Hot 45 acp loads from 308 cases

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25tikka

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I read an article a while back that stated with heavy spring and 308 cases cut down, you could get near 44 mag performance with 240 gr hornady xtp mag bullets. Has anyone tried it?
 
...or you can buy .45 Super cases from Starline. Haven't tried it yet but I intend to.

Never heard it compared to .44Mag performance though.
 
Compare, side by side, a .44 mag. case and a .45 Auto case, and also note that the cut down .308 case will have reduced capacity.
 
A friend of mine shoots these cases in a Norinco 45. I just finished turning 20 30-06 cases for him on a mini lathe to be used for this purpose. Cut the case length to .898 and bore approximately 50% of the internal case length with a 7/16 drill bit - very difficult to do a nice job with a drill press, but the lathe works well - if you are patient enough to maintain proper centering of the case.

Be careful though. He used the Longshot recipe posted by Gunnar. He experienced case head separation, sever tingling in his elbow and broken gun parts. He was quite lucky based on the condition of the fired cases that I saw.

I will build the cases for him, but I will not shoot the gun.
 
Many years ago, just to see if it would work, I trimmed some .30/06 brass down and tried it in my Colt Government pistol. The first problem is that the inside diameter of the case is .44 caliber not .45, so the case had to be reamed. The second problem is that the rifle case is not tapered towards the rim as is the case with a .45 auto case, so it might be harder on the pistol's extractor. I fired a few to rounds to convince myself that it could be done, then went back to using the correct brass.
 
Not Safe.

Are you guys freakin nuts? If you want 44 performance then buy a 44.
45acp is a relatively low pressure round, while 44 is not. Generating that kind of pressure to move out a 240 grain at that kind of velocity will ruin your gun in no time.
Conversely, if you want high velocity out of a 45acp case, then switch to a light bullet, say a Magma Engineering 150 grain SWC. 1300 FPS is achieveable.
You might consider a 10mm instead. 40 caliber bullets at 1250 +.
 
As mentioned above, you want ''.45Super brass from Starline''... it puts it up there in the same category as the 10mm Auto/.357Magnum.
 
G37 said:
As mentioned above, you want ''.45Super brass from Starline''... it puts it up there in the same category as the 10mm Auto/.357Magnum.
Click to expand...

That's what I did (got brass from Starline)...I experimented with .45 Super loads awhile back in my "resprung" Norinco and they were a BLAST! No pun intended.
 
So, do these hot rod rounds beat up your 1911 pistols? :confused:

2007-10-27_091302_1aCoffee.gif

NAA.
 
I have shot and loaded the 45-08 cartridges in my Norinco using a 20# recoil sprng and a shok buff. 10.5 Gr f Longshot gave me 1300FPS using 200 gr LSWC cast from WW. Excellent bear load. I use cut down .308 cases reamed out to .452. Gunnar sells them or used to for $1.00 a piece. DO NOT load this load in regular .45acp cases! IIRC Gunnar listed a max load of 12 gr of Longshot. I didn't go to the max as 10.5 gr was enough for me.

This is not a load I shoot a lot, just enough to get used to it. Gunnar put me on to the loading. Great to carry for Bear protection. I can fire 8 rounds faster than I can with six out of a .357Mag and I would expect much faster than out of a .44Mag.

Take Care

Bob
 
there is a caveat with the roland that says you must use a "frame of modern maufacture"- frames of ww2 and earlier are not suitable- now as to whether the thing comes as a kit( slide, barrel, etc) or just the barrel , i don;t know- i DO know that the 451 detonics was using cut down 308 win back as far as 88 or so- the whole point of the exercise it so that you can use a higher pressure load than what the 45 calls for which is about 19.5k before the unsupported part of the brass lets go
 
Harold is quite right, i have both factory 44 automag brass as well as cut down 308 brass for reloading. the 44 automag is best with the 240 grain xtp bullet, and the powder type and load is about the same if loading for a full charge 44 magnum round.

don't think the 308 brass is correct to cut down for 45 loadings. regards.
 
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