OAL for a 45 ACP with Berry Plated bullet

Geo9547 · Oct 18, 2012

The Lee and Lyman books say that the OAL for a 45 ACP 230gr bullet is 1.275. I am using Berry Plated bullets. I have been loading to 1.26 to 1.265 with 5.2gr of Win 231. The gun (S&W 1911) cycles fine. It is not much more accurate for me than the factory loads I was using. I read in another forum that a OAL of 1.25 might be a better OAL and more accurate. I thought of giving it a try but was concerned about the pressure building up. Also, I am not convinced that changing the OAL will make me a more accurate shooter. I am 65 and not as steady as I once was but hey, you never know. Have any of you seen an improvement with a change in OAL?

George

Granddad · Oct 18, 2012

First, 1.275 is the SAAMI max for the 45 acp, and may not be the length tested.

I'm not a big fan of plated bullets, but that's just me. The usual recommendation is to load them to lead bullet specs (some say split the difference between jacketed and lead). To give you a point of reference, Speer gives a load range for 230 LRN of 5.1 to 5.6 with an OAL of 1.27, so you are in the start range for this load. If it were me, I certainly would not worry about dropping the OAL to 1.25 with the powder charge you are using, and it might benefit accuracy (you won't know unless you try it). If you don't see any improvement, you can slowly increase your charge to midrange or change bullets. FWIW, I get best accuracy out of 200 gr. LSWC bullets.

BlueOvalBandit · Oct 18, 2012

I load just about every 230gr RN bullet to 1.250". The last plated is used were Xtreme's loaded to that OAL over 3.9gr of clays. With plated though use the MINIMUM amount of crimp you can get away with, break the plating and your hopes of accuracy break as well.

Maximumbob54 · Oct 18, 2012

Email them and ask. Plated is usually seated a bit deeper than jacketed. I had to email them about their 9mm 125gr HP bullets and they got back with me not the next day but a day after that. I would rather get the answer from the source.

novalty · Oct 18, 2012

I had really good luck with accuracy in my S&W 1911 shooting 230gr Berry's plated with an OAL of 1.265" and 6.0gr's of Unique, crimped to .471". I tried 5.0 gr. of Winchester 231, but found that the POI was a 1 or 2 lower than with the Unique.

Skip Sackett · Oct 18, 2012

General reloading rule: "Change one component, start at starting load and work back up."
The OAL is ONE component. My official suggestion is to start low and work back up.

My less than official suggestion is that if you aren't reducing more than .030" of length and you are not at maximum load data, run them over the chronograph and see what you get in difference, one to the other.

It has been my experience with the 45ACP and a few other straight walled auto cartridges that more than .030" and you start reducing charges. I use .2gr to .5gr depending on the powder. The faster the powder, the more I go.....

Hope that helps. Bob's suggestion to call is a fabulous one. Call the powder manufacturer too and ask what they say about reducing OAL with the powder you are using. Please report back.

Now, the OAL is not the most important thing when considering increased pressure, seating depth is. That is the amount of the bullet inside the case.

Here is a picture to help you understand. Both bullets are the same weight BUT seated to the same OAL, one is going to have a greater seating depth. Not much different but, different.

OAL for a 45 ACP with Berry Plated bullet

Geo9547

Member

Granddad

Member

BlueOvalBandit

Member

Maximumbob54

Member

novalty

Member

Skip Sackett

US Veteran

Similar threads

Latest posts