Help tweaking a .45 load

[Fishersjohn48]

Shooitng out of a Springfield 1911 A1 Loaded. .45 cal 230 gr plated PowerBond RN over 3.7 gr Clays. Test fired 42 rounds today and the accuracy seemed to be all over the place both rested and free style. No consistent pattern of too low, too high etc. just kind of sprayed. iI'm not the best shot in the world but can usually hold tighter groups with factory ammo.

Any recomendations on the best way to adjust? My first thought was to go down to 3.5 gr of Clays and see if that made a difference as the recoil was not as light as I expected from Clays. There were no feeding,firing, ejection problems with this load and the brass was thrown well clear.

I also have some Winchester WST that I could load with as well as some Bullseye.

 

[slimplmbr]

Shooitng out of a Springfield 1911 A1 Loaded. .45 cal 230 gr plated PowerBond RN over 3.7 gr Clays. Test fired 42 rounds today and the accuracy seemed to be all over the place both rested and free style. No consistent pattern of too low, too high etc. just kind of sprayed. iI'm not the best shot in the world but can usually hold tighter groups with factory ammo.

Any recomendations on the best way to adjust? My first thought was to go down to 5.5 gr of Clays and see if that made a difference as the recoil was not as light as I expected from Clays. There were no feeding,firing, ejection problems with this load and the brass was thrown well clear.

I also have some Winchester WST that I could load with as well as some Bullseye.

Parts in red kinda have me confused?

 

[Fishersjohn48]

Parts in red kinda have me confused?

oopa, typo down to 3.5 gr of Clays. thanks

 

[jodus]

i would go up to 3.9, do you have a chrono to check the speeds?

 

[XtremeVel]

My first thought was to go down to 3.5 gr of Clays and see if that made a difference as the recoil was not as light as I expected from Clays. .

You could do that along with a few at 3.9 grains and then see what you get.

Also, you sure you're not over crimping those plated bullets ?

 

[Fishersjohn48]

You could do that along with a few at 3.9 grains and then see what you get.

Also, you sure you're not over crimping those plated bullets ?

No I'm not sure. Just doing a light factory crimp. I'll pull one and check.

 

[msd]

You might try changing powders or primers.

I've got powerbonds 230gr RN, they shoot good in my Kimbers. But they prefer AA2 & AA5 with Win standard primers.

Never shot Clays before so that powder I'm not familiar with, even though I got a couple lbs of it on the shelf.

Try the Bullseye. I'm shooting 230gr LRN, thru my RIA Compact. Found my best groups to date @ 4.7gr.

 

[Skip]

Try the Bullseye. I'm shooting 230gr LRN, thru my RIA Compact. Found my best groups to date @ 4.7gr.

This is the exact load I use for any 230gr bullet, jacketed, plated or cast. I shoot mine out of a PT1911. I shot these groups in competition a while back.

5.3gr of AA#2 with an OAL of 1.250" will work about as well.

Do you have a chronograph? Personally, Clays is not going to find it's way into any auto cartridge I load. Too spikey. Bullet setback will cause some REAL BAD problems.

The other powders mentioned are much more forgiving.

Hope this helps.

 

[Drail]

I happened upon the classic 4.7 Bullseye load back about 1992 and you can't get much better accuracy. 4.7 WST is also great. I think you should bump it up some. You may not be getting any obturation (swelling) on the bullet and the rifling isn't able to get a bite on it. It just rattles down the bore. 4.2 WST is also a good load in my Springfields.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

Well I bracketed the original load of clays by .2 grains up and down and will check them tomorrow morning. Also loaded with some WST but the load data I found suggested 3.7 gr. for 230 plated rn. I might go out and load some up hotter up to 4.2 and see what that does. I freakin wrecked a bottle of Bullseye by starting to dump clays into it. I now use post it notes to remind me what is n the hopper. Live and learn huh?

 

[Aszerigan]

\I freakin wrecked m bottle of Bullseye by starting to dump clays into it. I know use post it notes to remind me what is n the hopper. Live and learn huh?

Bummer, John. We've all done it. I find it's helpful to put the bottle of powder next to the hopper when I'm working. I load over 50 calibers, and I never, and I honestly mean NEVER, have more than one open and usable bottle of powder on my bench at any given time.

It happens, live and learn.

 

[msd]

+1 There Aszerigan.

I think it's happened to all of us.
What makes it even worse, about 3 yrs ago, I had my Lyman DPMS loaded to the hilt with AA2.
Put it back on the shelf.
Got called away from the bench, which by the end, I wasn't able to get back in there till the next evening.
But anyhows, I decided to load up some rounds for a rifle I wanted to play with, got the jug off the shelf
proceeded to dump the Lyman. Looked down after it was emptied out of the Lyman and realized I had grabbed AA5 not the AA2 jug.

What makes it even worse......it was an 8lb keg, I had maybe 2 - 2 1/2 lbs out of.

Expensive lesson learned....now I leave the powder on the bench I'm using at the time.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

Headed to the range now to test the new loads.

 

[Fishersjohn48]

Sunday morning tested the loads and found that the lighter load of Clays was no better but going up to 3.9 tightened up the group considerably. The 3.7 grain WST load is the bees knees though. Soft recoil and dead nuts accurate. 25 rounds through a popcan size hole at 10 yards with a couple fliers that I called as my fault. I was concerned about failure to eject or feed with this light of load but had zero problems. This is going to be my new target load!! Little recoil or muzzle flip=back on target faster FTW!

 

[msd]

Try 4.7gr of BE and see what you think. 4.7gr seems to be the magic load for alot of people, myself included

 

[lon]

... and I never, and I honestly mean NEVER, have more than one open and usable bottle of powder on my bench at any given time.

It happens, live and learn.

I had to learn the hard way...