Help me understand the OAL of 45 ACP. Recently acquired a Wilson Combat and was reading thru the owners manual for recommended loads. It states 1.25 OAL. Seems like the bullets are not seated deep enough.
Hornady 200 gr XTP's (.583 OAL)
Berry's 200 gr Round Shoulder (.506 OAL)
Berry's 200 gr Target HP (.531 OAL)
I think this may help you approach .45ACP reloading simpler and easier - Consider Hollow Point/Truncated Cone/Semi Wad Cutter and Flat Point (In your case Round Shoulder) as RN bullets with either tip cut off or material removed from the contact points that RN bullet makes when it bumps the feed ramp and the chamber wall.
Take a comparison look below at FMJ/RN profile of factory PMC/CCI and Berry's reload along with HSM HP bullet that has RNFP profile. Notice the HP with rounded shoulders have the same profile as the FMJ/RN bullets but just with the tip cut off? Notice how short the OAL is to maintain the same profile above the case mouth as the FMJ/RN bullets?
If you look at below picture, you will notice the RNFP bullet on the right is also loaded to short OAL but is essentially RN bullet with tip cut off. As to Truncated Cone/Semi Wad Cutter profile bullets, imagine a RN profile superimposed behind the TC/SWC profile but material removed from the contact points. As you saw from above picture of different FMJ/RN bullets, you will notice not all RN profile bullets have the same exact profile we call "ogive" (different roundness and length of bullet) and depending on where the contact point is of particular RN profile, determines the nose length and width of HP/TC/SWC profile bullets.
And when many reloaders mention loading SWC with shoulders (Bearing surface of bullet base that engages/rides the rifling) about "thumbnail" thickness above the case mouth, that's because 1/32nd of an inch above the case mouth is how the SWC bullet profile is typically designed to duplicate the RN contact points. Look at below comparison picture of 2 different SWC nose profile bullets and you will notice the bullet on the left with much shorter OAL is essentially SWC bullet on the right with more of nose cut off.
And not all HP bullets have Truncated Cone profile. Take a look at Remington Golden Saber HP bullet below and you will notice it has rounded shoulders that more or less replicate longer RN profile with tip cut off.
So for my load development, regardless of bullet type/profile used, I use the following steps with dummy round (no powder, no primer) to determine the max OAL first then working OAL for my powder work up:
- Then using max OAL, feed the dummy round from the magazine and release the slide without riding it.
- If the dummy round won't feed reliably, incrementally decrease the OAL (say by .005") until it does. This is your "working OAL".
And once you determined the working OAL, you can reference available published/online load data to conduct your powder work up.
While powder manufacturers provide current online load data, I like referencing Speer online load data as it contains start/max charges for many different powders -
https://www.speer-ammo.com/reloading/handgun
Here's Speer load data for 200 gr plated/HP bullets -
https://www.speer-ammo.com/download...iber_451-454_dia/45_Automatic_200_TMJ_SWC.pdf
And Speer load data for 200 gr lead SWC bullet -
https://www.speer-ammo.com/download...n/45_caliber_451-454_dia/45_Auto_200_LSWC.pdf
As to limiting yourself only to large flake powders like Unique and Red Dot/Promo to prevent a double charge, I would caution as a double charge of Unique for 200 gr LSWC will not overflow the case. Instead, I prefer to utilize safe reloading practice that will prevent a double charge regardless what powder I am using.
And if you are looking at Vihtavuori powders like N320, consider Alliant Sport Pistol which is around comparable burn rate but burns cleaner at much cheaper price -
file:///home/chronos/u-cb07b9aa1a32fb243c11b4084eb32eda82f2081f/MyFiles/Downloads/Sport%20Pistol%20performance%20info%20for%20SHOT%20011017.pdf
Sport Pistol is cut extruded powder like N320 but cut shorter. But since granule size is more uniform than flattened ball powder W231/HP-38, it actually meters better. While W231/HP-38 meters with around .1 gr variance for me, Sport Pistol meters better with less than .1 gr variance -
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/c-h-502-micrometer-powder-measure-10-drops.834894/
And if you are looking for higher velocity loads for HP bullets, I have used WSF for decades to produce full power/duplicate factory JHP loads but in recent years, switched to Alliant BE-86 due to greater accuracy powder produced. BE-86 has similar small flake granules as Bullseye powder.