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Old October 6, 2001, 07:51 AM   #1
tonyz
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Looking for 45ACP light load

My shooting shoulder's gone bum again, and until the doc injects some more cortisone into it,I'll need to shoot light 45Acp loads. I am using copper Plated 185Gr SWC and 200Gr Swc, for powder I have 231, H.Universal Clays, VV-N3400 also 700X and Blue Dot but I think I'll stay away from the Blue Dot for now.
I have been working on some loads myself but would like to hear about light to very light loads anyone else as used. I still want decent accuracy.

Thanks All

Tony Z
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Last edited by tonyz; October 6, 2001 at 02:19 PM.
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Old October 6, 2001, 09:46 AM   #2
MADISON
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Light 45 ACP Loads

My suggestion for light loads would be:

5.0 grains of Unique

5.0 grains of Winchester 231

Start with 4 grains of Bullseye and move up. Stop when the round cycles the gun.
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Old October 6, 2001, 02:37 PM   #3
grunewaj
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tonyz,
I use Bullseye for .45. For 185 gr. Berry's plated bullets, I use 4.0 gr. of powder. I haven't really developed a load for 200 gr. bullets, but I would start at 4.5 gr. These charges are hotter than loads I've seen for regular lead bullets (3.5 gr. for 180 gr lead bullet). It seems to shoot better than 3.7 gr. with a 185 gr. plated bullet, for example. I don't know why it would require more powder than a standard lead bullet. Has anybody else found that plated bullets need more powder?

Sorry, I don't have any loads for the powders you list.

Hope this helps.
Good luck,
Jim
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Old October 6, 2001, 03:16 PM   #4
bullet44
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200swc/4.1grs of titegroup, best lite load I
have come up with,very little recoil and
super accurate.
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Old October 6, 2001, 07:25 PM   #5
Doug 29
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A year or more ago, a very famous .45 gunsmith wrote a letter to "The American Rifleman" giving his favorite loads and their results. He stated that somewhere between 3.8 and 4.2 gr. of Bullseye, depending upon the gun, he always found the best accuracy using H&G # 68 (200Gr. SWC). His 50 yard accuracy was below 1 1/2 inches for 10 shots, with an occasional gun around 1/2 inch! I found my own "ONe-Hole" accuracy at 3.8 gr. of Bullseye. Very light recoil, yet operated my standard recoil spring (16 lb.) with no problem.
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Old October 6, 2001, 08:38 PM   #6
jtduncan
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Use the current starting load for W231.

Between W231 and TiteGroup, it doesn't get any better than that.

This is for a semi-auto right? Because you can go a good .5 of a grain lower in revolvers for most loads in FMJ. Or even use the lead load data in revolvers.
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Old October 7, 2001, 09:42 AM   #7
tonyz
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jtduncan
Quote:
This is for a semi-auto right?
Yes its for my new Kimber Custom Eclipse II.
I tryed 5.0Gr of W231 under a rainer 185Gr SWC yesterday and it was a good load, low recoil but very accurate. I'll go pickup some more bullseye today and try some of the other suggested loads.

Thanks all.

Tony Z
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Old October 8, 2001, 03:33 PM   #8
HankB
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The "classic" light target load for a .45 Auto is 3.5 grains of Bullseye powder under a 200 grain lead semiwadcutter. These clock out of my Colt NM at about 650 ft/sec. Upping the load to 4.2 grains gets around 725 ft/sec.

The Colt NM I shoot these in is one of the last of the "Pre-Series 70" pistols, which has a lightened slide, optimized for these light loads. But the "hotter" one works fine in my Baer Premier II. (Haven't tried the lighter one.)

I use a lot of 700-X now (use it to load shotshells for trap & skeet; got a good price) so if I was shooting light loads now, I'd try around 4 grains with a 200. FWIW, my normal IDPA load is 5 grains of 700-X with a cast 230, which seems to duplicate ball.
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Old October 11, 2001, 08:13 PM   #9
DugwayDuke
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Jim,

My Speer's reloading guide (#13, page 428) tells me that jacketed bullets produce more friction in the barrel than lead bullets. I assume this means the lead acts somewhat as a lubricant and that for equal powder charges, a jacketed bullet will have a lowered muzzle velocity. I imagine platted bullets are the same. Hope this helps.
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Old October 11, 2001, 09:29 PM   #10
grunewaj
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Dugway Duke,
Yes, I have the same idea. I haven't talked with Berry's about it, but I suspect they really act more like jacketed bullets than lead even though Berry's says to load them like lead. Their plating is certainly much thicker than National Bullet Co. copper plated which look more like what might be called "washed".
Thanks,
Jim
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The government consists of a gang of men exactly like you and me. They have, taking one with another, no special talent for the business of government; they have only a talent for getting and holding office. Their principal device to that end is to search out groups who pant and pine for something they can't get and to promise to give it to them. Nine times out of ten, that promise is worth nothing. The tenth time is made good by looting A to satisfy B. In other words, government is a broker in pillage, and every election is sort of an advance auction sale of stolen goods.

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Old October 12, 2001, 09:22 AM   #11
Steve Smith
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Tonyz, if yo change the recoil spring to a lower one, you can even get lighter loads.
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Old October 17, 2001, 01:36 PM   #12
tonyz
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After many differant test loads, I came up with one that has been extremely reliable and very accurate, in both my Ruger P90 and my Kimber custom Eclipse II.
The load is 4.6Gr W231 under a 200Gr LSWC. Felt recoil is like a low 9MM load. Thanks for the Imput folks.


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Last edited by tonyz; October 18, 2001 at 08:11 PM.
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Old October 17, 2001, 04:22 PM   #13
Keith J
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Pansey load?

I don't have the specifics but I had left some 200 gr lead loaded with 5.2 gr of #5 in my car. The heat melted the lube, spoiling the powder. I used them on a plate match and the velocity was so low the bullets were falling 10 feet short of the targets. Absolutely no recoil to speak of and I could hear the hammer fall.

Out of a std. 16 pound spring, they functioned flawlessly. Thank G-d for a time only score. After missing the first 3 shots, I connected after applying a serious correction and still managed to clean the board with only one mag change. Also thank G-d there was never a stuck bullet in the bore.

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