CFE Pistol

[rduckwor]

Finally found some pistol powder and this was it.

Hogdgon lists their starting load at 7.4 gr with a velocity of 1042 fps. Way more than I need. I worked up from 5-7 Gr for my 45 ACP and here's the outcome.



5" SIG 1911, 200 Gr LSWC. I need to make a reliable 825 fps to make power so I am thinking about 6.2-6.3 Gr will do it depending upon temp.

The powder falls between HS6 and AutoComp on the burn rate chart and is a small flattened disc conformation as far as I can tell. Smaller than WST, my favorite, so it should meter pretty well. High energy density and low load density so be careful when loading, depending upon your load you could easily double charge a case.



Seven grains in the pan and the 45 case.

Seems a bit snappier than WST in my hands, but then maybe I was just sensitive today.


RMD

 

[il.bill]

Thanks for the information. Like many, I have been unable to find any of my 'usual suspects' and the Bullseye jug is just about empty. My shooting buddy picked up two pounds of CFE Pistol Powder yesterday, one for each of us. I will be looking at it especially for .45 ACP and 9x19mm plated bullets. If I can find some published loads it will likely also be used to push some lead in .38 special and possibly .44 magnum and .45 Colt punching holes in paper / plinking rounds.

 

[JohnnyRotten]

I picked up some CFE 2 weeks ago and loaded some test rounds using RMR(Rocky Mountain Reloading) 230gn plated round nose bullets. I started with the Lead data off of Hodgdons website, as you should do with most plated bullets.

I loaded 5.5, 5.7, 5.9, 6.1 and 6.3 grains and tested. No pressure issues and all functioned reliably in my XD .45 tactical 5 inch. I loaded to COAL 1.26.

5.5gn was very soft shooting and accurate and the 6.3gn was the most accurate and is soft enough to shoot all day with no fatigue.

I also used to load with Unique and found this to be a much better powder. A lot less smoke! CFE also metered very well in my Lee micro-disk with +/- .1gn on my Lee Pro1000.

 

[Potatohead]

I started with the Lead data off of Hodgdons website, as you should do with most plated bullets.

I could be wrong of course, but I thought for plated you should use fmj data, as long as you stay from low to mid..?

 

[Blue68f100]

All depends on the mfg. Normally you start with lead with the max being Max Lead or mid range jacketed. Rainer says to use Lead, Berry's is mid jacketed data. I don't know what RMR recommends for there plated.

WST is my favorite powder for the 45acp.

 

[Reefinmike]

Thats what they say, but low pressure loads like 38 and 45 I wouldn't hesitate to use fmj data. Heck, Ive pushed xtreme 125gr plated bullets out of 357 cases with h110/win296 with no ill effect.

 

[zaphar]

Xtreme regular plated are for <1200fps so if your caliber does not normally go above that velocity, I do not see why you would need to use lead data.

 

[Potatohead]

That's what I thought also.

 

[ddc]

For column 1 at 5.5 grains: Is 859 the correct number there? Seems off compared to the rest of the data.