Hello all. This is my first post. I enjoy reading the different threads here. I've been hanging out in the rafters for some time reading threads. I've been reloading for 30 plus years. I am curious what some of you folks favorite loads are in the .45 acp. I realize this is dependent on the handgun and bullet weight. I have always been amazed how 2 identical guns have different appetites for different powders. I have 2 identical Kimbers in 45 acp and they both prefer different powders for accuracy. I also have Smith, Ruger and a Colt custom. All 1911's. (Smith is my favorite all in all). I have my opinions and favorites spanning many calibers. My question is one of curiosity more than anything. And I enjoy the different answers and opinions.

It's nice to meet you all and it is nice to read different views. Thank you for a great Forum.

Welcome Tom, the majority of my .45 acp loads are GT bullets 225 gr hollow points. I've loaded a lot of other bullets but these are outstanding for expansion and weight retention. These are loaded over 8 grs of AA#5.

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Andy, how much, if any, nose distortion do you get from hitting the ramp when chambering with those bullets?

Hello Andy. One of my Kimbers LOVES Accurate #5. From 185 gr. to 240. My other Kimber loves HP-38. Identical Kimbers. One is my wifes. Thank you for your reply. I enjoy the information and the varying results. Have a great day.

For plinking and general all around use, I like the 200 grain SWC ( H&G 68 clone) over 4 grains of Red Dot. 6 grqins of HP38 steps it up a bit for walking around in the woods and such, and is accurate. Hard to beat the old classic 230/5 Bullseye, too.

Welcome to the forum.

So far I haven't had any distortion during feeding but the only semi-auto I use them in is a Sig P220 which has a pretty high feed angle. Obliviously in my .45 revolvers it's a non issue.

I shoot the Lee 200 grain SWC over 6.4 grains of Unique. I've got a 6 cavity Lee mold. This load is very accurate.

Welcome Tom , the subject of 45 acp loads is near and dear as it was the first auto pistol I started loading for in 1967 with Lyman # 452460 , 200 grain cast SWC . With that bullet , cast of wheel weights air cooled and sized .452 or .451(depends on gun) ... here are a few of my "pet" loads.

1.) general purpose :
AA #5 - 7.0 grs.
Unique - 6.0 grs.
HP-38 - 5.0 grs.
Titegroup - 5.0 grs.
700X - 5.0 grs.
Red Dot - 4.6 grs.
Bullseye - 4.5 grs.

The above are the ones that have risen to the top of my 45 acp experimentations over the years. Cycle reliably and accurate in many different 45's.
Glad to have another 45 fan to talk to .
Sitting on the desk as I type this is one of my favorites ...
a stainless steel AMT Hardballer.
Gary

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NRA Member

My 45's eat my cast 230 gr TC pushed buy 5.5 grs of WW #231.

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S&W Accumulator

5.8gr Unique with a 200gr lswc shoots really good in all my 1911 45s. I can always count on the old stand by, 230gr ball and 5.0 Bullseye. Welcome to the forum!

My usual practice/training load in .45ACP is a cast 200SWC and 4.5 grain Bullseye. This functions well in all of my pistols and is as accurate as I am capable of shooting. Also pretty economical at 1550 rounds per pound of powder and homemade bullets cast of free wheel weights (less than $3 per 50-round box), or if I get too lazy to cast I can use commercial cast bullets and shoot for under $6 per box.

Late to the party but what the heck & add mine.

Range practice and whatever (nice shooting and really accurate in all my .45 pistols):
R-P brass
RMR 230 RN plated
4.5 WST
CCI-300

Self Defense (again accurate but old school bullet):
5.7 W-231
Sierra 185 JHP

There's my 2 cents worth Welcome to the forum!

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Webfarmer

I like 5.0 grs of Bullseye or 4.5 grs of WST using a 230 gr RN cast / plated bullet . That bullseye load has been around for a very long time and is still serving us well . Regards, Paul

Berry 230 gr with 4.4 grs of Titegroup.

My Colt Gold Cup is my most used target Gun and so it has an insatiable appetite. I use 230 grain RNL bullets and 4.5 grains of W231. It is a very soft recoiling, accurate and consistent load that I'd recommend for target work. I shoot at 50 feet both indoor and outdoor and have a few friends hooked on this recipe as well.

230 XTP bullet, 4.5 grains TiTegroup powder, CCI 300 primer. Works well in my Thompson M1, Remington R1 and my Bondarms Derringer.

8.0 grains of AA#5 pushing a 230 grain round nose hardcast.

My standard load is 5 grains of W231/HP-38 under my homecast LSWC from RCBS mold 45-201-SWC that drops at 205 grains.

I have an old HG 4 cavity mold . It looks to be the 200 gr swc . It came complete with handles . Got it from a buddy yrs ago . Looks to be in good shape just never had any desire to use it . Regards Paul

Any worthwhile load has to function (feed/eject) flawlessly. IMO, that's a given. So, beyond flawless functioning, what distinguishes one load from another? For me, it's accuracy.

The gurus of accuracy are the bullseye shooters, especially those that excel at 50 yards. With them, Nosler 185HP's are very popular. I have a buddy who is a member of the 2650 club. He clued me in to the 45ACP load that the USMC team uses to win at Camp Perry ... a 185HP and Vihtavuori N310.

So this past summer I Ransom-tested my bone-stock 1998 Kimber with the Nosler 185HP and more than a dozen different powders, at least 2 charge weights with each. It was fun and informative and I don't regret doing it , but I could have saved myself a lot of trouble and just gone with the Marines' load. With it, I shot multiple groups of 10 shots at 50 yards measuring < 3", and several that put 9 into <2". In second place, just barely behind, was WW231.

With 200gr copper plated bullets, I found WST to excel .... not surprisingly, it's a favorite of the bullseye shooters with their 200SWC's.

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Carry.."hope" isn't a strategy

I have been changing my loads over the last 6 months.

For IPSC competition I now use 5.9 gn W231 under a 200gn plated flat point bullet.p with WLP primers and mixed brass.

My practice load is now 5.2 gn Tightgroup with the same bullet,,primers and brass.

Both are max loads but the TG load barely makes PF (170+) in my Tanfoglio Witness .45 Custom and is a bit softer to shoot than the W231 load at a 176 PF.

For Wild Bunch and Service (a NZ/Australian version of PPC/1500) I back it down quite a bit. 4.2 gn TG under a 230 gn LRN (has to be lead for WB) is a pleasant all day shooting load.

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View from down under

So, Kiwi Cop, Will you be surrendering your match guns to the Crown for destruction?
Used to live in ChCh, but no idea what's REALLY going on there now.

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-jwk-
US Army '72-'95

My favorite 45 ACP load is any 230gr bullet over 5.5gr W231/HP-38 with an OAL of between 1.255" and 1.265"

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Nosler 250gn. JHP over 7.0gns. Longshot through a Springfield XD ... COAL 1.204"

Welcome Tom,

I've got a few 230gn coated RN slow favorites. 4.4gn of Bullseye averages 804fps, and 3.5gn of Clays 675fps out of my ̶R̶1̶ ̶1̶9̶1̶1̶ Shield. Both are as accurate as I can be.

Favorite light and fast 185XTP load is 8.5gn of Power Pistol, averaging 1056 from the R1. Hornady showed 8.9gn to reach 1050 so I stopped at 8.5gn. Going to test these from the Shield next time out.

Yrs ago I used for awhile Ramshot True Blue using a 230 gr RN bullet . They were as accurate as I can shoot . I don't remember the load . It was using current load data . I remember that True Blue worked well for me in low pressure rounds , 38 special , 44 special , 45 Colt and 45 acp . Regards, Paul

200 gr SWC, either a H&G 68 or a RCBS 201-KT over 4.0-4.4 gr WST.

That load accounts for 75% of the .45 ACP that I load.

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Semper Fi

200 grn coated Bayou bullet, federal primers-
Clays
231
n310
Bullseye
Just started hod/winch.244 Very impressed, clean, meters great, not temp sensitive, and accurate. Like I said just started working up loads.

The great thing about the 45acp is it happily runs on just about any powder bullet combo. I like 200gr for general shooting/practice. I have run maybe 8 diff powders, all work to some degree but I always come back to WST. Ckean burning, soft recoil, good loft in the case & its affordable compared to its sim cousin vv320.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

In my plinking loads I use 800x
Not the cleanest powder out there, back when reloading components were scarce I scored a 12 pound keg of the 800x for $5 a pound...I’m still loading 45acp with that stuff!
When it’s gone I will definitely change powder

I load 230 grain RNL, either plain, coated or plated, with 6.0 grains of CFE Pistol.

I cast a 230g TC from a Lee mould and put that over 5.3g W231/HP38.

Gold standard load.

I just started reloading, and loaded up three test rounds with 230 grain Xtreme plated round nose over 5.5 grains of CFE Pistol at a length of 1.210".

All three rounds cycled the action on my full size Colt 1911 and seemed decently accurate at 5 yards.

I'm gonna load a box worth and hit the range and run some drills.

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For now I like 200gr. Lswc over 5 grains of Titegroup. Very accurate. Just purchased 700 Nosler custom competition 185’s for cheap. They seem to like 5 grains of titegroup also. In the past I’ve had success with W231.

Loaded thousands of rounds of hard cast 225 gn Tapered Flat Point bullets on an RCBS Green Machine using 4.5 grains of Bullseye. Worked great in everything from stock .45's, Gold Cup, custom built match pistols to a Thompson SMG.

I am lucky to have a couple of 70s 1911s set up for bullseye. Most any fast powder works for these. I like a flat base 200 h&g 68 but the Lyman cast lead on the top right seems to work better. These are set up for mid range target. 5 grains of Bullseye with a 200 gr lead is my favorite load with other 45s. I still have 4 pounds left from a 15 pound keg I opened years ago.

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Agreed on that formula

4.5 of WST under 230 plated/lead/coated is a go to range load, as well as Bullseye - 3.6 for wadcutter, 4.6 for hardball. Clays was a long time favorite of mine, but since they moved production to Canada, they've changed it and it doesn't perform as well, dropping by about 70 FPS on average, so I need to workup some new data. HP38/231 another long time favorite of 45 loaders, as well as VV N320/340

Welcome to the Smith & Wesson Forum.

My current go to 45ACP reload is:
230 Berry's Plated Round Nose Bullet
5.3grs Alliant Unique Powder
CCI LP or S&B LP primer
Cases: Win (just because what was on hand)
FPS: 800
Taper Crimped

I thought at first the reload was inaccurate until
I had a 1911 Target Shooter/Competitor try it.
It was Accurate. So I keep practicing.

In my circa 2008 Ruger 1911 Full Size 45ACP.

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For an inexpensive plinking load, I've used 200 grain LSWCs with Unique or 231.

For a practice load I use a 230 cast round nose generally loaded w Unique because I load so many other cartridges with it. My goal is a load that hits same POI as my chosen factory ammo.

Pure accuracy loading is a whole different beast. With my current interests I don't worry about that w 45 ACP. If that is on your menu it's probably time to go to a match grade 185 JHP bullet and find which powder your 1911 likes best.

To me a 1911 is a beloved hammer, not a target pistol. Nothing wrong with a 1911 target pistol just not my interest. As I've gotten older I've rediscovered M14s loaded with HBWCs and 22 target quality revolvers. I've developed a perverse joy when teaching new guys to shoot. To keep interest up I like clay birds for targets. Seeing targets break holds interest better than holes in paper for new shooters. When a new guy with his Glock thinks the pieces of broken clays are too small to hit out comes the M14 or M617. I've had several guys develop an interest in revolvers when they realize how accurate those old school revolvers can be.

A 200 gr lead RNFP with 5.5 WW231/HP38 is great out of Sig 22o's, 1911's and wheel guns 1917 and 625-2. I loaded up a couple hundred of the same bullet that were Moly Coated, usable but not as well loved.

My brother has 2 1911 style target 45's. One is a top of the line Kimber, the other is a almost identical Wilson. (one or two steps from the top) The only real difference is the rear sights are of different manufacture. On any given day he will shoot one better than the other! But it is a guess which will do better. My theory is it has to do with the ocular pressure, & blood pressure, and the changes they cause on the eyeball's shape.

I have been a 231/HP38 guy since about 1980, and find that the same batch of ammo will shoot different in identical automatics. My thought is the barrel alloy from different barrel batches is the culprit. I have found that different batches of ammo (change of primers, or bullet weight/shape) will follow the pattern of most accurate gun, but in both 9mm and 45 The gun that shoots the dirtiest will be the more accurate. (same ammo in both guns!) This has been true in Sig 220's, Kimber 1911's, S&W 39-2's and S&W M&P9c's! All 4 examples are of identical model guns from different manufacturing runs, sometimes by several years!

Strange but true, you just enjoy what works in each gun for each shooter, and move on.

Ivan

For general range use, a 230 grain plated RN over 4.7 grains 700-X works really well. I use a seating depth of 1.23" with a .468" case mouth diameter. Feeds extremely reliably in the SR 1911.

Bayou52

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Bayou52
NRA Life Member

I've had great luck with 5.0 of Bullseye in 45 no matter what bullet, 230RN, 185RN and some cast from a friend who made them in the 70s ranging from 200-230. Last week my friend and I shot together with his fancy Wilson and my Colt and we had pretty similar results from both guns and all the different bullets 10-15`yards.

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I was out testing several 45 reloads last week and discovered that this is my absolute best combination to date. I use Bayou coated 230 RN.

Clays and Bullseye come close but BE is too dirty and Clays meters like mud so I'm sticking with CFE-P.

I posted earlier that I like 6.4 Unique with a 200 grain bullet. I'm going to work on reducing that load for practice purposes in order to reduce recoil. Getting to where I don't like my hands to take a beating. My lightweight Commander likes Unique. That's 50 feet, from a rest.

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230 gr. plated RN over 5.4 gr. of HP-38. Runs flewlessly through my Shield.

Scotty