Flt Simulation
Member
This is my first post here, so a hello to everyone ... I have a reloading question or two for you folks:
I load only .45ACP right now. I reciently purchased 1,000 "Bear Creek" 230 gr polymer-coated lead RN bullets. I load all my .45ACP with W-231 powder. The problem is that I can't find any load data for this particular bullet anywhere.
Some people have told me that all I need to do is use the load data for any 230 gr RN bullet using W-231 powder ... Well, depending on who makes the bullet, bullet length varies alot from manufacturer to manufacture.
The Bear Creek lead RN bullet I bought is exactly 0.67" in length ... I like an OAL for a 230 gr RN bullet of 1.24" because my Colt Gold Cup feeds this length very good without any malfunctions, and a 1.24" OAL cartridge passes the "plunk test" on my gun really well (see photo below):
Since bullet length varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, bullets of different lengths are going to have a different internal case pressure when fired as long as the powder load used, and the OAL is the same for each of these bullets.
So, my question is .... How do you determine how much powder to use in lets say these Bear Creek bullets if I want to load these bullets with an OAL of 1.24" everytime? ... Certainly I will need less powder than if I had loaded a shorter RN bullet also set to an OAL of 1.24" since the longer Bear Creek bullet will setting deeper in the case.
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Here is how this load I worked up looks in a diagram:
1. You can see that by adding together the length of the case (0.89") and the length of the bullet (0.67"), we will get a total measurement of 1.56"
2. Then we subtract this measurement of 1.56" with the desired OAL that we want (1.24"). That leaves us a bullet seating depth of 0.32" as in my example diagram below.
I was lucky with this Bear Creek bullet in that when I pressed the cartridge to an OAL of 1.24", fortunatly the shoulder of the bullet (red arrows) pretty much aligns with the mouth of the case as you can see by the photo below:
But again, with a bullet seating depth of 0.32", do you think that 5.1 gr of W-231 powder would be a good overall charge?
I guess the proof in all this would be to use a chrono and find out what the actual velocity of the round is ... then slightly increase or decrease the powder load in order to get lets say a velocity of 820 fps? .... agree / disagree?
Thank's for reading all this
.
I load only .45ACP right now. I reciently purchased 1,000 "Bear Creek" 230 gr polymer-coated lead RN bullets. I load all my .45ACP with W-231 powder. The problem is that I can't find any load data for this particular bullet anywhere.
Some people have told me that all I need to do is use the load data for any 230 gr RN bullet using W-231 powder ... Well, depending on who makes the bullet, bullet length varies alot from manufacturer to manufacture.
The Bear Creek lead RN bullet I bought is exactly 0.67" in length ... I like an OAL for a 230 gr RN bullet of 1.24" because my Colt Gold Cup feeds this length very good without any malfunctions, and a 1.24" OAL cartridge passes the "plunk test" on my gun really well (see photo below):
Since bullet length varies from manufacturer to manufacturer, bullets of different lengths are going to have a different internal case pressure when fired as long as the powder load used, and the OAL is the same for each of these bullets.
So, my question is .... How do you determine how much powder to use in lets say these Bear Creek bullets if I want to load these bullets with an OAL of 1.24" everytime? ... Certainly I will need less powder than if I had loaded a shorter RN bullet also set to an OAL of 1.24" since the longer Bear Creek bullet will setting deeper in the case.
_____________________________
Here is how this load I worked up looks in a diagram:
1. You can see that by adding together the length of the case (0.89") and the length of the bullet (0.67"), we will get a total measurement of 1.56"
2. Then we subtract this measurement of 1.56" with the desired OAL that we want (1.24"). That leaves us a bullet seating depth of 0.32" as in my example diagram below.
I was lucky with this Bear Creek bullet in that when I pressed the cartridge to an OAL of 1.24", fortunatly the shoulder of the bullet (red arrows) pretty much aligns with the mouth of the case as you can see by the photo below:
But again, with a bullet seating depth of 0.32", do you think that 5.1 gr of W-231 powder would be a good overall charge?
I guess the proof in all this would be to use a chrono and find out what the actual velocity of the round is ... then slightly increase or decrease the powder load in order to get lets say a velocity of 820 fps? .... agree / disagree?
Thank's for reading all this
.
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