Home Forums Reloading Handgun Reloading 45 acp COAL

I made my first batch of reloads. I was underwhelmed with the accuracy I got. I used cci small pistol primer, blazer brass, rmr 230 grain RN bullets, and Tightgroup. Book coal was 1.200. I did 1.250. I ran powder from 4.4 to 4.8. All groups were shotgun patterns at 10 yds from a Glock 21, which shoots factory ammo good. Any hints, tips, ect that may improve this? Should I seat deeper?

Next up I have N320 to play with.

Try duplicating the factory ammo that shoots good as to overall length and the amount of taper crimp (measured). That should be your benchmark.
Good luck,
David

This link might be of interest:

https://www.handloadermagazine.com/loading-the-45-acp-pet-loads

That's a good read. Thanks.

Thanks Casualshooter!

How were you shooting these reloads? Offhand? Bench?

How did the recoil feel compared to the factory loads? Was the seating depth in the book for a RN bullet? That 230 gr bullet should shoot for you, something isn't right for sure. I'm guessing they fed ok & the crimp was correct, it should be .470" or close for proper feeding, but you probably have that down.
Dick

Bench using a sandbag

4.4 gave me 2 touching in 2 inch groups. The max load seemed to start bringing them together again but still pretty open.

I went to range today with N 320 and again the max appeared to be the best for group. Im going to load 10 more at max and do seating changes at 1.265, 1.270, and 1.275.

Book has min coal with RN at 1.200 for tightgroup... but im worried about pressure if i seat deeper than 1.250 ish? But with Tightgroup taking up little space maybe deeper is what it needs?

I can not remember the start up batch of reloads for any of my firearms that impressed me with it's accuracy. When I do load testing I'll test find out what length wi;; function through my magazines, using dummy rounds. I use nothing but my cast bullets, sized .452, the primers are Winchester. preferred powder is Bullseye for target shooting, most everything else gets Unique. When I load test for a new handgun I'll make five or six different powder charges using same bullets and length. I set up a Square Deal (Dillion)25 years ago for bulls eye and and another for plinking, and never changed them, except when I changed cast bullet design.

Thanks. Ill continue to experiment and hope I get something that works good.

You did not say what you sized your bullets at. Usually a .451 or .452 will give you good groups depending if you have your hardness soft enough and use a good lube. Good fitting bullets shoot good most of the time. Slug your barrel and you will know for sure what size the gun likes.

Im running jacketed FMJ RN .452 bullets from RMR.

Every gun is different. Most 1911s seem to like the bullet you are using. It sounds like you are working up to it.

Re-read the paragraph about crimp.


Okie John

Got it .470 for crimp. Thanks

Keeping the bullet seated in the brass where you put it is the main thing about crimp obviously. You definitely don't want it to push back in the case when it hits the feed ramp. For some brass, .470 will work while the thinner brass will take more. I crimp at .468. I know other Bullseye shooters who crimp harder than that.

COAL is no big deal, do the plunk test. Take your barrel out of the pistol. Drop the round into your barrel, the case head should not protrude beyond the hood. I usually seat the round to plunk with the case just ever so slightly short of the back of the barrel hood.
Phil

Thanks. My concern was that the Glock 21 I was shooting was not accurate. I wanted to adjust COAL to improve accuracy. I went from 1.260 to 1.230 and it improved much better. My crimp was too light meaning i was crimping to .473. I will chronograph loads once I get accuracy.

Back when I was competing in 'Bullseye ' matches, I'd spend a lot of time talking to the old guys the ones that were the winners of said matches, I was looking for the magic load that would cause my bullets to unerringly plunk in the X ring. Several of them passed on the same advice. Use what ever cases you have, sized, cleaned of lube if you didn't have carbide sizing die, Use what ever primers you had, (in most cases it'd what ever was cheapest), seat you bullets in the case to a length that will feed in your magazines, ( make sure to use the same mags all the time). 4.5 grains of Bullseye powder. This recipe worked for all of these fellows, carried them through the local, state and Nationals at Camp Perry. A couple o them used new mag springs from Wolfe every year. Forgot to add they used 200 grain cast bullets sized .452. I failed to mention that all of the competitors were using various assemblies of John Browning's 1911a1.

All my comments were pertaining to a 1911, I don't know anything about a Glock.
Phil

No worries. I hit the range again and used Clays at max 4.0, put a .470 crimp on them and tested various COAL. All groups improved. I had best accuracy with 1.250 and 1.265. I will most likely use the 1.250 coal. Plan on running these over a chrono. Lee says 732 fps with a 230 grain bullet, but it feels snappy for that fps.