SR7625, 200gr 45ACP Loads

[Skip Sackett]

I cast up some 200gr LSWCs from my H&G #68 4 cavity mold awhile back. (I owe someone some of them too, this week!)

I shot them the same day I cast them and noticed I had some leading in firearms I have never had any in before. I did make them a tad harder than normal but not real hard, around 15BHN or so. The only thing I forgot was that they take a while to get there. After letting them sit for a couple of weeks and shooting them today, I was back to the "leading free" zone!

What I wanted to do was get this bullet into the 800fps area. The load I shot today was just under that though.

I did find an interesting item though. The Speer #8 is a "WEENY BOOK" when it comes to this bullet with SR7625.

Current data from the Hodgdon site lists 6.2gr as a starting load and the Speer #8 lists 6.0gr as a MAXIMUM LOAD! What a 'WEENY" manual!

The maximum from Hodgdon has 6.9gr with a velocity of 952fps. Their 6.2gr data says 836fps and that would be pretty close to what I would think I would get had I used that load.

What I did instead was used the maximum load from the Speer #8 for this bullet/powder combination, here are my results:

From my M625JM
Low 739.1fps
High 802fps
Avg 766.2fps
ES 63.25fps
SD 31.25fps

From my PT1911
Low 761.7fps
High 800.2fps
Avg 781.1fps
ES 38.5fps
SD 15.05fps

I have always gotten better numbers from the Taurus. Accuracy in each firearm though was superb. I didn't put them on paper, no need to as I am not planning on using this load for anything in the future. I just had some free time and this partial can of SR7625 sitting around and thought I would head to the range!

You want to know how I know they were accurate? I used a "fun" accuracy criteria, "minute of plastic bottle" accurate.

My wife gets me "Powerade Zero" for my lunch everyday. I was wondering what good those bottles would be good for, so I found a use for them! Now, these bullets were accurate enough from each firearm to put a second hit on a bottle as it was still in the air. Good enough!

They were a pretty clean load too. I think it would really clean up good as the charge weight was increased. I just don't need a 200gr bullet going any faster than this from these firearms.

I haven't had any reports for awhile so I thought I should get busy!

 

[dennis40x]

From my edition of the Speer number 7.9 manual there is load data that'll light up your life. As much as I would like to pass on that information I hesitate on the advice of my attorney Algonquin J. Calhoun III.

In my really serious days of Bullseye shooting experimented with different powders of which one was SR-7625. Reviewing my notes neither my Clark nor Pachmayr purpose built 1911 pistols showed accuracy potential with SR-7625. Venturing into "Combat" match shooting days before the dawn of "Race Guns" I did use SR-7625 for a period of time but for what ever reason stopped using it. (Most likely being cheap used up the remaining stock of SR-7625 and moved on)

This is not to say that SR-7625 is a poor choice. For my application it didn't work out. For others it's a different story.

 

[OKFC05]

I've always kept SR7625 around for particular 16ga and 20ga Federal hull heavy loads, so naturally I had to also run it through my pistol loads at least once.

Works fine, accuracy about like what I expect from HP38. The HP38 is cheaper and more available around here.

 

[H Richard]

If you're loading up to over 900 fps with a 200 gr. be sure you're using a heavier recoil spring, between 18 and 20 lb. Otherwise you may be excessively battering your slide & frame.