225gr TC Bayou OAL

[JamieC]

Bought some 45acp from Bayou Bullets for my first 45 efforts, (used Bayou for 9mm, 38spl, .380, all worked well). First loaded 200gr LSWC, 2.250" then Truncated Cone, 225gr at 1.230", (I think Donnie gave me those start #s). The 200gr LSWC were a bit iffy at that length, a little contact from the bullet shoulder, shortened them to 1.240", great. The TCs, no way Jose! Those had to go down to 1.190" to work. That is listed as min OAL in the first couple of places I've looked. Unfortunately, I'd already loaded up some for both bullets BEFORE I actually had a barrel to 'plunk' them in. Fortunately, only loaded 5 for each different powder load, (three each for Bullseye and Power Pistol). Not real worried about .010" for the LSWC as I'd loaded on the low side to begin with. The TCs on the other hand, .040" is a bit more. My three loads for Bullseye are 3.5gr, 4.1gr and 4.6gr. The 3.5 and 4.1 should be ok, not so sure about the 4.6. Has anyone used these bullets and had the same issue?

 

[LiveLife]

As you can see from below picture, I use MBC 225 gr TC bullet (Flathead) at 1.190" OAL (MBC uses Magnus 803 bullet mold and Bayou Bullets may use the same bullet mold).

For my Sig 1911 with very quick start of rifling (almost no leade), I need to use 1.190" OAL or the rifling will hit the shoulders of the bullet. Longer OALs (1.195"-1.200"+) work for M&P45/PT145 and other 1911s (RIA/SA) with slower start of rifling/longer leade.

For various 200 gr SWC bullet (Dardas/MBC/MasterCast/ZCast), I need to load them to 1.240" for my Sig 1911 or the bullet shoulders will hit the rifling. Picture below shows MBC 200 gr SWC bullet.

 

[Dudedog]

Typo on OAL? 2.XXX did you mean 1.XXX?
I have not loaded the Bayou's but with the MBC 225s I found pretty much the same thing as BDS.
I needed to load them to 1.2 to keep both my .45 1911s happy.

4.6 of Bullseye might be ok but I don't think I would want to jump from 4.1 to 4.6 without working up to the 4.6.

 

[noylj]

1) COL is a barrel/bullet issue and you get what you get
2) I have never had to go below 1.200", but I don't have your gun
3) you work up loads to see what works in your gun. If you look at different manuals, you'll find max charge weight all over the place, as no two manuals used the same gun, same lot of powder, same lot of bullets (or even the same bullet, generally), the same cases or the same primers.
Looking at my manuals, start loads for 200gn lead bullets and Bullseye range from 3.1-4.9gn and MAX loads range from 4.6-6.6gn—all pressure tested and absolutely correct for the gun and component mix used.
Now, if it was me, I would load 3.5, 3.8, 4.1, 4.4 to start (I like 4-5 increments from start to max, with 10-rounds each for two 5-shot groups), and only go up higher if my gun wasn't functioning 100% and accuracy seemed to be improving as I worked the charge weight up. I would NOT be worried about the COL, provided it was as long as my gun would handle, as that is what the load work-up is about.
4) I have only seen relatively small changes in velocity from the normal range of COL and never anything catastrophic.

 

[JamieC]

Typo on OAL? 2.XXX did you mean 1.XXX?
I have not loaded the Bayou's but with the MBC 225s I found pretty much the same thing as BDS.
I needed to load them to 1.2 to keep both my .45 1911s happy.

4.6 of Bullseye might be ok but I don't think I would want to jump from 4.1 to 4.6 without working up to the 4.6.

Yep, I guess from loading 223 earlier, the number stuck, fixed it in the post, thanks. I'll put another 'step' or two in getting up to 4.6gr.
bds, thanks, you're right on the money! Those pics are me exactly, (except mine are coated, lol), good to know that I figured it out and with help from this forum.