cycle the gun and shoot like dream. Berrys has a load with their 185 GR HBRN bullet they call their old fart load - it's on the page where you order that bullet. That's another good one.

[Steve RA]

I only suggested the load I did as it still makes major. There should be quite a bit of recoil reduction from 208PF to 170PF. If they aren't going to shoot competition then your load would work very well.

[zzt]

Whether you want to make Major or Minor, use a 200 grain (preferably truncated cone) bullet, a fast powder and a 14lb recoil spring. Suitable powders would be Alliant e3, Clay Dot, Red Dot, American Select; Hodgdon Clays; Accurate Solo 1000; Ramshot Competition, VV N320, Winchester WST and similar burn speed powders. For minor, use the same and add VV N310.

WST and Clay Dot seem to be the easiest to find right now. e3, WST and N310 are my favorite powders for 45ACP.

[Hi-Power Jack]

I'd stay with the 230 grain, whether you want minor or major - with a fast powder,

just like Uncle TK mentioned. Heavy bullet with fast powder.

[hardluk1]

For the next year power level is not a concern with the local group . Looking more for a bullseye - cowboy type load but as concerned with pistol set up as the load . 12 and 14lb recoil springs are ordered 18lb hammer spring is in the pistol on now.

I loaded a few 200gr coated swc ,Winchester primers . I will star with this bullet going to avoid clays and hp-38 at low volume levels as it reads to be temp sensitive . We shoot if its hot or 25* out .

Gona start with Unique -around 5.0 gr

May try some bullsyeye too starting at 4.6gr

Trail Boss A local shooter the gunshop owner put me in touch with has some Trail Boss he's going to let me try . He loads 4.0-4.1gr gr could move a 200gr swc at about 700fps and might cycle with a 12lb recoil spring and 18lb hammer spring and can go up to 5.5gr and still be slow if I can get my 1911 to run like his . Its not a dollar wise choice of powder as its a high volume powder . 9oz in a 1lb typical container but may be the best to start with. Low pressure powder even when at max .

[open17]

You can load 45 W-A-Y down. I loaded some 230's once with a "pinch" of N310 (I think it was around 2.2 gr--maybe). 6 lb recoil

spring in a old 1911. Near zero recoil, and it functioned 100%. An advantage of the load was that if you saw that the bullet was going to miss

the target, you could run out and give it a slap to get it back on track.

[zzt]

I you are looking for a bullseye and cowboy load, you are starting too hot. 4.0gr of Bullseye is the classic bullseye load. It goes about 800fps with lead, so maybe a tad slower with coated (unless Falcoated). 775fps is considered by many bullseye shooters and a few manufacturers to be the optimal speed of a 185 or 200gr bullet for bullseye accuracy.

Unique is too slow a powder for what you are trying to do. You have to use too much and put up with more noise and recoil than you should. Forget the Trail Boss.

Here is data from Alliant using a 200gr LSWC:

4.0 Bullseye: 790fps, 9800psi

4.0 Red Dot: 805pfs, 9400psi

4.0 American Select: 780, 11200psi

Clay Dot and e3 are newer than my published manual, but 4.0gr of either will produce similar results, as will 4.0gr of N310.

FWIW, by bullseye load is 3.8ge N310 with Win LP primer and a 200gr Dardas LSWC bullet seated to 1.240. It chronos at 770fps and is amazingly accurate. At 153PF it has enough umph for pins, plates and reactive targets and still shoots soft.

[wgj3]

What zzt said. The pistol will run with a lot less energy than what comes with the loads the OP is looking at. If you're looking in manuals, use minimum loads with fastest powders to start with. It will be way more fun. Can always load up to major PF in the future.

I would leave the mainspring/"hammer" spring as is. Drop in 14lb recoil spring and try a couple of those minimum loads. Load some full power stuff for a taste, but keep it light to start shooting USPSA.

Edited June 13, 2015 by wgj3

[hardluk1]

open17 6lb spring . That's extremely light . What velocity are you getting . Vihtavuori and very hard to find around this area . I'm going to try to start with what I can lay hands on near by but will keep it in mind . I have been wanting to try some of there powders for years and but others when all where hard to find and still burning threw several 8lb containers .

zzt that's the type load I want to start with

Not looking for the run of the mill modern manual loads and I know some powders don't work as well at low volume . velocity can vary .

Found some bullseye loads info that matchs what you have but 5gr of unique should give give me about 715fps

Found a old reloader hard back that was put away 19 years ago when we moved to NC by Don Geary - The Reloaders Bible with some info that covers a few lite loads with red dot ,unique and bullseye .

wgj3 My normal practice load is 200gr swc at 964fps . HP is 200gr GD at 1110fps but I just don't shoot it any more , I do have a decent amount of standard loads set aside if he decides to step up in a years or so or I buy a different 45 for me .

[zzt]

According to Alliant, 5.1gr of Unique will produce 810fps @ 9600psi, so you might want to start a little lower.

[Steve RA]

If you have any Clays or access to some, I'd try the 3.8 gr load - all velocities were taken with 5" Taurus 1911.

[hardluk1]

ZZT I can do that .

Steve RA I have a little bit of clays , maybe enough for 50 rounds or a little more . I was going to give it a try . Thanks

[Scootertheshooter]

Sounds like a new reason to get a 1911 in 9[emoji1]

[njl]

Sounds like a new reason to get a 1911 in 9[emoji1]

You might even get your stock 1911 to function on 185gr bullets in the 700-800fps range...but a 147gr 9mm in the mid 800s will be even softer.

[MadMadWorld]

Trail boss is fun for soft loads. I put 4.1gr under a 230 bayou and runs in all my 45s. I even tried the same load with some 200swc bayous and it was 100% with my major SS gun set up.