Use of Green and Blue Dot

[Toscano]

Newbie, both to the .45 ACP world and reloading for the .45. My question arises for my initial loading for my Taurus PT1911. As a side note, it fires commercial 230gr ammo just fine. I have, from a previous handloader, 1# each of Blue Dot and Green Dot and was wondering how compatible they are to .45ACP loading. I've been given differing information and need some decent clarification. I'll be loading 185 and 230gr RN FMJ. My background is mainly in rifle reloading and am not used to these small grain weights vs cartridge fill...also, is taper crimping suggested, or mandatory? I would appreciate as much information as possible. TIA.

[Carlos]

Welcome Toscano!

.45 ACP runs very VERY low pressure - in the neighborhood of 15,000 PSI for loads you want to make for competition.

Those pressures are comparable to a shotgun's pressure - and a shotgun's pressure is so low that the hull can even be mad out of paper.

Since we only need to launch a 230 grn at 717 FPS to meet the "power factor" for competition, we should be using the very most FAST burning powder possible. Why?

Recoil will be reduced, and the powder will burn efficiently in a short handgun barrel.

Of the powder you mentioned, Green Dot is better than Blue Dot. Better still is the faster Red Dot (which I once used) - but if you buy a new powder, the VERY best for .45 would include:

-E3 (a cleaner version of Red Dot)

-Solo 1000 (my choice)

-regular Clays (my second choice)

-if you can't find above powder, try either HP-38 or Win. 231 (they are the same powder).

[SLM]

Blue Dot is really slow for .45 ACP and at less than max loads doesn't burn very well at all in a 45. Trust me... I found unburnt little blue dots laying in front of me at the indoor range after 10 rounds. Pushed to max loads it cleaned up and burnt but it makes for a pretty peppy load. Solo 1000 is my powder of choice for .45.

[revchuck]

Taper crimping is used for straight-walled auto pistol cartridges like the .45 ACP. A good place to start is .470" measured at the case mouth, using either a micrometer or a dial caliper to measure it. If you don't have either (and you really need the dial caliper for reloading), use a factory round to set your crimp die, as follows: With the ram all the way up and the round in the shell holder, screw the taper crimp die down until it firmly touches the round. Then drop the ram, screw the die in another eighth turn, and lock it.

All you want to do with the taper crimp die is bring the case up against the bullet. If you crimp too much, you can distort the bullet and mess up your accuracy.

[ragsflh]

been using win 231 45 acp

[Toscano]

Thanks for the info everyone...it was very enlightning and informative...have to rethink my loading plan. Still open to more information; please chime in! Thanks again.