250 grain cast bullets in the 45 ACP

[Win 38-55]

I happen to have a box of cast 250 grain 45 Colt bullets and no 45 Colt. Instead, I'm using them in my Springfield Armory 1911 45 ACP (loaded version). My Hornady manual suggests anywhere between 5.1 grains to a max of 6.3 grains of Unique for their cast 230 grain bullet. I loaded up 50 rounds with 5.1 grains of Unique and they seem to work well (no feeding problems). Since the bullet is 10 percent heavier than the 230 grain cast bullet, I figure I should drop the max load listed for the 230 grain cast bullet by 10% to compensate for the heavier, 250 grain bullet. I believe that 5.1 grains of Unique is staying on the conservative side.

Question: Does anyone have experience using the 250 grain cast bullet (normally used in the 45 Colt) and, if so, what is your Unique load? I have lots of Unique and do not want to buy another fast powder. Also, I would like at least 800 fps but also want to stay within safe operating limits.

 

[tvd]

Win.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=75240&highlight=hardball

Not sure if you found this thread, I started it a while ago, no-one mentions using Unique powder, though I think the handloader article alluded to says something about it. My experience has been that I have gotten (some) bulged cases when I seat the heavy bullets to the required depth.

I ended up running the bulged ones through the resizing die and shooting them though a chrony. I think I was using 5.2 bullseye and was coming in around 750 fps.

Hope this helps a bit. Let us know what you find out!

TvD

 

[t-star]

i've shot the 250's out of a government and found them extremely unpleasant - one of the articles i have lists it out as a "buffalo stomper' bullet- and it advises a steady diet is hard on the frame- however,if you must, speer #11 advises 5.8 as a bottom for 740, 6.4 for a top of 822, both out of a gov't 5 inch

 

[ben hunchak]

Alot of the bullets(250gr) made for the .45 Colt are not suited to the .45ACP as they may not feed well or they are too long. They can also up the pressure and be harder on your gun, I just don't see any advantage to this.

 

[Win 38-55]

t-star, that is interesting info. I just loaded up my next batch yesterday and made some changes. First, I dropped the load down to 5.0 grains of Unique and, second, I set the bullet out to the max O.A.L. off 1.245, which will increase the case volume, dropping the pressure. My first batch was really barking. I do have a chronograph, and hope to chrono this load sometime this week.