.45 AR / 452423 Favorite Loads

[ChuckS1]

Just picked up an old Ideal 452423 double cavity mold for my 1956-57 vintage Model 1955 .45 Target (no pre-25 here, thank you ). I'd like to hear what your favorite load is for this bullet with either Unique or Bullseye, preferably, but I also have some SR-4756, Clays (not Universal Clays), AA No.5, WST and a little bit of W231 on hand.

Not looking for loading data since I have plenty, but what your favorites loads are for this bullet. I was thinking 6.0- 6.5 grains of Unique to start with, but since all the current published data is on the, shall we say, lighter side, I'd like to hear what others have to say about what shoots well with some authority. No 650 fps loads, please.

 

[Freischütz]

I use 6.0 gr of Unique for most range shooting. 5.0 gr of Red Dot works well too.

 

[SuperMan]

If you want "warm", use SR4756 starting at 7.0 grains and with a chronograph work up from there. I have loads in my old 25-2 that ran into the 1300s with 185 JHP bullets and almost 1200 with heavier cast bullets.

Bob

 

[Skip Sackett]

I called my 240gr LSWC 45/AR loads; "THUMPER"

I have developed some real stout loads using a similar bullet that I cast from an H&G #502 mold. My mold is more "Keith" like in that it has a square grease groove. It is an awesome bullet and very accurate from my M625JM. It is only a 4" barrel but I have gotten close, real close, to 1100fps with it.

Here is a video of me shooting some of Elmer's 45AR loads from it. He used 2400.



My favorite load though is with SR4756. I use a load from an older manual and have had good success with it. No pressure signs and velocity well over the 1100fps mark.

I'm not going to publish this load as it may send some into "the underwear wadding zone", just look into the Speer #8. Remember, start low, with today's data and work up.

FWIW

 

[ChuckS1]

Is it in Speer #8? I already played with "THE LOAD" in my Outdoorsman and still have all my parts....

Interestingly though, Speer #8 shows a starting load for Unique as 6.0 grains running at 869 fps. My 46th ed of the Lyman Reloading Handbook shows the same load at 750 fps as the max load. Both books say they used a Model 25.

The SR4756 load starts at 8.0 grains at around 968fps to a max of 10.0 grains at 1185fps. Based on my previous experience with the .38 Special, think I'll start quite a bit lower and work it up.

Send me your load, just out of curiosity? Thanks.

 

[Wayne Dobbs]

Elmer recommended 7.5 grains of Unique with this bullet which is probably going to be hard on the equipment. I would think that 6.5 grains would be a good "range" to work around.

 

[Paul5388]

Chuck,

Skip and I both use M625s, so we aren't as concerned as we would be if we were using an earlier model 1955.

I've used the max load of SR 4756 plus a little with a 230 gr jacketed bullet and only got 1150 fps out of a 5" barrel. Using a 255 gr Oregon Trails bullet with 13.5 gr of Alliant 2400 I got just a little over 1100 fps. Dropping this load down to 13.0 gr of 2400 produced 1040 fps.

Chunkum (RIP) asked me to check some 13.0 gr of 2400 loadings with a 270 gr bullet that he was wanting to shoot in his M1917. It clocked 960 fps, but the same load with a 240 gr tumble lube SWC only clocked 910 fps and a 195 gr tumble lube only produced 910 fps.

I think much is going to depend on the bullet and its design as to what kind of velocity you're going to get.

All of those velocities are MV, not instrumental and we did shoot the 270 gr out of the M1917 with no adverse effects.