On a whim, I decided to load up a few .45 ACP cartridges with Trailboss, just to see what it's like, my object, to create a lightweight "powderpuff" round for introducing new shooters to the .45 ACP cartridge, and then a max load to see what a heavy TB load shoots like
"Powderpuff" load was 3.5Gn of TB under a 200Gn LSWC
"Full Power" load was 5.5Gn TB under the same 200Gn LSWC
The full power load almost filled up the case, and looked like it would be slightly compressed, if anything, I was more concerned with the max loads
When at the range, I loaded up the Powderpuff loads and shot a mag of 8, for some reason, my Kimber Custom II 1911 had a very "snappy" recoil with this load, a lot of muzzle flip, but very little recoil, it actually felt like a 9mm recoil impulse, the powderpuff rounds were decently accurate, but due to the flippy recoil impulse, these would not be good introduction loads for novices
There were no overpressure signs on the brass, everything looked normal
I then loaded up one of my four Max TB loads, loaded it singly in the mag, just in case the gun suffered a catastrophic failure (what, me, paranoid?.......who wants to know!)
I pulled the trigger, and was stunned, this was actually a nice, pleasant load to shoot, the recoil impulse was straight back, and was quite mild, these Max TB loads actually shot *easier* than the Powderpuffs, I would actually feel far more comfortable having a novice shoot my Max TB rounds instead of the "powderpuff" rounds
Compared to my standard 5.1Gn W231 loads, the 5.5Gn TB rounds had almost half the recoil
It makes no sense to me that the "powderpuff" rounds would have a harsher/flippier recoil impulse than either my Max TB loads, or even my midline W231 loads....
I've also been noticing an interesting side-effect of reloading, ever since I got my Lee hand-press, I've been collecting brass for calibers I don't even own, today, when I went to throw out my paper targets, I found someone had thrown out a box of 9mm, fired brass still in the original Federal box, they didn't bother to dump the empties in the brass recyling bin, they just threw away perfectly good, reloadable brass, maybe because they shot it through a Glock (had the square Glock firing pin imprint on the primer) and thought they couldn't reload it
Last week, I picked up a set of Lee 44-40 dies so I could reload for Dad's old Winchester 92 lever (it was cheaper than buying myself a levergun)
Before I had the hand press, I only had a Pro 1000 set up for .45ACP and a couple Lee Loaders (.30-06 and .45LC), at that point, I was only reloading for those calibers, and felt no need to collect any additional brass that wasn't .45ACP or LC, as I didn't have the ability to reload it anyway, since getting the hand press and .45LC dies, I've been collecting brass in calibers I don't own, because even though I don't currently have a 9mm pistol, all I need is a set of dies for 9mm and I'll be able to load ammo for it, and have a reason to buy one
I've also started collecting .38SPL/.357Mag, and .40S&W brass, now that I have the potential ability to reload it, "I don't have the ammo for it" is no longer an excuse to not buy a new gun
That said, I would prefer to keep my component supplies as simple as possible, limit myself to large pistol/rifle primers, and bullets that can be used in multiple guns (I use 200Gn .452 LSWC in both my .45ACP and .45LC reloads, my Ruger NMBH .45 Convertible uses .452 bullets), so I'm not sure if I *will* reload 9mm/.38/357/.40S&W, as I'd have to stock Small Pistol primers
"Powderpuff" load was 3.5Gn of TB under a 200Gn LSWC
"Full Power" load was 5.5Gn TB under the same 200Gn LSWC
The full power load almost filled up the case, and looked like it would be slightly compressed, if anything, I was more concerned with the max loads
When at the range, I loaded up the Powderpuff loads and shot a mag of 8, for some reason, my Kimber Custom II 1911 had a very "snappy" recoil with this load, a lot of muzzle flip, but very little recoil, it actually felt like a 9mm recoil impulse, the powderpuff rounds were decently accurate, but due to the flippy recoil impulse, these would not be good introduction loads for novices
There were no overpressure signs on the brass, everything looked normal
I then loaded up one of my four Max TB loads, loaded it singly in the mag, just in case the gun suffered a catastrophic failure (what, me, paranoid?.......who wants to know!)
I pulled the trigger, and was stunned, this was actually a nice, pleasant load to shoot, the recoil impulse was straight back, and was quite mild, these Max TB loads actually shot *easier* than the Powderpuffs, I would actually feel far more comfortable having a novice shoot my Max TB rounds instead of the "powderpuff" rounds
Compared to my standard 5.1Gn W231 loads, the 5.5Gn TB rounds had almost half the recoil
It makes no sense to me that the "powderpuff" rounds would have a harsher/flippier recoil impulse than either my Max TB loads, or even my midline W231 loads....
I've also been noticing an interesting side-effect of reloading, ever since I got my Lee hand-press, I've been collecting brass for calibers I don't even own, today, when I went to throw out my paper targets, I found someone had thrown out a box of 9mm, fired brass still in the original Federal box, they didn't bother to dump the empties in the brass recyling bin, they just threw away perfectly good, reloadable brass, maybe because they shot it through a Glock (had the square Glock firing pin imprint on the primer) and thought they couldn't reload it
Last week, I picked up a set of Lee 44-40 dies so I could reload for Dad's old Winchester 92 lever (it was cheaper than buying myself a levergun)
Before I had the hand press, I only had a Pro 1000 set up for .45ACP and a couple Lee Loaders (.30-06 and .45LC), at that point, I was only reloading for those calibers, and felt no need to collect any additional brass that wasn't .45ACP or LC, as I didn't have the ability to reload it anyway, since getting the hand press and .45LC dies, I've been collecting brass in calibers I don't own, because even though I don't currently have a 9mm pistol, all I need is a set of dies for 9mm and I'll be able to load ammo for it, and have a reason to buy one
I've also started collecting .38SPL/.357Mag, and .40S&W brass, now that I have the potential ability to reload it, "I don't have the ammo for it" is no longer an excuse to not buy a new gun
That said, I would prefer to keep my component supplies as simple as possible, limit myself to large pistol/rifle primers, and bullets that can be used in multiple guns (I use 200Gn .452 LSWC in both my .45ACP and .45LC reloads, my Ruger NMBH .45 Convertible uses .452 bullets), so I'm not sure if I *will* reload 9mm/.38/357/.40S&W, as I'd have to stock Small Pistol primers
