Reloading .45 ACP ammo....

Arby

I have been reloading revolver ammo for quite some time but never got around to loading SA ammo.

I have quite a bit of once fired .45ACP brass and will be reloading it as soon as I receive my RCBS Carbide Tapered dies.

If you have any experience reloading .45 ACP used brass I would like to know if you have any words of wisdom for me. Like how critical is trimmed case length...any +/-considerations?

I will check the head space with unfired factory ammo and make sure that my reloads go to the same depth with the barrel removed. I will also only load to factory pressures using 230 grain standard bullet weight.

The brass I will be loading is mostly Winchester and CCI (Speer) with maybe a few Federal and Remington.

A guy gave me some once fired brass that he claims is either Serbian or Russian. Judging from the markings I would guess that they are Russian...anyone know anything about this brass...have you reloaded any of it?

B17-P51

Arby, welcome to the boards. A lot of your questions can be answered by using the search feature located at the upper right and use 45 as the subject and all forums or this board only.

bpost

Arby welcome to the forum!!!!!
The 45 ACP is the easiest round there is to load. You already have the basics covered. I have shot hundreds of thousands of 45 reloads. I have NEVER had to trim any pistol brass. Make sure the odd ball brass you have is not Berdan primed. other than that picking a load will be easy for you.

I like the 230 cast lead bullet pushed by 6.0 grains of unique for a plinking load. The 200 SWC is a great bullet for general shooting and even hunting. My experience with 231 powder was very good with this bullet.

perry shooter

Hello I have been loading 45ACP for 35++ years between 7,500 and 10,000 per year. 98% of my loads have either been 200 Grain lead SWC or 230 grain Ball . I know most people tell you a 45 ACP will head space on the case mouth However 45 cases unlike bottle-necked rifle cases will grow shorter not longer. There will IMHO never be a reason to try to trim cases unless you try to use a roll crimp.MORE ON THIS later. I like to remove the barrel from the pistol and load the lead SWC bullet so the cartridge will drop under it's own weight into the chamber with the head of the case about .010 below flush with the end of the hood of the barrel . This will allow for some burnt powder / grunge / etc buildup with out causing incomplete slide lockup. . when you get this set make sure the cartridge OAL is not too long to load in your magazine.The Bullet shoulder will dictate your head space. As far as crimp if the case length varies then a roll crimp will also vary from not enough. Loose bullet/ too large of a case mouth [:(][V] to too much Buldged case / deformed bullet [V][:(][xx(] However with a taper crimp set so the case mouth is .469 + or - .002 you will have good feeding and good bullet pull/ griping in the case. Look at some of my other post along this subject and they will have other poster's good suggestions. "PRAISE THE HARD-BALL GUN"

Arby

Thanks for the input guys. Glad to hear about the case trimming. I have some Unique and several other powders that I have been using to load .45LC , .38 Spcl and 357Mag in pistol and rifle loads with various bullets and weights. BTW , I think the odd ball brass came out of a Monarch box

My piece is a Glock 21 and I will be loading mostly Hornady and/or Speer FMJ.

I don't think I will run into any problems since I don't load but a grn or two over the mid point between min and max...but it is nice to know that there are folks around here that are willing to help you out if you do have a problem....Thanks Again.

bpost

My Glock 21 has ate about 10,000 or so rounds loaded as I posted.

ww2buff9067

I use 5 grains of 700X with a 230 gr FMJ bullet, and my Glock has not missed a beat with them, nor my Kimber. In the Glock they feel a little softer than a Fiocchi round, and about the same as American Eagle.

Happy loading!

Mike

BTW, just bought 1000 Hornady 230 gr FMJ's from Grafs for a VERY reasonable price....

5mmgunguy

Never need to trim 45 ACP

midnightrunpaintballer

welcome to the forum. i also have never trimmed any of my pistol cases including .45acp. i use a dillon progressive press with the automatic primer feed system. having said that, (this applies to any press with an auto primer system) watch out for the winchester WINCLEAN brass as it uses a small instead of a large pistol primer. most of my brass comes from the floor at the range so there's no telling what i end up with but i don't reload for super accuracy anyways. (i do mostly idpa type shooting) the winclean brass will put a screeching halt to your reloading process when you try to stuff a large primer into a small primer pocket. i havent' had any explosions yet, but it still makes me nervous. good luck


memphisjoe: thanks for the heads up about the .357sig

Arby

Midnight' ... Thanks for the heads up on the Winchester brass. I will keep an eye out for this as I reload. I sort all my brass by MFG and since I also reload .38 .357 and 45LC I have a good supply of both size primers.

I use an RCBS single stage press and prime on the expanding return. The single stage press is slower than what I would like but I have more confidence in the finished product ...probably has something to do with being able to chew gum and walk at the same time..[:D] I'm one of those "Nervous Nellies" that check powder weights every 8 to 10 rounds[:)]

Wulfmann

Unique is a dirty powder as is Bullseye but they both work well in 45ACP.

The only tricky part is getting the seating depth and crimp correct. Do not assume anything. Load 10 and shoot them. Better to be sure and go back and then load on a known crimp and depth.
To much crimp shortens case life and not enough will cause malfunctions. There is a wide enough sweet zone just make sure you are in there before making a big batch

I might add I recently switched to RamShot ZIP powder for 45ACP.
It performs very well but the reason I switched forever is the ZIP is extremely clean.
I now refer to Bullseye and Unique as Semi-smokeless powders.

Wulfmann

MEMPHISJOE

quote:Originally posted by midnightrunpaintballer
welcome to the forum. i also have never trimmed any of my pistol cases including .45acp. i use a dillon progressive press with the automatic primer feed system. having said that, (this applies to any press with an auto primer system) watch out for the winchester WINCLEAN brass as it uses a small instead of a large pistol primer. most of my brass comes from the floor at the range so there's no telling what i end up with but i don't reload for super accuracy anyways. (i do mostly idpa type shooting) the winclean brass will put a screeching halt to your reloading process when you try to stuff a large primer into a small primer pocket. i havent' had any explosions yet, but it still makes me nervous. good luck
I agree, with one exception-if you ever start to load 357SIG, be very careful on length, this round head spaces on the case mouth NOT THE SHOULDER as you might expect.

336marlin

I haven't loaded or shot as much 45acp as Mr. Perry Shooter but I learned the trick of roll crimping them as he has. With this method there is no need to worry about a few thousandths variation in case length. With the soft lead SWC bullet the case mouth is lightly rolled into the bullet sides and the shoulder on the bullet is forced into the rifling leade with the slide pressure insuring "0" headspace(proper OAL is necessary). A soft lead bullet can be used as velocity will probably only be around 800 if you intend to make them to kill paper, cans, & rocks. Only somewhere around 2.8gr of bullseye(don't hold me to that) with the 200gr. lead SWC makes a pleasant load to shoot a lot of.