oal on 45 acp

zcowey · July 8, 2010, 02:18 PM

i'm relativley new to reloading and my springfield 1911 is giving me headaches on the headspace gauging... as far as i've been told i am to use the barrel to check headspace by placing round in the back, then inverting the barrel with the round falling out if correct? if this so, then my oal is considerably shorter than the min. oal provided with the dies... and what is a medium load to shoot 230 gr. bullets using unique powder?

slammedsi · July 8, 2010, 02:40 PM

on both my kimber and auto ordnance i put the bullet at 1.260, and when using unique i load at 6.3 and a 230gr round nose. i have loaded up to 7.0 using unique.

zcowey · July 8, 2010, 02:57 PM

ok thanks for the reply, and a quick question regarding the barrel test... should the round fall out of the barrel freely? and if not will the gun cycle and function

Jumping Frog · July 8, 2010, 04:33 PM

Take a look at:

The cartridge length also depends on the bullet profile. The range mentioned above usually works fine for standard FMJ round nose bullets. However, you change your cartridge length if you are using SWC, Truncated Cone, or any other profile that has the driving band above the case rim.

July 8, 2010, 02:18 PM	#1
zcowey Junior Member Join Date: June 29, 2010 Posts: 13	oal on 45 acp i'm relativley new to reloading and my springfield 1911 is giving me headaches on the headspace gauging... as far as i've been told i am to use the barrel to check headspace by placing round in the back, then inverting the barrel with the round falling out if correct? if this so, then my oal is considerably shorter than the min. oal provided with the dies... and what is a medium load to shoot 230 gr. bullets using unique powder?

July 8, 2010, 02:40 PM	#2
slammedsi Senior Member Join Date: January 23, 2010 Location: Vernon Texas Posts: 474	on both my kimber and auto ordnance i put the bullet at 1.260, and when using unique i load at 6.3 and a 230gr round nose. i have loaded up to 7.0 using unique.

July 8, 2010, 02:57 PM	#3
zcowey Junior Member Join Date: June 29, 2010 Posts: 13	ok thanks for the reply, and a quick question regarding the barrel test... should the round fall out of the barrel freely? and if not will the gun cycle and function

July 8, 2010, 04:33 PM	#4
Jumping Frog Member Join Date: January 24, 2009 Posts: 64	Take a look at: The cartridge length also depends on the bullet profile. The range mentioned above usually works fine for standard FMJ round nose bullets. However, you change your cartridge length if you are using SWC, Truncated Cone, or any other profile that has the driving band above the case rim.