185 gr bullets in Kimber Compact

[BobRowe]

I have been testing my relatively new (4 months old) Kimber Compact with some of my handloads that have worked will with two other .45 -- my Kimber Gold Match and my Ruger P97.

My 185 gr load doesn't work will full reliability in the Compact. Once or twice every 50 rounds, the fired case will fail to fully eject. This happend with Kimber, McCormick, and WIlson mags. This load uses 6.0 gr of W231 and goes about 900 fps. My hadnloads using 200 gr and 230 gr bullets function fine in the Compact, as do all factory loads.

Is it possible that this 185 gr load is too light to reliably function in the Compact, which has a heavier recoil spring that the other two guns? If that's the case, what's a reasonably heavty load with the 185 gr bullets. I have about 700 of these bullets left, and I want to use them up. I need a load using either W231 or WSF.

Thanks.

[riverdog]

FWIW, my Kimber Compact works great with Black Hills 185 JHP's. KC is box stock.

[BobRowe]

Riverdog,

My KC works fine with all factory ammo. I suspect that my 185 gr handloads are a little light on powder. They work OK in my Gold Match, but that only has a 16-lb recoil spring, whereas my Compact has the 22-lb spring.

Someone on another forum also uses W231 with their 185 gr handloads, but they use a different charge. I guess I need to break out my chronograph and load up several loads that vary by two-tenths of a charge and try them all out.

[weldonjr2001]

I'm certainly no expert on 1911 types but generally you should be able to tell by how far the exracted case is ejected if your recoil spring is of the proper strength for the load in question. If the empty is just dropping a foot or 2 to the right or rearwards, I'd say your recoil spring is too strong for that load. I switch between +P and non-+P in a couple of autos and determined the strength recoil springs I'd need by making sure the empties ejected at least 5 or 6 feet away. Good luck.

[WESHOOT2]

Power Pistol under 185g; still recommend 230g in .452"- bore.

Gold Dot, Hydra-Shok, SXT, Golden Saber (my personal non-L.E. fav).

[tonyz]

Here's my $.02

With W-231 loads I use 6.6Gr with an oal of 1.210 this The Speers 14th Manual has 7.2 as max load for W-231, 185Gr
load.

here is a link to a good reloading page.

http://www.reloadammo.com/45loads.htm


Tony

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[BobRowe]

Tony,

Thanks a lot for the info. I'll check out. My Speer manual (12th Edition) lists 7.3 gr of W231 aws max for their 185 gr Gold Dot bullet, which is the type I'm using. So I have some room to increase from my 6.0 gr. I looked in several manuals and found that the rounded JHP like Gold Dots have a considerably higher max powder load than the jacketed SWC 185 gr bullets. Probably has to do weith bearing surface on the driving band. Thanks for the info.