Reloading for the 1911

[darkroomdan]

My question is: Does the burn rate of the powder have an effect on the way the system works?

Many years ago when I reloaded .45 acp for my first 1911, I used Unique and was pretty satisfied with the results. I changed over to loading mostly revolvers in the in between years, but have got the .45 stuff back out due to the cost and lack of availability of factory stuff. I could still go with Unique now, but in reloading for other calibers, I have been using several others powders. I noticed that in the most recent Lyman reloading manual it lists powders from Bullseye and Reddot on the fast end up to HS6 and Bluedot on the slow end. Would using the slower ones make the cycling different and necessitate a change in recoil spring or other adjustments? Wouldn't the recoil pulse be very different between say Bullseye and HS6?
I plan on using the basic 230 gr cast round nose and have liked the way that AA#5 and Universal works for mild and mid-range loads and HS6 for heavier stuff in other calibers (I also have some of each on hand) - mostly I want my Mil-spec to run well and be reasonably accurate - pinging the metal targets at the range in the 10 to 50 yard marks...
Thanks,
Dan

[Kmrere42]

Hi Darkroomdan,



  I have been reloading the 45acp for quite a while and have not noticed anything different from trying many different combination's.  With very light loads the slide might seem to cycle in slow motion but if properly lubed and clean will cycle. For all my heavy loads in my Springer I use 10gr Bluedot under almost everything.  Its a very stout load and I use an 18.5lb spring with a buffer.  It will still cycle light 185gr swc's at 750fps

  Because the 1911 system is a straight mechanical system and does not have a gas system the burn rate does not have an effect other than recoil perception and muzzle blast / fireball. 

  If you want a military equivalent load, it is hard to beat Unique.  6. to 6.2 gr should get you about 850fps under a 230gr roundnose, and the new Unique is much cleaner in burning.

  I have not liked AA#5 for the 45 but Universal did well.



Paul

[Lee N. Fielder]

Burn rate is not irrelevant, but it is only one of several factors that must be considered.  For autoloaders it is necessary to put enough powder in a case so that upon firing, the bullet exits the barrel and the resulting reverse impulse of the the slide ejects the empty case and picks up & chambers a fresh round.

This must all occur within the SAAMI pressure range, which should not exceed about 16,000 psi for standard pressure .45 ACP loads.  This is very easy to accomplish but the devil is in the details.  If you have a 16,000 psi reload that functions at 100%, but the bullet exits the barrel at 400 fps, this will be unacceptable for most reloaders.  Ditto if you get 850 fps but the load won't group any better than 12 inches at 25 yards.

This is where the burn rate comes into play.  You could use a verrry slow pistol powder like Alliant 2400, but you can't get enough 2400 inside a .45 ACP case to make a very good factory duplication round.  There's just not enough case volume in the .45 ACP for 2400 to work well.  Velocities will be low even if accuracy is decent.

The reverse can also cause problems.  If you use a light load of a very fast burning powder then the powder flops around inside the case and the inconsistent powder positioning can cause poor accuracy (although Alliant Bullseye is a fast powder that generally produces good accuracy).

Most reloaders use a powder charge that fills most of the case volume underneath the seated bullet while producing near-factory velocities and decent accuracy.  That's one reason that Alliant's Unique is such a great powder for the .45 ACP round.  It meets all the above criteria for accuracy & velocity, and as such is proven in this caliber.  Lots of other powders will perform similarly, such as WW231, Vitavhouri N320, etc.  This is why experimentation is necessary to determine what the optimal load is for YOUR gun and your personal shooting style. 

-Lee

[Savage]

Lee N Fielder is generally correct in his points on the effect of burn rates on accuracy and function. Of special importance these days, I'll throw in another factor, economy. For that reason, I load all my range ammo for handguns with one powder, Bullseye. I use 4.6grs under the 200gr LSWC in the .45acp, 170gr LSWC in the .40 S&W, and the 125gr LTC in the 9mm. These loads are well under maximum in these calibers. That gives me 1521 loads per pound or about .09 per charge, using the price I paid for my last keg of Bullseye. Using this one powder and powder weight, it also speeds up my change over between calibers as I never have to change charge weights on my measure. Just something else you might want to consider. I am not suggesting you use my load data. Be sure to obtain data from a reliable source, never use any unverified data!
Savage

[darkroomdan]

Thanks for the replies - good info! I'll probably start with Unique again, then branch out a little...for sure 231 and like I said I have been really liking Universal so it may be next.

Thanks again,
Dan

[victorcharlie]

I used unique years ago, and picked up a couple of pounds this year.  Unique is a much cleaner burning powder now IMO.

I like it because it works well in .44mag, 38 and 357 too.

[1sourdough]

  I loaded up some Rainier plated 200 grn RN bullets with 6.0 of Hodgdon Universal to try out. The charge is right near the center of a few cross referenced manuals. I used a listed 1.225 col. The speeds on the chronygraph varied some. I did weigh each charge & zero out the electronic scale often but with that little powder I may be from 5.9-6.1 or so. With about 7 shots through the chrony I got from 770-840fps. There is a little ways to go up or down but for plinking/target I'm O.K. staying here. I did go 6.0-6.1 with a few more. The main thing I wanted was reliable feed & cycle, no problems there. The powder was very clean as always. I was thinking about trying Tightgroup or one of the faster powders but I have a fair amount of Universal on hand. I'm down to 10 LP primers left so I have to find some  soon. I do have plenty for other loadings.

[Mikey]

Dan:  I have always avoided the very fast burning and the very slow burning powders and stayed with those in the middle.  Unique works well for me.  I have tried Blue Dot but feel it gets dirty fiarly quickly.  I try and stay at mil-spec + velocities and usually load my 230s to 850-875'/sec.; 6.5-6.7 of Unique gets me there.  I have thought of trying WW231 for a cleaner burn but keeping the velocity at the same velocity range.  I have not tried any of the AA powders yet, or Titegroup or WAP but will eventually get around to it.....

[darkroomdan]

Mikey,
Thanks for your reply - I ended up using the HS6 for my first test - did about a half grain under max, supposed to be in the 850-900 fps range (my 230 grain cast bullets were actually about 215 gr. with my wheelweight/linotype mix) - they were accurate but seemed much hotter than the Wolf metal case stuff I'd been using -  the slide was coming back pretty hard on the old mil-spec. Changed to my heavier recoil spring (20 lb.) and it seemed to smooth it out. I think your advice is right on and my next batch will either be 231 or Universal and a more mid range load this time - so I can go back to my factory weight spring. But, will have to wait until I can find some more large pistol primers - I only was able to find 2 packs of 100.   

Thanks again,
Dan