45acp 155gr. frangible

[TBF]

 Any favorite loads or experience with 45 155gr. tin/copper from west coast?                   Travis F.

[Carlos]

Funny you should ask. I just returned from testing some of these at the NRA Headquarters Range. I made these up from the first batch that Westcoast made - they used powdered steel at first (don't freak out - its plated like a Gold Dot so the steel does not touch your barrel). Weight was still 155 grains. I loaded them over 5.7 grains of Hodgdon's Titegroup to an OAL of 1.255" with mixed cases and Winchest Large Pistol primers.  I chronoed these last July 4 at 90 degrees, high humity, sea level. Out of a 5" STI Edge .45 ACP, they averaged 967.2 FPS for a powerfactor of 149.9. You need more than 5.7 grains (my load is about 100 FPS short of the 1,064.5 FPS neede for Major).

This is a weird bullet. Its bigger than a 230 and has a rounded flat nose shape. It takes up lots of room in the case.

Why shoot it? Theoretically, less recoil. Tonights test involved a comparison in my new .45ACP revolver- where there are no reciprocating slides or springs to throw off perceived recoil.

I did not see an advantage compared to my standard IPSC load of a 200 grain Westcoast Bullet (either a Roundnose 200grn or a SWC 200 grn) over 4.5 grains of straight Clays powder.  Maybe in an autoloader, they could be made to recoil less. I am not convinced.  I think the 185 has as much potential - I shot it for a while at 167 PF - and is more widely available for less $$$.  I see no advantage to the 230grn since they lowered the powerfactor to 165.  Are there any old timers out there still shooting the 255 grns or even the old trick of 300grn bullets?? Sorta like a bowling ball or morter round in flight!

[warpspeed]

Travis,

I do not have any experiecnce with 45 but I love them in 40 S&W. I have not tried to load them major, only minor for steel. They are sweet. Very accurate. The thing about them is that they are less dense so you can go lower weight but still have enough bullet to stabilize. The last ones I've tried were 105gr!!  

2 drawback - (really only one)  price and fragility ( if there is such a word)

They cost almost twice what a jacketed/plated bullet costs.  

second drawback is that if you over crimp, they break. No kidding. All you want to do is remove the bell and no more.

I tried a few in 9mm and had a failure rate of about 10%.  If I backed off teh crimp die they would not feed. Just the pressure of the case casued them to crack. The cross sectional area on a 9mm is really small. I have never had a 40 break. I would imagine that the 45 would be even better. Good luck