[yep380]

I picked up two 45 cal molds in this past year and finally got a chance to cast with one of them this past weekend. It's a LEE 452-200-rf: Lee 6-Cavity Bullet Mold 452-200-RF 45 ACP 45 Auto Rim 45 Colt (Long

I'd like to run these through my G30 gen 4 and SA XDS 45. If we could not have a discussion about running cast bullets through a Glock in this thread, that would be great.

After powder coating, I found they measured about .454-.455, so I ran them through a LEE sizer and they are now .452.

Weight wise, I'm finding them to be a consistent 215gr +-2g (more - than plus).

In figuring out the OAL, I'm finding they DO NOT plunk at 1.20" at all. I have to shorten them down to 1.125" to get the bullet off the rifling and headspace off the case mouth. This is in both the G30 and SA 45 barrels (I've found these two to have very similar chambers).

Question: does 1.125" seem excessively short to anyone? The SAAMI min spec is 1.190", however I've seen OAL mentioned in books (lyman?) down to 1.170". The bullet measures .530" from nose to base.

Next is powder selection: I've got some autocomp, clays, and CFE pistol, but I've got tons of titegroup, and I'd rather use the titegroup that I've got a good supply of. My experience with titegroup is it's very "spiky" and I'm concerned about using it in what I'm perceiving to be a tighter than normal cartridge space.

Any thoughts on powder to use for this load?

 

[yep380]

I thought a picture might help here. On the left is a 200gr plated round at 1.24" OAL, on the right is the powder coated cast LEE bullet in question at 1.125" OAL.

As you can see, there is going to be slightly less case volume with the slightly heavier, but shorter cast bullet. Doing the math, it looks like we're looking at about .01" of an inch less case volume, more or less depending on the actual case.

 

[LaneP]

I have the 250 gr version of that bullet for .45 Colt BP loads

If it were me in that situation I would probably just seat where it needs to be to chamber properly and work up off the starting loads. The shortest COL I have for .45 ACP is when I use a commercial cast 225 gr FP (on right) in my Ruger SR 1911 with an Ed Brown match bbl, at 1.200". Any longer and I get out-of-battery's.

The only powder you've got that I also use is CFE-P. For .45 ACP I use a lot of Bullseye, Unique, WST and W231. For some reason haven't worked up anything with CFE-P, but shoot that in 9mm a lot. Someone will no doubt be along with good load data for those powders.

 

[Collo Rosso]

If it feeds reliably at that OAL, you should be good to go. No experience with titegroup, but I'd give it a go with WST.

 

[yep380]

Well guys, after reviewing several sources, I came up with what I considered a safe starting load of titegroup: 4.6gr. OAL was 1.125". These bullets are weighing in at 215gr, so I considered that when coming up with a starting load.

I built 5 rounds with those specs and ran them through my SA 45 Mod2 with its 3.3" bbl. My chronograph recorded a low/high/avg of 726/744/735. Felt recoil was good, brass ejected positively, gun cycled reliably. The brass showed no signs of overpressure. There was a slight bit of black/grey charring on the sides of the two cases I recovered. I see this with titegroup in 9mm too. Although this would usually indicate an underloaded round, I don't believe this to be the case. Accuracy was good, great actually. There was no signs of leading in the barrel (I would hope not, I only shot 5 rounds!).

I might increase the load up 1/10 of a grain and run another 10 to see where I'm at. I'm pretty happy with the results as-is though. I'll also try them in the G30 next.

 

[fredj338]

YEs they will be vert short OAL. The ogive is pretty fat & if the bbl has a short throat, you will need to seat deeper. Mine come out about 208gr. With that huge flat nose, they are very accurate, terrific on things like bowling pins & small game. If you use 230gr LRN data you should be fine. I dont shoot TG so no help there.

 

[yep380]

Hand weighed 20 rounds at 4.7gr (titegroup) and ran them through my G30.

Every round but two ran between 780 and 790 FPS. One round was 720(?) and another was just over 800.

No failures to feed and the brass looked clean with no pressure signs. Ejection was consistent.

I could probably bump the load up one more 1/10, but I’m not going to. I know I could get some variance in bullet weight or powder charge and be OK with this load.

 

[LaneP]

Hand weighed 20 rounds at 4.7gr (titegroup) and ran them through my G30.

Every round but two ran between 780 and 790 FPS. One round was 720(?) and another was just over 800.

No failures to feed and the brass looked clean with no pressure signs. Ejection was consistent.

I could probably bump the load up one more 1/10, but I’m not going to. I know I could get some variance in bullet weight or powder charge and be OK with this load.

Good info. I like shooting 200-225 cast about 770-790 fps out of my 4.25" 1911 and they are accurate and easy shooting. Good stuff.