Clays With Lead Bullets

[rhyrlik]

Could you guys guide me to the perfect target load?

I want to use Clays with 185, 200, and 230gr lead SWC bullets. I have a 5" 1911 with 16 and 18.5 lb. springs. I understand that lead shoots faster than jacketed with the same powder charge. At what charge weight will I need the 18.5 spring, or will I hit max pressures before the upgrade is warranted? I'm looking for a 7-800 FPS nice soft load. Thanks.

[epj]

Could you guys guide me to the perfect target load?

I want to use Clays with 185, 200, and 230gr lead SWC bullets. I have a 5" 1911 with 16 and 18.5 lb. springs. I understand that lead shoots faster than jacketed with the same powder charge. At what charge weight will I need the 18.5 spring, or will I hit max pressures before the upgrade is warranted? I'm looking for a 7-800 FPS nice soft load. Thanks.

I keep my powder measure set on 4.0 grains most of the time. It will work with any of those bullet weights. The 200 gr LSWC is my primary bullet. You can go down probably as low as 3.5 with that one and still get the gun to function. I found I was not getting good sealing until I got to around 4.0. The 4.0 load still shoots pretty soft and the cases appear to be sealing pretty well. As far as the "perfect" load goes, what is perfect to me may not be to you. What works well in my guns may not work as well in yours, though I shoot the loads mentioned above through four different Kimbers and an ancient Colt and they all seem to function reliably with the ammo. With lighter bullets, you can go up as far as about 4.5, but be careful with Clays. As it approaches max pressure, the pressure peaks rather rapidly, I'm told. Besides, you were looking for target loads, and they usually want to stay on the light side. Don't think you'll need the heavier spring.

[JFD]

The gun would feel a heck of a lot better with a 14 lb spring. 16 is standard and 18+ is overkill.

Using a cast 220 grain LRN, 3.85 grains Clays makes major in my Kimber, which is softer than factory loads for sure.

Using Rainier plated bullets, 3.6 grains gets 154 PF, so that would be a good start for really soft loads.

If I was going that low in PF, I'd be using a 12 - 13 lb spring.

[Allgoodhits]

Could you guys guide me to the perfect target load?

I want to use Clays with 185, 200, and 230gr lead SWC bullets. I have a 5" 1911 with 16 and 18.5 lb. springs. I understand that lead shoots faster than jacketed with the same powder charge. At what charge weight will I need the 18.5 spring, or will I hit max pressures before the upgrade is warranted? I'm looking for a 7-800 FPS nice soft load. Thanks.

Out of my 5" 1911 with BAR-STO barrel 3.8gr "CLAYS" is very accurate with ZERO 200gr Lead SWC and it runs 770+/- fps. (154K PF)

Spring weight variation for functioning varies gun to gun, but I would guess that the 16 or less may be best. Otherwise grip enduced malfunctions may happen, especially one or weak handed.

MJ

[Harmon]

3.8 grains CLAYS and a 230 lead round nose or 225 grian TC bullet makes major at 170 and 169 power factor in my 1911.

4.0 grains and a 200 grain semi wadcutter also seemed to shoot really soft and clocked right at 830 fps in my gun.

i never shot clays behind anything lighter than 200 grains with lead at major power factor in my guns... the 155 cast with 5.2 grains clays makes a neat plinker or steel load. really light recoil!

Hope this helps,

Harmon

[TonyT]

I have used 3.8 gr. Clays with the 185 gr. LSWCHP and 3.6 gr. Clays with the Speer LSCW. Both loads provided excellent accuracy.

[rhyrlik]

Thank You all for your help. I loaded 3.5, 3.7, and 3.9 grains under a Hornady 230gr. LRN. The 3.9 grain load was similar to hardball. The 3.7 gr load was nice and groupped under a nickle at 15 yards. That's what I'll use.

[JakeMartens]

I have been shooting 200gr lswc (magnus bullets or bulletworks) hardcast bullets over 4.2grs of Clays with a OAL of 1.25. I have a 16 pound ISMI recoil spring, but to be honest it has about 10K rounds on it and when compared to a new one it is about 2 coils shorter!!! So it is more like a 14 pounder. This make a 168-169pf and groups under an inch out of My 5"inch Nowlin.