230 grn lead round nose in a 45 acp

[therealkaos]

does anyone have a sugestion on a powder charge using unigue with a 230 lead round nose bullet? i have loaded jhp before but not lead bulllets in 45 acp. i am looking for velocity in the low 800 fps range. my manuals have a lot of info on jhp but little info on lead bullets.

i went to alliant powders web site and used the 5.0 grns they recomended, those loads seemed really light. i tried them in both my kimber pro carry and charles daly pistols and they gave me trouble cycling the slide. i was getting about 1 jam per magazine with the daly less with the kimber. both pistols seem to work fine with other ammo, they just didn't like thses light loads.

i have heard of people using up to 6.0 grns of unique with this bullet wght. i am just looking for accuracy and enough power to reliably cycle the slide. i am thinking about maybe 5.5 grns on my next try. any sugestions?

[char923]

therealkaos
Here some of my loads
230gr RN hard cast out of Colt with 5" Schueman bull barrel

5.7gr of Unique Oal: 1.260 Chrony at 816 fps
6.0gr of Unique Oal: 1.260 Chrony at 877 fps

[LIProgun]

Here are three loads I found performed well using 230 grain cast LRN bullets:

1) 5.1 grains Win 231, mixed military brass, Fed 150 primer (gave 704 fps from a 3.75" S&W auto).

2) 5.3 grains Win 231, WCC military brass, Fed 150 primer (gave 776 fps from a 4.25" Colt Commander).

3) 6.0 grains Unique, WCC mil brass, Fed 150 primer (810 fps from a 4.25" Colt Commander).

All of the velocities were 10-shot averages chronographed at 15 feet from the muzzle.

Load number 3 is my standard hardball duplicate.

Also, I've started working with VV N350 and found that 7.0 grains under a 225 grain hard cast flat point yields 828 fps from the 4.25" barrel.

[Poodleshooter]

Here is a great light/cheap load using Bullseye:
230 gr. LRN in Federal (or other commercial) brass over 4-5 grains of Bullseye and a Winchester LP primer makes a great low velocity target load (probably around 700fps, though I don't have a chronograph currently). Even the 4.0 grains of Bullseye cycles my Glock30 just fine. Recoil is almost nonexistant. Since Unique is a bit slower than Bullseye, 5.0grains seems like too light of a charge for Unique.

[tawakoni]

I have 2 editions of the Speer Reloading Manual No. 11. They have been my primary source of loading data for 10 years. I have recently discovered that 'old' data can be a problem. My favorite practice load has always been 4.6gr of W231 pushing a 200gr LSWC. This is the recommended starting load from this manual. (.45ACP)

This year I have loaded about 12,000 230gr LRNs. The old manual lists 5.1gr of W231 as a starting load and 5.6gr as Max. I chose 5.0gr for practice. These loads were noticably hotter than my 200 grainers but I loaded a few thousand anyway. Then, for the first time in over 40 years of shooting lead, I needed a Lewis Lead Remover, BIGTIME! The guns were Colt 1911s, gov't models, officer's models, commanders (lightweight and steel), all custom-enhanced, plus various Kimbers.

Looking for an answer, I downloaded the .45ACP loading data from the Winchester website. For the 230gr LRN and W231, it lists a starting charge of 4.5gr AND A MAXIMUM OF 5.1gr. I consider this to be a MAJOR change. Now I know that these figures can be pushed a little bit, but when I reduced the charge to 4.5, my barrel-leading problem stopped.

I believe W231 is a great pistol powder, especially for .45ACP. I am loading the 230gr LRN now but will run out of W231 tomorrow. Then I will start on the 15 pounds of W452AA I have on hand: 4.3gr for the 230gr LRN and 4.5gr for the 200 LSWC. I got these loads from LIProgun right here on TFL and tested them last week. THANK YOU, SIR!

[Monkeyleg]

5.3 grains of 231 with a 230 RN was giving me right around 825fps. With temps now in the teens and twenties, it will be interesting to see what the velocity is.

Dick

[therealkaos]

thanks for all the info. i hope to try some of these loads this weekend. i will let you know how they work out. therealkaos

[Long Path]

Char923's load is a nice light Unique load (I've shot a lot at over 6g of Unique, but I've lately developed a distaste for the fouling of Unique with lead. Great powder, but 231 is so very comparable, and burns much cleaner.

For the money, I like Monkeyleg's load. Feels like full power, shoots easy, cleans fairly easy. If you're just stuck on backing off on the power, you might drop a tad below 5g and see how that works (Say 4.7-4.9?). It's also fairly economical. Some of these real, live combat-ready pistols just prefer to be shot with full-house loads in 'em. I won't practice with less than 230g at 810 fps, as I feel like I need to absolutely maintain my indifference to recoil. (I do shoot thousands of rounds of .22 and now do so out of my Ceiner conversion kit, but when I'm actually going to the trouble and expense of shooting .45, I'm making it count.)

L.P.

[Dr_Johnson]

Last weekend I tried a new target load that I now really like. 230 grain LRN with 3.8 grains of Clays. The recoil was very low. The load was accurate, and had no problem cycling through 300 rounds using a 16-lbs.-recoil spring.

[Mike Irwin]

I use 5.4 grains of Winchester 231 with an NBC 230-gr. RN bullet, mixed cases, and Winchester primers.

Accurate, and pretty close to military hardball velocity out of my Springfield Milspec.

[Jerry Stordahl]

Therealkaos: I use a 230 gr. hardcast lead round nose flat point and 5.7 grs of Win 231. Functions excellent in my Colt Combat Elite. I don't have a chrony, but recoil feels like a factory load.