255gr LSWC in 45 acp

[ljnowell]

I'm not sure why i want to do this, other than I am bored and feel like doing something different. I have some Missouri Bullet company 255gr LSWC and want to try to make a load for 45acp with them. Yes, I have plenty of 45acp bullets, I know these arent the right ones, I just felt like doing something different. The only powders I have on hand right now that are suitable for 45acp are AA#2 and Power pistol, of these it seems that AA#2 would be the best bet. Anyone have any ideas on this? I am wanting to try to get these to feed in my 1911, glock, and/or XD. Anyone else done this?

I have seen load data for the bullet in the case, but those are generally geared for revolvers and have OAL that wont work in the magazines of my autoloaders.

 

[Win1892]

I load those for my 625 Smith revolver but they will not run in my 1911s or my P220

 

[ljnowell]

I am fully prepared for them not to function well in my autos. I am just one of those kind of people that has to try it. I am just curious as to what would make a good starting charge. I was actually thinking of trying like 4.2gr or so. I started with 5.0 and worked up to 5.5gr of AA#2 with a 230gr LRN. I just want to make sure I start low enough, but dont want to pound bullets out of my barrel either.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

The only powders I have on hand right now that are suitable for 45acp are AA#2 and Power pistol, of these it seems that AA#2 would be the best bet. Anyone have any ideas on this?

I have to disagree with using AA#2. I feel it's too fast a powder to get that big hunk of lead moving without creating excessive pressures. AA#5 would be a better choice IMO or use that Power Pistol you have on hand. My choices would be either AA#5 or HS-6 but PP will produce similar results. (I think)

 

[35 Whelen]

Many years ago there was an annual publication (magazine) called simply "45 Auto". One of these published an article on heavy bullet loads for the 45 ACP including bullets from 250 to 300 grs.

If you do this, stick with slow powders. I had some Keith type 255 gr. SWC's and not long after reading the article tried them over somewhere around 8.5 - 9.0 grs. (thinking I settled on 9.0 grs.) of Blue Dot in my Colt Series 70 Gov't Model. I had polished the feed ramp and installed a new, heavy recoil spring. The load fed fine and was really, really accurate. (Make sure to apply a good taper crimp to aid feeding.) I recall it chronographed in the 950 fps range and recoil was brisk.

While certainly wouldn't want to feed my Colt a steady diet of this load, it did no harm to it.

If you'll copy and paste this:

"45 ACP" 255 "Blue Dot" into the Google search box, you'll find plenty of data.

Good luck,
35W

 

[Slamfire]

I had a frame peen out in a new Colt Combat Elite. The problem was early unlock, a factory timing defect, that caused the slide to recoil at excessive speeds. A hard recoiling slide will peen the front of the frame rails.

High pressure will do the same thing and so will heavy bullets.

I would recommend that you shoot heavy bullets only in 45 ACP revolvers.

 

[ljnowell]

I would recommend that you shoot heavy bullets only in 45 ACP revolvers.

Thats what most would recommend, but I am feeling the need to do something a little different. I know its been done before, in fact, I have seen several guys at bowling pin tournaments using 250gr bullets.

 

[dougader]

Speer 11 has data with their 260 grain jhp. I would agree with other posters and don't load max with heavier bullets. You don't want to batter your gun. Plus, this Data is from an older manual and considering how much suggested loads have gone down in the past few years you'd need to be very careful using these loads in your guns. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

Herco:
Start: 6.3 grains @ 775 fps
MAX: 6.9 grains @ 847 fps

Unique:
Start: 5.8 grains @ 740 fps
MAX: 6.4 grains @ 822 fps

800X:
Start: 6.6 grains @ 802 fps
MAX: 7.2 grains @ 864 fps