Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns favorite 45acp plinking load

Need ALOT of practice with my micro. wanting to stick with a 185gr boolit and keep the load light as possible to start with. because as much as I hate to admit it, the recoil is kickin my azz.

what load would u recomend?

5.0gr of W231 with your 185gr bullet. 4.8gr if your action will still cycle.

Is this intended to be your fighting gun?? If so, just get a pair of padded shooting gloves and use full power ammunition. If it is a play gun, then Wade set you on the path of true righteousness.

I am new to 45acp. I just started loading for it myself. I load 230gr. Montanna Gold round nose with 4.4grs. of Hodgdon Titegroup and a CCI 300 primer. Also loaded Winchester WST 4.6grs. with the same bullet and primer. Very soft recoil and accurate in my new Springfield Armory XDM 45acp.

200gr SWC and 5.7 W231. I'm getting close to running out of 231 so I'll broaden my horizons and try something else at that point.

Its kinda an everything gun. Pistols are fairly new to me, an they are kickin my azz. I did fairly well with my ultra carry back wehn I had that, and a single six and a mkII 22/45 I got figured out and have no issues hitting what I'm aimin at.

If I go a few weeks without shooting the 45, my first couple shots hit where intended. Then I catch myself stiffening up, death gripping the gun, slapping the trigger blah blah blah. runnin a magazine through the 45, and then 2 magazines through the 22/45 an then back to the 45 again helps but serious trigger time is needed.

Sounds like a pound of W231 is in order.

Also, was lookin at the micro and how slim the grips are. My ultra carry had some uber thick rubber grips. Seems like swapping grips for somethin a lil thicker might make it a lil easier on my hand? decent idea or am I just tryin to solve my issues by buying schit?

I have wrap around Pachmyers on my Colt/Wilson Gold Cup. Tames the recoil significantly without a death grip.

You do need more trigger time but do you have a high ride beaver tail grip safety? That will also tame recoil.

230 grain FMJ around 830 FPS is the standard. Seeing as how you are reloading I would just back down the speed a little bit and see what happens. You might need to use a lighter recoil spring for reliability but probably not.

I have always been a 230gr Standard Hardball load kind of guy. That is unless I am trying to percision punch paper with a Gold Cup or something like that then I go for the lightweight stuff. Recoil has never been much of an issue with me but I do understand how it is for others. I still like to practice with full load ammo as a rule when dealing with a defense gun. Now for plinking...I am a big fan of .22Lr conversion units just for the cost savings...that way you get lots of trigger time and sight picture time for less $$$. Lets face it I am addicted to the smell of burnt gun powder....and I like it that way...A LOT

not sure of the differences between a high ride gripsaftey and a what ever the oposit of that would be lol. I can talk specs about rifles/dirtbikes and trucks but handguns are still uncharterd territory.........thid is it. Is it the high ride saftey or the other?



Definantly goona snag a set of wrap arounds then. will look Around and see what I can find. Heres the "skinnyness" of what I got now

22 conversion is a cool idea. Didnt know that was available for an officer model though...

I have wrap around Pachmyers that make a 1911 fit like a glove.

6-7g of Unique with a 200g semi wad cutter is EXTREMELY accurate in Four 45 acp's that I have shot them in.

231 and Bullseye are ungodly dirty burning and frequent cleanings are the result of using these powders.

AA#5 is the cleanest burning powder that I have found in the 45 and I have, and will work up a load with AA#5 as soon as the weather gets cool enough to start casting again.

I have shot untold thousands of rounds in IDPA with 7.6-8.0g of AA#5 with a 220g hard cast, and 9.6g of AA#5 with a Nosler, Rem, and Hornady 185g HP.

When you are shooting AA#5, you only have to clean your 1911 every 750 rounds or so, but lubing the slide and barrel is recommended more frequently.



Good luck!

To keep with the 185, back down to min on the AA#5, especially with the micro. #5 is the most versatile and cleanest burning powder I have used in a 45ACP in 30 years. Meters out of a progressive extremely well. Cant go wrong with it.

Swifty

Yup, that safety will put the recoil straight into your hand where you want it. I may not being typing this right so any of you wordsmiths want to jump in and explain it feel free.

Wrap arounds will probably help with that pistol especially as small as it is.

+1.

Never practice with poofter loads in a fighting pistol.

First of all, you might try Federal's 165 hr. HydraShok loads. They don't kick nearly as hard as alot of other .45 ACP ammo and they hit pretty hard.
I like the Ramshot powders, either ZIP for the lightest loads or Silhouette for the cleanest burning ones.
If the 165 gr. loads feel right, try something with a light bullet and as light a load as will work the action.
Ditto on different grips, etc. Pacmeyer even makes a soft rubber main spring housing which helps as well. BTW, their wrap around grips come in different styles and widths.
I don't agree that all practice should be done with full power loads. First, one must "become one with" or develop a setup that feels like an extension of one's arm. That will go a long way to allowing you to hit something when under stress. E

6.0 grains of Unique with a Berry's 185 grain round nose hollow base bullet. Very reasonably priced and headshot accurate at 25 yards.

I load this for a friend's Defender and it is very low recoil and cycles 100%...

Bob

I agree and thats kinda where I'm at. I gotta work through the flinch and figure the gun out. Then will bump up the loads. I curently have the 230gr Winchester PDX1 in the gun. And am pleased with accuracy from the first couple o shots. Then the flinch kicks in and theres really no accuracy to speak of

While lookin for grips as sportsmans today it dawned on me that I dont think the grip screws are goona be long enough with the thicker grips. Guess thats more of a reason to buy from the gunsmith.