.45acp 230grain HP OAL

Dmaxboy08

Dmaxboy08

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I was wanting to know what do you guys seat your 230grain HP bullets at? I got a box of bullets that I dont have any load info on so I kinda shot in the dark with them. they are made by Zero. I started loading them at 1.250 with 4.5grains of 700-X. I do not know if they are really hot or really weak. the recoil is okay and I havent had one jam so far. I run these thru a S&W 4566 and a Springfield XD with no issues. Yesterday I picked up a Remington R1 1911 and these reloads will not run thru this gun. I guess they are to long because the slide will not close all the way.

When i use different ammo, factory 230grain or different reloads that were loaded to a smaller OAL the gun runs great. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Thanks alot.
 
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OK, first things first. Check you case lengths. The 45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth. You need to check your case length to insure they are no longer than .898. Then check that Remington and make sure shes clean inside the chamber. You cant have any obstructions to prevent the case from seating fully. I shoot Colt 1911s and load 230 LRN most of the time. I run the COL at 1.250. If I load 230 grain FMJ-FP bullets I need to seat them with a COL of 1.20 and no more. Without the load data for the bullet you are working with, I would say you need to shorten your COL, if everything else checks out OK. As a general rule you should be OK as far as your powder charge goes as long as it is compared with another jacketed bullet (assuming your bullets are jacketed) of the same weight. Might I ask why you are useing Hi-Skor 700X for the 45 ACP? I have tried almost every type of powder made for the 45 ACP and did not care for the 700X at all. I know loading manuals publish the load data for it, but the only thing I really love 700X for is my 12 gauge shotgun target loads.
 
Jim Kalsem said:
OK, first things first. Check you case lengths. The 45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth. You need to check your case length to insure they are no longer than .898. Then check that Remington and make sure shes clean inside the chamber. You cant have any obstructions to prevent the case from seating fully. I shoot Colt 1911s and load 230 LRN most of the time. I run the COL at 1.250. If I load 230 grain FMJ-FP bullets I need to seat them with a COL of 1.20 and no more. Without the load data for the bullet you are working with, I would say you need to shorten your COL, if everything else checks out OK. As a general rule you should be OK as far as your powder charge goes as long as it is compared with another jacketed bullet (assuming your bullets are jacketed) of the same weight. Might I ask why you are useing Hi-Skor 700X for the 45 ACP? I have tried almost every type of powder made for the 45 ACP and did not care for the 700X at all. I know loading manuals publish the load data for it, but the only thing I really love 700X for is my 12 gauge shotgun target loads.
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Im new to reloading so when i got started the first powder I had was 700-X. I now have power pistol and bullseye. Since I dont have load data for this bullet so when i started loading this bullet i started with 4.5grains and it didnt blow up on me so i just stuck with it since i know its safe.
 
I haven't used your powder, but regardless JHPs in my 1911s will not function with an OAL of 1.25 in. The ogive is much different from that of FMJs, so the bullets are much more likely to contact the barrel throat if loaded to FMJ lengths. I load Zero JHP (among others) and find that I need an OAL of around 1.21 to work in all of my 1911s. Use the "plunk" test to determine what will function reliably in your pistols.
 
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This picture will help you to determine overall length in YOUR pistol:

1911Headspace.png


If using lead bullets, seat the bullet until the base of the case is even with the barrel hood (in a 1911). If jacketed, you MUST allow a bit more clearance (say, .010") to insure that the slide will close.

Dale53
 
I also own a Remington R1 that will not chamber 230gr. JHP bullets that my colts and springfields 45's will. I think the R1's have tighter chambers than the others. I have heard by many here to load all JHP bullets at 1.20 to be safe. So that's what I do now, but I don't load any +P loads for the R1.
 
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Maximum AOL is 1.275". I usually try to seat them as long as possible, keeping within spec and verifying that they function reliably. My FMJ loads are about 1.26 to 1.265, my HP loads (Hornady HAP) are about 1.25. I believe Hornady specifies 1.23 as the minimum with their bullets.

I suggest making a few dummy rounds (just the bullet, no powder or primer) of varying lengths and check that they cycle reliably. I've never used Zero bullets, so I don't know if the Hornady data is applicable.

I load light, mostly for target shooting, so I've never worried much about it. I just figure seating them a little long is better than a little short.
 
I just checked with my outdated loading manuals, I have 17 loading manuals. My newest Hornady manual is from 2003. And no where does it list a COL of more than 1.250, so this trend of seating the 45 bullets at 1.26 or greater is new to me. Now I know that the manufacturers obide by SAAMI standards, and there is some "wiggle" room for bullet seating. I never felt the need to have my handgun bullets shoved into the rifling of my handgun. Lots of rifle shooters do this as it does aid greatly in accuracy over distance as you are trying to eleminate any "bullet jump". Yes I do this with a couple of my benchrest rifles. Whats VERY important is that the handgun operates saftly and functions well so as you have something to work with developing your loads for the firearm in question. Please stick to the reloading manuals and dont extend you COL, especially since it isnt working with your current COL. I also know from experience that non of my Colt 1911 45s will function reliably with a COL of over 1.25. So make up a couple of dummy rounds and drop them into the REMOVED barrel of your Remington and use what fits correctly. Im betting you need your COL at or about 1.20. Bullseye is the right choice for me in the 45ACP. Start light and work your way up, say 4.3 grains for a starting point. Most shooters I hang out with use 5 grains, but I like 4.8 grains in mine.
 
Not all chambers are equal. Some may have a shorter distance from the case mouth to the leade (Freebore?). I use the barrel from my RIA for just this reason. If a round will "plunk" in the RIA it will plunk in my other guns.

1.25" seems awfully long for a JHP. I use that OAL for 230gr FMJ. Given that the round will chamber, the important dimension is how much bullet is inside the case. Unless you're pushing bleeding edge maximum charge weights that's usually not a big deal with .45ACP.
 
Dmaxboy08 said:
Im new to reloading so when i got started the first powder I had was 700-X. I now have power pistol and bullseye. Since I dont have load data for this bullet so when i started loading this bullet i started with 4.5grains and it didnt blow up on me so i just stuck with it since i know its safe.
Click to expand...
You don't need specific load data for each and every bullet you buy. If the weight and profile are the same then you can safely use the starting charge weight for the powder/bullet combination. Of course every bullet is slightly different but that's why we use the starting charge and work up.
 
I've been loading 230gr Zero JHP with 4.9gr of vv320n. OAL of 1.213, using mixed head range brass. It's been run through at least 4 different 1911s without any feeding issues. YMMV.
 
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Jim Kalsem said:
I just checked with my outdated loading manuals, I have 17 loading manuals. My newest Hornady manual is from 2003. And no where does it list a COL of more than 1.250, so this trend of seating the 45 bullets at 1.26 or greater is new to me. Now I know that the manufacturers obide by SAAMI standards, and there is some "wiggle" room for bullet seating. I never felt the need to have my handgun bullets shoved into the rifling of my handgun. Lots of rifle shooters do this as it does aid greatly in accuracy over distance as you are trying to eleminate any "bullet jump". Yes I do this with a couple of my benchrest rifles. Whats VERY important is that the handgun operates saftly and functions well so as you have something to work with developing your loads for the firearm in question. Please stick to the reloading manuals and dont extend you COL, especially since it isnt working with your current COL. I also know from experience that non of my Colt 1911 45s will function reliably with a COL of over 1.25. So make up a couple of dummy rounds and drop them into the REMOVED barrel of your Remington and use what fits correctly. Im betting you need your COL at or about 1.20. Bullseye is the right choice for me in the 45ACP. Start light and work your way up, say 4.3 grains for a starting point. Most shooters I hang out with use 5 grains, but I like 4.8 grains in mine.
Click to expand...

Those lengths in the manual are minimums, not maximums. I settled on 1.26" because I measured some commercial ammo, and that's what it was.

SAAMI maximum is 1.275", so there is nothing odd, unusual, or dangerous seating longer than 1.25". The bullet isn't going to be 'jammed into the rifling'.

1.20" is rather short. My manuals (Hornady 7th, Speer #14) have minimum lengths longer than that. The only data I've seen with lengths that short was the original Alliant data, before they started using Speer data.
 
People need to read the OP's question more carefully. He's asking about the Zero brand hollow points. Take any commercial jacketed hollow point and put it next to any commercial full metal jacket round nose ball ammo. Guess what... the OAL of the hollow point is shorter.
 
I run a Para Single Stack and have had more rounds than I care to count through it with my hand loaded 230 GR round nose plated with 5 grains of bullseye at a 1.20 length.

As was stated, different projectiles will yeild different loads/lengths etc...

Get a few reloading manuals and cross check them all, pick something in the middle to low end and start your testing. I just go for inexpensive trigger time and making sure my rack slides both ways after the trigger is squeezed.
 
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+1 0n using a dummy round in a sized case of proper length. Drawings above are good guide.

I had the same issue with Berry's HP's. I used two sized cases one with a bullet and one without. Dropped the empty in the barrel to see what the head looked like when it was head spaced in that barrel. Then I seated the bullet in the other case to the max that my mag would accept. I dropped this in the barrel and compared the head projecting out of the chamber just like in the drawings. It stuck out further than the empty case indicating the bullet was touching before the case was fully headspaced. I adjusted the seating of the bullet until the case spaced correctly. That gave me the max OAL for that bullet in that chamber. I subtracted 0.015 from this to allow for variation in the bullets and to allow a bit of jump.

The next step was to compare my findings to published data for a similar shaped bullet of the same weight. The closest was the Hornady XTP which which had a slightly shorter OAL. Using data for this bullet at the starting load I loaded up 50 starting 10% below the starting load to allow for the plated bullet versus the FMJ XTP and worked up to mid-range of the XTP load.

I settled on a load 0.10 above the XTP starting load. This gave me good accuracy and my preferred level of recoil. It chroned @ aceptable speed and there were no signs of excess pressure.

Hope this helps.
 
FWIW my R1 prefers Remington 230 FMJ-RN. I can seat these anywhere from 1.20 to 1.26 and the R1 just eats them up without problems. It took a while to figure this out though.

My first loads used Rainier 230 RN. The R1 does not like these at all no matter what the COL. I could never get through an entire mag without a FTF. Tried some WWB and same problem. Was ready to send the R1 to Remington for a once over but decided to try some Remington factory ammo first and got through 100 rounds without a jam.

That's when I noticed the shape of the Rainier vs the Remington RNs. The Rainiers are more "tapered?" and not as round at the nose as the Remington's. Somehow this causes the nose of the Rainiers to get hung up at the top of the chamber at like a 35 degree angle preventing the round from sliding forward into the chamber. Evidently the more round nose on the Remington's prevents this.

So the R1 is still happily at home and reliably cranking through the Remington's. Since I loaded a full box of 500 of the Rainiers I have been giving them to my shooting buddies that help scrounge for brass at the club. They shoot fine out of their Hi-Points.

PS... don't mean to bash Rainier, I have shot thousands of their 38/357s and 40s without any problems.
 
If God and John Moses Browning had meant for 1911's to shoot hollow point ammunition,
they would have invented hollow point ammunition in 1911.

Just my opinion, of course.;)
 
Read "Grandads" reply. Ditto on using Zero JHPs and FMJs. I use 1.210 to 1.230 on the JHPs and 1.250 -1.260 on the FMJs. Works fine with a Glock 36, Kimber 1911 and even a Sig GSR. The Sig, at least the one I owned, is very intolerant to OAL differences preferring the 1.210 on the JHPs.
 
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