Can You Recomend Some Loads For A .45acp ?

[Diezel]

Hi

Im new on this forum. Seems like a nice place wihit a lott of good reading.

I did a quick search but didn´t find what I was looking for, so here is my qestion.

I just bought my first 1911-A1, a Springfield Armory parkerized Mil-Spec.

Now I want to start reloading for it (have only reloaded for rifles before).

I want a load with low recoil and good accuracy. It will be used in target

shooting/competition and field target ompetitions.

Right now i have some Sellier & Bellot cases that I will start with. I also have some Winchester

brass coming in. The place I work at sells Hodgdon, Accurate, Alliant and Norma powder.

Right now we have S&B 230gn bullets and Hornady XTP, maby some other Hornady bullets to on the shelfe.

From this info, can you recomend a good load and bullet weight for me?

I have looked in all the reloading manuals I have but I find it better to ask some one

just because I want the low recoil for faster follow up shots in field target.

BestRegards // Diezel

[t-t]

Well, I am new on the forum, and this will hardly be the last word,

but here you go.

I am currently loading 5gr of Titegroup behind a 200gr lead SWC

(in this case a Meister bullet, but I also have a box of lasercast).

This seems like a fine load, it is certainly not "tuned" to be a light

low recoil load, but I want to practice with a fairly full power load

and it feels hardly different than factory 230gr hardball to me.

I have had no reliability problems with this bullet in my gun, but

your mileage may vary, however some say that the 200 gr LSWC

bullet is every bit as reliable as 230gr hardball, maybe more so.

Just because I am curious I may try VV N310 behind this bullet next,

and when I get some powerpistol to start loading .40 SW I will

try that also. My impression is that there are LOTS of good loads

for the .45 ACP.

[AustinMike]

Welcome aboard! There's tons of load info in the .45 forum if you do some searching. I favor 230gr bullets myself at major power factors. 3.8gr. of Clays or N310 seem to be good starting point and work your way up from there with a chrono and watch for pressure signs. In my Kimber, 4.0 of either powder will get major with plated bullets (like Rainier) and 4.2 seems to be needed for jacketed. Both of these powders burn clean and "feel" similar, with comparable accuracy at the distances we commonly shoot. Judging by my chrono readings so far, N310 does seem to be more consistent, especially with hotter loadings.

Edit: Doh! Just realized you were asking about powders where you work. Give Clays a whirl. Plain, NOT universal.

Edited November 16, 2005 by AustinMike

[Diezel]

Hi

Thanks for the answers.

If i go with a 185gn, 200gn or 230gn FMJ, JHP or XTP bullet and load with Clays, do I have to change any springs in the gun?

Right now it´s stock as it came from Springfield with exception of a C-P Shock Buff.

Naturaly I want to stress the gun as little as possible.

Regardin loads, I dont shoot IPSC but someday it might be fun to try. Maby it would be a good thing to start shooting loads that qualify for Major allready now?

AustinMike: What is wrong with Universal ?

And by Clays, I assume this is the one you mean?

All the best // Diezel

Edited November 16, 2005 by Diezel

[AustinMike]

If i go with a 185gn, 200gn or 230gn FMJ, JHP or XTP bullet and load with Clays, do I have to change any springs in the gun?

Probably not, but it depends on how low you go with your charge. I run a 16# spring in my Kimber with the major loads. That's probably what you've got in there now. I sometimes put a 14# spring in with minor loads, more for feel than function, to speed up the slide action. In my gun (no shock buff), I was getting some frame battering with the lighter spring and major loads.

Maby it would be a good thing to start shooting loads that qualify for Major allready now?

Wouldn't hurt. With a 230gr. bullet, loading just a little over Major is going to feel softer than most factory loads. You only have to push that heavy bullet a little over 717fps for Major. There are lots of opinions on this, but mine is that at the same power factor the heavier bullets have a softer recoil than the lighter ones. If you load to Major (ex. > 825 fps. for 200gr.), recoil will feel heavier or more "snappy."

What is wrong with Universal ?

Absolutely nothing, it's another fine powder. People get confused because Hodgdon actually has 3 types of Clays. Clays, Universal Clays, and International Clays. You have the right one in the picture. Clays is the fastest of Hodgdon's powders for pistol and I prefer a fast powder for .45. I've found Clays to burn very clean, even at low charge weights. A lot of slower powders I've tried get kind of dirty unless you load hot.

[hopalong]

Diezel,

Welcome to the forums.

As you will notice, Clays will be a very popular powder for .45 acp.

My personal load for lead is 3.7 grns clays over a bullet made by a man in Shreveport LA(230grn)

I shoot 4.3 grns over a Precision Delta 230 grn (this is a jacketed bullet)

The Hornady XTP has been a good accurate bullet in my guns that I shoot it in, Definately worth trying.

Good luck, and again welcome to the forums.

HOPALONG

[Diezel]

Hi

Thanks for answering my questions.

Just checked our store and as i tought we only had Universal Clays. :-(

Any other I should consider?

You can see what powders I have available here:

Hodgdon Handgun powders

VV Powder

Alliant Powder

Accurate Powder

Best Regards // Johan

[AustinMike]

It's more expensive than Clays, but VV N310 is awesome. Shoots a lot like Clays (load data is very similar in fact.) It's actually been a little more consistent than Clays (lower extreme spread) in my testing so far. Very clean burning and a soft shooter!

I shoot 4.3 grns over a Precision Delta 230 grn (this is a jacketed bullet)

Hey, Hop, this is in your revolver, I assume? What OAL are you using? I just switched to Zero 230gr. FMJ from plated and coated bullets and out of my 1911 it's obvious I'm going to have to go a little over 4gr. of Clays to be over Major with some cushion. Haven't tried the revolver yet. I'm loading out to 1.260" and was thinking maybe seating a little deeper would give it the extra push needed.

[DougBarnes101]

Diezel

Welcome to the forums.

I use 4.4 gr of clays (Just like the picture in your post) with a 185 gr SWC from Precision Bullets. This is a lead bullet with a moly coating. Makes 170 PF from my 5" Government Model. This is an extremely clean combination.

I am planning to do some experimenting with a higher PF for bowling pins. Hope that this helps.

[hopalong]

Austin Mike,

Yes out of my Revo (625 5 inch).

I have used Rainier which is plated like the Zero's.

I use 4.2 grn clays at 1.250 (factory) with the 230 Rainiers, good load and accurate enough for what we do.

The precision Delta's are just as cheap and are as accurate as Montana Golds (which my guns like).

I use the lead heads all year for practice and local club matches, unless a major is coming up and I have cleaned the gun recently.....You know how lead does no matter what kind of powder you use.

When I can keep getting lead 230 grns for 29 bucks a thousand, yep! you bet I'm going to shoot them as much as possible.

And I alsways load my .45 acp stuff to 1.250 (factory specs) so I can use it in any of my skinny guns too!!!

Maybe I can make a trip down to the Lone star state, was born and raised in Floresville just south of San Antonio, (You know, John Connally country). Haven't been "Home" in quite a few years.

[AustinMike]

I'll have to push my seating down to 1.25" and re-Chrono. I'm around 720fps. with 4.0 Clays out of the 1911 at 1.26" now. That may bump me up a little higher, but I might need another tenth of power too. We'll see. My N310 load of 4.2 is around 730fps. I'm busy comparing the two, trying to convince myself N310 is worth the price!

I shot the Rainiers for years, but Midway only ships UPS and I've found I can get FMJ for about the same price or less with several vendors that will ship USPS flat rate. Those plated bullets sure fly out of my barrel faster than the jacketed though. Lot easier to make major.

Maybe I can make a trip down to the Lone star state, was born and raised in Floresville just south of San Antonio, (You know, John Connally country). Haven't been "Home" in quite a few years.

Come on down! I'm from the deep south side of San Antonio originally, and now live in the Austin area, a liberal oasis in our state for them Kalifornians!

[Diezel]

Hello

I had some Hornady 200gn HP/XTP bullets at work. Along with a can of VV N310 and some Federal LP primers.

Im still not sure about the bullets though, they are quite expencive, $24 / 100.

The Sellier&Bellot 230gn FMJ is $12.75

Any advice is welcome.

Edited November 17, 2005 by Diezel

[n2299]

Diezel, my .45 IPSC major load(174pf) used to be 4.1gr of Clays with a 230gr CMJ loaded to 1.255 OAL. I found I needed to up it another 0.1gr to make the same pf in the winter months when chrono outdoor or in an unheated room.

Hope this helps.

[t-t]

OK, well I am back again. You guys need to jump in and tell me why I shouldn't be doing what I am doing .... or whatever is appropriate. This morning I went out to my 550 and emptied the Titegroup out of the powder measure and dumped in my first ever jug of Vita Vuori N340 (I also have an unopened jug of N310), but for now I just want to see how this slow stuff is behind my 200gr LSWC. Once I got the powder measure adjusted, I was immediately pleased by the larger bulk of powder. It would be pretty hard to get a double charge with this, whereas with Titegroup it would be pretty doggone easy to double charge and not know it. I don't know what the volume of powder will be like with N310, but it won't be long before I am finding out. After work today it is off to the range to see how these loads are (I also loaded some 230gr JHP bullets I had around with the N340 to see how those go).

I loaded 5.5 grains for the jacketed bullets (based on the Speer book which was right there handy in the shed where I was loading). Then went inside to fetch the VV book to find a load for the 200 LSWC, and found their loads are higher, even for the JHP, and ended up loading 6.2 grains for the lead bullets, and then loaded one (just one) jacketed bullet with 6.2 grains of powder as per the VV manual.

Where I buy supplies, 1 lb of Titegroup goes for $12.50, whereas the N340 goes for like $22.00, so I am asking myself what makes this stuff worth the extra money (The same goes for the N310 of course). What do you all say to that? To my way of thinking, I would be happy (as a novice reloader) to be using a bulkier powder even if I have to pay extra for it. The other thing I hear about the VV powders is that they are very clean.

[AustinMike]

There are plenty of people shooting Titegroup with .45 and if it works for you, there's nothing wrong with it. For pure economy, you can't beat it. I don't like it in .45 myself because I found it to be dirtier than Clays and N310, recoil was more stout, it burns REAL hot, and as you already mentioned, it's hard to see down in the cavernous .45 cases. I've not tried N340. I did try N320 and thought that N310 was much better feeling.

From what I've heard, Titegroup performs better at higher pressures and I plan to use what I have for .40 reloads. Clays is a tad more expensive that Titegroup, but much cheaper than the VV powders. I'm still kicking around the "is it worth it" bit too with N310 vs Clays. I need to Chrono my loads again after tweaking the charge up a bit more, but so far I'd say that N310 appears to be more consistent with a smaller extreme spread. I'm not really seeing an accuracy difference at the distances we shoot in IPSC.

[joecichlid]

My .45 ACP loads I use the most are:

Berry's 185 HBRN 5.3 grains of Hodgdon HP-38

Berry's 185 HBRN 4.7 grains of Hodgdon Clays.

With the HP-38 load I use a 9 pound spring and the gun feels like you are shooting a .22 pistol but I am using a comped barrel, not that it bleeds off much gas with this load.

Joe W.

[Derek45]

Straight CLAYS with a 230 gr.

Winchester Super Target ( WST ) is a great 45ACP powder too.

[Front Man]

Has anyone tried 4756 and 230 GRN bullets?

The lowest charge IMR has for it is way over major.

Can I go way under their recommended start charge?

I have Titegroup and Universal to play with this weekend too!

FM

[Rico567]

Titegroup works as well as anything I've tried, but Clays is softer in recoil, cleaner, and doesn't heat up the gun as much....so, I use Clays. Powder charges are so small for all the powders under discussion that I can't see cost being a major consideration, but VV powders ARE substantially more expensive, and I haven't heard or read a good reason yet that justifies the additional expense.

[rick458]

I used to Load 5.2-5.4 grs of W231 with Bull-X 200 lswc and a CCI lp primer

it shot soft and accurate But it was DIRTY

I need to pick up some clays

BTW what is the best Hard cast lead bullets to shoot

Best Meaning good and hard, properly sized, clean lube

that I wont have to pull and clean my seating die TOO often

I cant get the Bull-X anymore

Edited May 1, 2006 by rick458

[dstroyed]

4.1 Clays

200 LSWC

Major

4.0 Bulleye

200 LSWC

Minor

Both load are far more accurate than I am in my gun. These load and my gun don't really seem to care much about which brand of lead bullet I buy either. They all seem to shot very well.

Sellier & Bellot brass primer pockets are a PITA to reload. I bought 500 rounds to brake in a new .45. It shot fine it was the reload that made me wished I had bought another brand.

[rick458]

4.1 Clays

200 LSWC

Major

4.0 Bulleye

200 LSWC

Minor

Both load are far more accurate than I am in my gun. These load and my gun don't really seem to care much about which brand of lead bullet I buy either. They all seem to shot very well.

Sellier & Bellot brass primer pockets are a PITA to reload. I bought 500 rounds to brake in a new .45. It shot fine it was the reload that made me wished I had bought another brand.

Stupid Question but What is Major PF IE 170? 175?180?185?

[joecichlid]

rick458, USPSA Major power factor is 165.