Shot my first reloads last night .45ACP

pdubois64

pdubois64

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Rolled up 5 each of 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3gr W231 under a 230gr TMJ RN.

Shot all off of a bench rest at 15M. It was a toss up with 5.1gr & 5.2gr with the best group. 5.3gr was terrible. So I have decided to go with 5.1gr. Went home and rolled up 75.

Interestingly, the best group I shot was freehand with factory CCI Blazer in the aluminum cases before I shot the reloads. Have to try and find out what the factory load is for those. Maybe the cool barrel had something to do with it.

On a side note I fired my .44 magnum for the first time indoors last night. HOLY CRAP is that loud! I don't think the old timers shooting there .22's beside me were too impressed. I think I need to find some tamer loads. I was shooting factory rounds and haven't done up any of my own yet.
 
Congratulations of working out your first reloads. It's always great when the gun feeds & cycles ok and groups are good. As each gun is different the optimum for your specific gun is what you should go for ( keeping within safe pressures). Try and get access to a chronograph to get an idea of how hot they are.

Duplicating factory loads is a problem. the ammo manufacturers will often use proprietary powder blends/formutations not available as canister (sold for reloading) powders.The best way is to chronograph the factory load's velocity in your gun and then load to that level.

The next thing you get into is different powders for different cleanliness, cycling speed, etc. Talk to IPSC shooters and you'll soon get a hundred opinions -some of them may even be right;) - for you, that is...
 
JohnC said:
Congratulations of working out your first reloads. It's always great when the gun feeds & cycles ok and groups are good. As each gun is different the optimum for your specific gun is what you should go for ( keeping within safe pressures). Try and get access to a chronograph to get an idea of how hot they are.

Duplicating factory loads is a problem. the ammo manufacturers will often use proprietary powder blends/formutations not available as canister (sold for reloading) powders.The best way is to chronograph the factory load's velocity in your gun and then load to that level.

The next thing you get into is different powders for different cleanliness, cycling speed, etc. Talk to IPSC shooters and you'll soon get a hundred opinions -some of them may even be right;) - for you, that is...
Click to expand...

Thanks. Yes I hope to get a chronograph soon. I do plan to shoot IPSC this year so I need to get the power factor dialed in. I am thinking of maybe trying some lighter loads also to see if they group any better.
 
nice to see you "developing " your loads- but you still have a lot more top end if you want to use it- my series 70 likes a 200 swc over 6.0 of 231, which is what a lot of bowling pin guys use- according to the speer , even with the 230 jacketed( which you don't need b/c the bullets aren't going fast enough) the load is still 6.3 top end- but under 900 fps in both cases-
 
t-star said:
nice to see you "developing " your loads- but you still have a lot more top end if you want to use it- my series 70 likes a 200 swc over 6.0 of 231, which is what a lot of bowling pin guys use- according to the speer , even with the 230 jacketed( which you don't need b/c the bullets aren't going fast enough) the load is still 6.3 top end- but under 900 fps in both cases-
Click to expand...

Yes I am planning on getting some 200gr LSWC next once I have used up the 500 230 FMJ that I have. I will probably end up sticking with those as they are also cheaper than FMJ.
 
I was talking out of my a$$ :redface: just checked my loading spreadsheets I was loading 5.7 gr of 231 under 230 Hornady FMJ and they were quite hot.

Sorry about the confusion. :redface::redface:
 
Congrats on the successful loads! Feels good to shoot your own home rolled stuff.

For my 44 I have found that I can load them down to almost 38 Special type levels. Look at data for 44 Special and lead bullets. With faster powders I've even gone below the minimums on some data.

Doesn't take much jam to go through paper at 12 yards but the holes start to rip rather than punch clean below a certain level.
 
there's a caveat to using lswc- your gun has to be ABLE to feed it- the series 70 i have had a ramp polish done on it by the previous owner, and it consists of almost all wilson parts - all it "needs" is a comp barrel, and possibly the hooked ejector- now ,on the other hand, my remington rand which is dead stock except for a set of pachmyrs, feeds that same round flawlessly-
these loads are the exact same loads as JOHN SHAW of MID-SOUTH uses in his book to make major, but that was published 1983 or so, so things may have changed- i also run 20 pound wolff main springs-
 
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Paulinski said:
I was talking out of my a$$ :redface: just checked my loading spreadsheets I was loading 5.7 gr of 231 under 230 Hornady FMJ and they were quite hot.

Sorry about the confusion. :redface::redface:
Click to expand...

You had me worried there for a minute:D

vagrantviking said:
Congrats on the successful loads! Feels good to shoot your own home rolled stuff.

For my 44 I have found that I can load them down to almost 38 Special type levels. Look at data for 44 Special and lead bullets. With faster powders I've even gone below the minimums on some data.

Doesn't take much jam to go through paper at 12 yards but the holes start to rip rather than punch clean below a certain level.
Click to expand...

I have some 200gr semi-jacketed HP's?? that I will try some different loads with. I hear that you can load .44 Special loads in magnum cases.

t-star said:
there's a caveat to using lswc- your gun has to be ABLE to feed it- the series 70 i have had a ramp polish done on it by the previous owner, and it consists of almost all wilson parts - all it "needs" is a comp barrel, and possibly the hooked ejector- now ,on the other hand, my remington rand which is dead stock except for a set of pachmyrs, feeds that same round flawlessly-
these loads are the exact same loads as MIKE SHAW of MID-SOUTH uses in his book to make major, but that was published 1983 or so, so things may have changed- i also run 20 pound wolff main springs-
Click to expand...

Yes I have heard that. I will buy as few bullets as I can to try it out. I have a Springfield Armory 1911 Loaded. I replaced the mainspring with a Wolff but I believe it is stock weight. So far it has not had any feeding isssues but have only used 230gr in RN, FN and HP's.
 
if i read your original post with the corrections, your loads were 5.7. 5.8. 5.9-6- all are reasonable loads right in the "spectrum" of where they should be- the main reason the 45 is a rnjacketed is a feeding problem in some pistols- not a velocity- and of course,the military uses fmjs exclusively, which thankfully we don't have to
 
yes, you can use 44 special loads in a 44m ag with no problem- i've been doing that b/c i don't care much for factory 44 mag loads recoil wise- they may be fine for my 7.5 inch, but the 5 inch i prefer a little lighter - and you don't need any jacketed until you get above the 1000 fps mark- so i shoot 240 grain cast all the time
 
t-star said:
if i read your original post with the corrections, your loads were 5.7. 5.8. 5.9-6- all are reasonable loads right in the "spectrum" of where they should be- the main reason the 45 is a rnjacketed is a feeding problem in some pistols- not a velocity- and of course,the military uses fmjs exclusively, which thankfully we don't have to
Click to expand...

Actually they were 5.0, 5.1, 5.2 & 5.3gr. The Hodgdon Site shows max at 5.3gr which seems low but I was a little leary to go higher. Cases showed no pressure signs. My Lymans book is at home but I believe it showed 5.8gr as max.

Now I am wondering if I should try higher or lower loads:confused:.
 
t-star said:
yes, you can use 44 special loads in a 44m ag with no problem- i've been doing that b/c i don't care much for factory 44 mag loads recoil wise- they may be fine for my 7.5 inch, but the 5 inch i prefer a little lighter - and you don't need any jacketed until you get above the 1000 fps mark- so i shoot 240 grain cast all the time
Click to expand...

Good info. Yes the factory loads pack quite the punch.
 
trick is to LOAD THEM IN 44 MAG CASES- that way you don't get the 'CRUD RING' you do with shorter cases- as far as the 45 powder charge goes, i have a bunch of guns and ammo magazines,plus a bunch of special editions devoted exclusively to the 45, plus the prevously mentioned speer and shaw's book( he was a champ a while back) -and use the FACTORY LOADINGS as well- all the factory loads are on the net somewhere- and the loads 10 years or better haven't been "lawyerized" in the name of liability- incidentally, the 230 winchester load is 5.6 of 231 for 17k pressure- considering the top end is 19, what does that tell you?=PUSSY LOAD
 
t-star said:
trick is to LOAD THEM IN 44 MAG CASES- that way you don't get the 'CRUD RING' you do with shorter cases- as far as the 45 powder charge goes, i have a bunch of guns and ammo magazines,plus a bunch of special editions devoted exclusively to the 45, plus the prevously mentioned speer and shaw's book( he was a champ a while back) -and use the FACTORY LOADINGS as well- all the factory loads are on the net somewhere- and the loads 10 years or better haven't been "lawyerized" in the name of liability- incidentally, the 230 winchester load is 5.6 of 231 for 17k pressure- considering the top end is 19, what does that tell you?=PUSSY LOAD
Click to expand...

I think I will try a few 5.5, 5.6, 5.7gr and see how that goes. The groups at the lower end were nothing to write home about.
 
I found that WST is a lot cleaner than W231 if you are interested in other options. I use it for IPSC with the Hornady 230 gr. FMJ round nose. 4.6 grains chrono's an average of 770 FPS in a 5 inch barrel.
T
 
My .45 loads all use 200 GR LSWC bullets and I run 5.2 231 for fun loads/plates/puchin paper etc and i used to use 5.9 231 for the old IPSC major all out of my series 80 gov't. These cycle perfectly with an 18 lb spring. I want to work up a 165 PF load for ODPL CDP and I think 5.4 of 231 should be about right. I hope to chrono some loads when some of the white S^*T is gone.
Andy
 
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