Serious question - have patience with me...

[bfalcon00]

If it makes you feel any better I thought the same thing when I shot the light target loads in 45 ACP. I was used to the 230 gr GI load and thought for sure I had screwed something up. Lucky, the local range has a regular that kind of took my under his wing as far as reloading is concerned and he explained to me that was normal. Then started giving me a hard time for shooting a load only for those with arthritis. A few weeks later I noticed he had a box of the very same in his bag and have been calling them the "old timer" load every since.

[7kings]

A light target load of .45 Auto will not have the recoil of a full-house factory load.

A light target load in a new .45 Auto may not fully cycle since the gun is NOT broken-in and is still stiff and tight (hopefully).

You may need a lighter recoil spring, but vary the load up and down working on accuracy (if that is your goal) and don't worry about function until you find the load you like.

My best load with the Precision Bullet 200gn L-SWC is right at 4.8-5.2gn 231/HP38 at a COL of 1.270" (I load the SWC so the shoulder just barely touches the lede/rifling and the case head is flush or very slightly under flush with the barrel hood). That is the single BEST load for that bullet in my guns that I have found--and I have used almost all other suitable powders from N310 to Unique.

The right COL is not found in a manual very often. It is found by loading a given bullet long in at least two inert dummy rounds and working COL down to find the range where the rounds will feed and chamber without problems. If the COL range includes what is in the manual for that specific bullet (and that is fairly common), you can use the manual's COL as the minimum COL for that data. Otherwise, the COL within the working range is up to the reloader (maybe you want to load at the mid COL?) and you start at the start load (or, the lowest start load you can find after checking several manuals) and work up; however, I will reduce the start load by 2% or so if my working COL is shorter than the manual's.

Never ever needed a chronograph (chrony). A chrony is absolutely required for power factor, but not for reloading. I have never read a manual yet that said I needed a chrony for reloading

No danger loading without a chrony. There is very little that velocity tells you about pressure, unless you have a pressure-tested round of known velocity tested in YOUR gun and charge weight of the same lot of powder and you are testing using the same lot of bullets.

[...]

Awesome information - thanks for the help!

If it makes you feel any better I thought the same thing when I shot the light target loads in 45 ACP. I was used to the 230 gr GI load and thought for sure I had screwed something up. Lucky, the local range has a regular that kind of took my under his wing as far as reloading is concerned and he explained to me that was normal. Then started giving me a hard time for shooting a load only for those with arthritis. A few weeks later I noticed he had a box of the very same in his bag and have been calling them the "old timer" load every since.

LOL - it does make me feel a little better. I've since shot these from my Colt GCT and Les Baer P2 and they feel a little closer to normal (and are very accurate and pleasant to shoot). I think the heavier recoil spring of the RIA combined with the weight of the full railed dust cover just accentuated the recoil difference between the 200gr SWC and the 230gr slugs I was shooting before.