45 ACP Cast bullets

cw308

New member
I shoot FMJ & Plated bullets in 230 gr RN , was thinking of giving cast 230 gr. RN a try . What's your thoughts .
 
Been shooting cast 230 RN's and FP's with 4.5 grains of Bullseye for eons. Your existing plated load should be fine with a 230 grain cast bullet though.
 
Stateline bullets is the company I was looking at . The lube is a pain , how so , never shot them should I stick with plated for just practise . Or is it a mess reloading on the press .
 
USSR & T. O'Heir would stay with the round nose 230 , I'm shooting with a Colt 1911 3" I hear they can be finicky with HP & FP bullets. Where are you getting your bullets . I was looking at Stateline bullets.
 
USSR
Casting your own do you have to worry about lead poisoning ? I only shoot roundnose bullets in my pistol. Why does lube have to be used ?
 
USSR
Casting your own do you have to worry about lead poisoning ? I only shoot roundnose bullets in my pistol. Why does lube have to be used ?

No. At casting temperatures lead remains in a liquid state and does not vaporize. The only way you can get lead poisoning is by ingesting it, so you never eat or drink while casting. I have had my lead level checked on several occasions, and no problems. Lube on lead bullets serves a couple of purposes. First it aids in providing a seal so that the hot, pressurized gas behind the bullet can't escape around the side of the bullet. And secondly, it leaves behind a little lube to aid the next bullet coming down the barrel. I use BAC lube made by White Label Lube. Good stuff and very affordable.

Don
 
USSR
Thank You for clearing that up . I'm going the easy route an order some amce bullets in 200gr RN . Only shoot jacketed bullets , I want to see the differences if there is any.

Chris
 
I've shot a bunch of Dardas' 200 RN cast bullets, in revolver and 1911. They work great. I also shot 1000 Rucker 225 TC, they were very accurate but at least one of my 1911 guns didn't feed them well. You may find the cast bullets to be more accurate than plated bullets. For bullseye I used a 200 SWC by Rucker or KEAD. The cast bullet is a lot dirtier than plated but I clean my guns every 200 or 300 rounds so it isn't a problem.
 
I give my guns a good cleaning every time I shoot then . 1911's the firing pin & extractor tunnels everytime also. Never shot cast before wanted to see why alot are . Going to start with 200gr. RN .452
 
cw308 I have yet to load cast or coated lead in any of my Autoloaders and for a couple of reasons. The first being that I follow the subject over at Cast Boolits.com and see and read the number of difficulties people run into to get them to shoot reliably in the 9mm and all the extra steps many need to take in order to shoot them w/o leading their barrels or accuracy suffering. If you would like to see what I mean then go spend some time at that site reading.

Next reason would be that I have one 45acp pistol that also has a very tight chamber and I experience problems with that one and standard sized bullets so if I had to go to oversized bullets I would be fighting the same issue again. SO then I have to ask the question, is it worth having to load 2 separate rounds of 45acp? One for each gun?

Lastly I seem to be able to find plated bullets on sale enough that if I wait for the sales I can buy plated for less than buying cast bullets. Then I eliminate all the issues associated with loading cast in the semi-autos.

This is still not to say that I will not at some time give cast a try for the 380acp and maybe also the 45acp.
 
I have one 45acp pistol that also has a very tight chamber and I experience problems with that one and standard sized bullets so if I had to go to oversized bullets I would be fighting the same issue again. SO then I have to ask the question, is it worth having to load 2 separate rounds of 45acp? One for each gun?

kmw1954,

What would be the proper size bullets for your 2 .45 ACP's?

Don
 
.45acp is an excellent cast bullet caliber. I personally have found you can use jacketed data just about interchangeably (work your way from starting loads, obviously). I don't cast personally... I just order 230 gn LRN from Dardas cast. Reloads are about .15 cents per round. Bullet lube is a PITA... a 1911 needs a wipe down after about 200 rounds to keep running.
 
200gr H&G #68 clone backed by a charge weight of 231 or WST that gives ~800 fps...accurate in any .45 1911 I've ever shot. The H&G 68 was originally designed to feed as well as 230 FMJ in standard chambered 1911's. In that regard, it's as reliable as my loads with the FMJ load, and probably a better defensive round if you care to use it as such. YMMV, Rod
 
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