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Thread: Reloading 45 ACP

  1. #1
    Team GunsNet Gold 07/2012 / Super Moderator Gunreference1's Avatar

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  2. #2
    Junior Member

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    Mar 2012
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    .45 Auto is probably the easiest cartridge to reload. It isn't even particularly sensitive to case length.
    Trimming cases is NOT something I have heard a Bullseye shooter doing. Like the 9x19, if you want that last bit of accuracy, you would do well to use the longest cases you have. Trimming means that you are consistently increasing the head space gap. Most competitive shooters in Bullseye load their .45 lead bullets to almost touch the rifling; however, that is for folks that can actually get 1.5" at 50 yards.
    12 BHN is NOT a soft alloy, particularly for almost any pistol. With the right fit and lube, it is good for 1500 fps.
    All commercial swaged bullets at this time are 11-13 BHN—again, more than hard enough for almost all pistols.
    I even use the Hornady 140gn Frontier swaged .38 bullet in my near max .38 Super loads with no leading.
    Separating head stamps has always been a complete waste of time for any pistol cartridge I have fired, other than 7mm T/CU and possibly other very accurate bottleneck cases being fired at 200 yds. In fact, every time I have compared matching headstamps and really mixed head stamps (not knowing what I was firing until after I had the groups shot), the mixed headstamp groups were always as good, on average, or very slightly better than the matching headstamp groups.
    For most cartridges (not the .45 Auto), accuracy is related to case length (longer being better) and not head stamp. External ballistics out to 50 yds is just not that sensitive to small velocity variations.
    For best accuracy, I go with 231/HP38, then AA2/Bullseye/Red Dot.

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