BIG FAT WARNING - WHILE THE LOAD I DISCUSS BELOW IS BELOW THE MAXIMUM PUBLISHED BY LYMAN, THERE IS NO GUARANTEE THAT IT WILL NOT BLOW UP YOUR GUN, BLOW YOUR FINGERS OFF, OR KILL YOU!
Hi Folks,
I've been convinced for some time that the 1911 could not be made to shoot with consistent accuracy beyond 100m (110 yards for the metrically challenged).
I have two 1911's that I have incrementally accurized until they shot good enough at 100m to equal the accuracy of my K-22 at that range. Both guns can do that with a 12BHN 0.451 200gr HG68 bullet over 5gr of Bullseye.
I noticed that a large percentage of my fired cases had a smear of lead and powder residue along the side, extending at least halfway down the case. I picked up a couple of thousand fired cases at the range, and saw that a lot of other folks were getting the same thing (to the degree that they were shooting lead). There was also gradual buildup of hard lead bearing fouling in corners near the breech face on both guns. Clearly, something less than ideal was going on.
What I decided was that the 45ACP case had become so sturdy due to efforts to prevent blowout from unsupported chambers, that the pressure generated by common loads is insufficient to properly seal the case in the chamber (of course, a good smith could chamber a barrel tight enough to obviate this, and there are probably tight factory barrels that seal properly - My barrels are both factory match fitted barrels - One from Springfield, one from Colt - They don't seal).
A recent Lyman loading manual suggested that the HG68 could be loaded with up to 6gr of Bullseye without excessive pressure. I decided to go for 5.5gr and see what happened.
First thing to note was that brass was thrown about twice as far as with a 5.0gr load. The gun was tuned to throw 6 feet right and 6 feet back. The 5.5gr load sent it about 12 feet right and 8 feet back. There were no high pressure indications. Recoil was only very slightly more than with 5.0gr and less than from factory ball. The shok-buf in the gun showed normal wear patterns after 130 rounds.
What happened was that the cases now seal 90% of the time, and that I can get good repeatable accuracy out to 200m. I knocked down 2 lightly set ram silhouettes (5MOA) with ~3 foot holdover.
Accuracy at 50m and 100m was superb, with a drop of about 6 inches at 100m when sighted to 50m.
Sorry, I don't have a chrony because I tend to chase the chrony if I use one - It's too much of a distraction for me to handle.
Comments, please. Please try to avoid reminding me that W231 is a better powder than Bullseye. I know it is, I'm just stupid that way, and no matter how many times you say it, it won't make an impression - Did I forget to mention that at 5.5gr Bullseye burns very clean?
Hi Folks,
I've been convinced for some time that the 1911 could not be made to shoot with consistent accuracy beyond 100m (110 yards for the metrically challenged).
I have two 1911's that I have incrementally accurized until they shot good enough at 100m to equal the accuracy of my K-22 at that range. Both guns can do that with a 12BHN 0.451 200gr HG68 bullet over 5gr of Bullseye.
I noticed that a large percentage of my fired cases had a smear of lead and powder residue along the side, extending at least halfway down the case. I picked up a couple of thousand fired cases at the range, and saw that a lot of other folks were getting the same thing (to the degree that they were shooting lead). There was also gradual buildup of hard lead bearing fouling in corners near the breech face on both guns. Clearly, something less than ideal was going on.
What I decided was that the 45ACP case had become so sturdy due to efforts to prevent blowout from unsupported chambers, that the pressure generated by common loads is insufficient to properly seal the case in the chamber (of course, a good smith could chamber a barrel tight enough to obviate this, and there are probably tight factory barrels that seal properly - My barrels are both factory match fitted barrels - One from Springfield, one from Colt - They don't seal).
A recent Lyman loading manual suggested that the HG68 could be loaded with up to 6gr of Bullseye without excessive pressure. I decided to go for 5.5gr and see what happened.
First thing to note was that brass was thrown about twice as far as with a 5.0gr load. The gun was tuned to throw 6 feet right and 6 feet back. The 5.5gr load sent it about 12 feet right and 8 feet back. There were no high pressure indications. Recoil was only very slightly more than with 5.0gr and less than from factory ball. The shok-buf in the gun showed normal wear patterns after 130 rounds.
What happened was that the cases now seal 90% of the time, and that I can get good repeatable accuracy out to 200m. I knocked down 2 lightly set ram silhouettes (5MOA) with ~3 foot holdover.
Accuracy at 50m and 100m was superb, with a drop of about 6 inches at 100m when sighted to 50m.
Sorry, I don't have a chrony because I tend to chase the chrony if I use one - It's too much of a distraction for me to handle.
Comments, please. Please try to avoid reminding me that W231 is a better powder than Bullseye. I know it is, I'm just stupid that way, and no matter how many times you say it, it won't make an impression - Did I forget to mention that at 5.5gr Bullseye burns very clean?
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