200gr. Swc Overall Length?

[1911DK]

I just bought some Berry 200gr. SWC bullets (.45ACP) and am looking

for recommendations on OAL. Does 1.250" sound OK? Thanks.

[boo radley]

I just bought some Berry 200gr. SWC bullets (.45ACP) and am looking

for recommendations on OAL.  Does 1.250" sound OK?  Thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sounds perfect, imo. I load Oregon Trail Laser-Cast 200 SWC's to exactly that same length, per their instructions. I notice just a dime's thickness or less of shoulder above the case.

[GuildSF4]

1.250 OAL is good for these. (Good for most .45 ACP loads, too much longer causes problems in double stack mags.)

[ChuckS]

I use 1.245 for Rainier 200 gr SWC in a couple of SA .45 single stacks with no problems.

[tightloop]

Load them as long as they will function everytime in your mags....

[ChuckS]

The way it was explained to me is that the gun was designed to feed and shoot 230 gr ball at 1.275 max OAL. The idea for other bullets is to get the part of the bullet that hits the barrel hood on its way into the chamber to hit the same spot as the 230 gr for reliable feeding. It still sounds reasonable to me...

[knightkrawler00]

That's what I load them to.

[ChuckS]

The way it was explained to me is that the gun was designed to feed and shoot 230 gr ball at 1.275 max OAL. The idea for other bullets is to get the part of the bullet that hits the barrel hood on its way into the chamber to hit the same spot as the 230 gr for reliable feeding.  It still sounds reasonable to me...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

But wait, there's more!

The 230 gr round nose does not hit the hood on it tip but more along a spot on the top side. Loading the 200 gr swc to about 1.245 puts its top-front edge to about the same point. At least it works well for me and loading longer didn't.

[SS45DVC]

I load all my 200 grn SWC (Rainier, Berry's, Lasercast, etc) at 1.245". I get the most consistent chrono results, no issues with feed reliability, and I don't have to adjust my die.

[Kevin J]

Do you all recommend loading all types of 45ACP out that long. I've been working up a load for Berry's 200gn round shoulder and I've seen OAL recommendations of 1.115, which seemed way to short to me. I hand cycled a few of them and found they would lodge themselves into the very top of the chamber. I lengthened them out to about 1.190. When I fired them this weekend, I had about a 1 or 2 in ten failure. But even the ones that fed had some pretty hard scratches along one "V" shaped space of the case. I'm suspecting this to be a OAL problem.

Anyone using Berry's 200gn Round Shoulder?

[Newguy]

Although I reloaded Berry 200 gr. SWC a while ago, I remember a problem when loading at normal OAL's for 200 gr. SWC. IIRC. the ogive of these bullets were much different than the H&G mold. I kept on playing with the OAL until I found one that sorta worked. Finally gave up on that bullet, although other Berry's seem to work fine. My advice is to shoot up what you have for practice and find more conventional ogive 200 gr. SWC for matches.