The best jhp reside in factory ammo. The xtp is readily available & your m&p should run fine on them. The winchester 230gr jhp is a very good cup/core bullet, if you can find hem. Of course the gold dots & golden saber, but you just dont see them much anymore.
Agreed. I just don't see a reason to use the 230-gr JHP in reloaded ammunition. The price of bullets will drive the cost up over
el cheapo-brand plinking fodder, and there are better options for match and competition anyway.
BigHornDrifter said:
I think I need to shift gears, what is the best component for target shooting? Also, I am new to shooting pistols, is the target and game load as important for accuracy?
A deceptively complicated question, actually. So I'll answer it by sort've not answering your question, and then circling back and answering your question.
I would suggest starting with a simple 230-grain lead roundnose. The 230 LRN will have close to the same shape as the factory 230-gr jacketed roundnose, and will feed reliably without a lot of work and stress on your part. It's also easy to correctly OAL and crimp. There's abundant load data for it, and it works well with any .45ACP-suitable powder. It's versatile, with loads ranging from exceptionally mild, to factory jacketed velocities. And it's cheap--as low as $46/500 (Missouri Bullets), half the price of jacketed.
To be frank, most shooters do not have need of anything more than the humble 230 LRN. It will do anything that most shooters and most guns may ask of it.
For competition, it depends on what precisely that competition is. Accuracy in the way that I think of it is largely unimportant in action pistol sports (IPSC, IDPA, etc). Mostly, shooters opt for whatever bullet weight, velocity, and powder combination gives them the lowest perceived recoil while maintaining reliability and making Major power factor (bullet weight x avg velocity / 1000 = PF). Coated and plated bullets are favored due to their reduced smoke.
In outdoor bullseye competition, competitors generally use one or two of three bullets.
The 185-grain JHP is used sometimes for the 50-yard Slow Fire portion. Fans of the bullet suggest the weight balance makes it more accurate at those ranges, at the expense of increased (and very snappy) recoil. But with 10 minutes to fire 10 shots, recoil just doesn't matter.
However, most people rely on either a 185-gr or 200-gr LSWC for both Slow Fire, and Timed and Rapid Fire (5 shots in 20 and 10 seconds, respectively). Both produce modest recoil at reduced loads, while still being capable of excellent accuracy. Since they're much cheaper than JHPs, most people just go ahead and use the same bullet for Slow Fire as well, usually loaded a bit hotter for Slow and a bit softer for the sustained fire strings.
The choice between 185-gr and 200-gr LSWCs is generally whichever will feed more reliably in a particular gun, which brings me to why I wouldn't recommend jumping into LSWCs just yet.
For one thing, some pistols just don't want to run reliably with them. Mostly, polymer-frame guns seem to detest them. The only way to find out is to look at the feed ramp and magazine if you know what to look for, or check around online if you don't. For another, they can be damn tricky for a novice to OAL properly.
There are other bullets you can try--200-gr round nose, Berry's 185-gr hollow-base roundnose, 200-gr roundnose flatpoint, etc--but those are the big ones.
That said, no matter how many .45 ACP bullets I try, I keep coming back to the 230 LRN.
