45 ACP Target Rounds.

Boats

I was just looking on Missouri Bullet Co website and I am trying to decide on a good target load in a SWC bullet. I noticed that I could get them for the same price in Brinell hardness 12 or 18 and the other variation is 185 or 200gr and flat base or taper base bullets. There are a lot of choices here. Do any of you guys that load 45 ACP have any ideas what combination would be most accurate? Thanks,
Boats.

geeguy

Many good ones. The 200 gr. SWC flat base for 25-50 yds is a standard target bullet, and most are using 185 gr. HP for 50 yds and the 200 gr. SWC for 25 yds. Clays, Bullseye, Unique, are some of the most popular powders.

I use 4.1gr. Clays, but most use 3.8 gr. for 200 gr SWC.

Some are currently playing with a 155 gr. SWC, but the slow vel. is creang an issue with tumble.

Best of luck.

dcs shooters

Either hardness is good. 200 taper is shot a lot. 231 at 4.5g is a good load for them.

charliemeyer007

I run 230 gr Lyman 452374 cast hard sized to .452 with 50/50 alox/beeswax on top of 231 or bullseye. Many, many 1000's downrange, reliable feeder.

Wait for Perryshooter's input.

perry shooter

I don't know what kind of lube They use. I order Unsized and unlubed
Swagged bullets Hardnest is NOT the key to bore leading. Bullet size
.001-.002 above bore size.
and correct lube is.
The hard wax From something like candle wax that is used by many bullet sellers sucks.I like the long nose 200 grain or the same long nose Hollow point 185 grain. Loaded to Correct OAL for your barrel .010 inside flush to the back of the hood of your barrel with barrel removed from pistol. Taper crimp to case mouth to .469 . In ransom rest testing the flat base will shoot slightly smaller groups maybe 1/4 inch at 50 yards However if you want to load in volume with a progressive press
go for the bevel base . flat base will get deformed if you are not very very careful and then they be FAR outside the group. I load 4.6 grains of Bulls-Eye because it gives the velocity that shoots the best groups In my pistols . If you are shooting NRA matches. use the same load for both 25 & 50 yard . Powder puff 25 yard loads will give you Function problems in Timed and rapid fire unless you reduce the recoil spring If you do that then the gun will get beat up with hotter loads at 50 yards. The side benefit of warm loads is if you ever shoot DCM / CMP EIC matches the transition between NRA matches & the Leg matches will be easier to become distinguished and place in the President's 100 match Trust me on this
"PRAISE THE HARD-BALL GUN"

Boats

Thanks for the info guys and you have a lot of good points there. There are a lot of choices on buying bullets. As Karl suggested I will slug the barrel and find the true size and adjust from there. I hope that the diameter needed turns out to be .452 because it is so common. The lube that MBC uses is the blue hard lube that I am not too crazy about but it works. I do like the bees wax lubes much better because it does a better job. If I have to size them I still have my old RCBS Lube-a-Matic and I can use any lube that I want and the extra work would be worth it. Also thanks for the proven recipes for loads because I know how much experimenting it takes to get there. Thanks again,
Boats.

243winxb

I shoot 3.8gr Bullseye. Lyman 200 gr bevel base at .452" diameter. WLP in Starline brass. Series 70 Colt Gold Cup. This produce 3" groups at 50 yds. Bullets are lubed with 50/50. BHN is unknown, but linotype is added if bullets are undersize from the mould.

WeeHooker

I shoot 4.0 gr of clays under Missouri's 200gr SWC (18BH) as my all round load for target shooting. Very little leading, reliable cycling , recoil is very moderate, powder burns cleaner than most. Don't push the limits with Clays though. It's a fast powder that can get away from you when you try to make it do things it wasn't intended to do.