I load that same Berry's 230-grain bullet over 5.3 grains of Winchester 231 (which is the same as HP-38). I use 1.270" as my overall length -- I think 1.210" is too short, but I'll review my measurements to confirm. Going from memory, my velocity was in the upper 700s -- it was a LOT slower than expected, since 5.3 grains of Win 231 is supposed to be the maximum. The Hornady on-line loading data say that should produce 834 fps -- but that's based on a COAL of only 1.200".
That said, what's the theoretical shortest COAL for that particular bullet? The case is (per SAAMI spec, not measured -- we're doing theoretical here) is 0.898" long.
One of the reloader guys on the M1911.org forum started a project awhile back to collect and compile information on actual bullet dimensions. His data don't list just the bullet length, they also break out the body (the straight part) from the "nose" (the part after the ogive starts to curve). To get a theoretical minimum COAL, we would add the case length to the "nose" length. For that Berry's bullet, his data shows the different "nose" lengths, contributed by three different people. The longest is 0.400", the shortest is 0.367".
Using those numbers, we come up with theoretical COALs of:
.898+.367 = 1.265
.898+.400 = 1.298
I'm inclined to go with the 1.265. However, I was already loading them to a COAL of 1.270, which I had arrived at by the unscientific method of measuring ten factory Winchester USA rounds and averaging their length. That came out to 1.270 and I've been using it ever since.
If anyone is interested in the individual bullet data for .45 ACP, the guy on M1911.org posted his spreadsheet on Google Docs:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...uItM0glf7wjhd8/edit?hl=en&hl=en#gid=519572970
For what it's worth, Berry's says to load that bullet to 1.260".
Western Powder includes data specifically for that bullet, and they show loading it to 1.237"
http://blog.westernpowders.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/WesternLoadGuide1-2016_Web.pdf
Pages 15 & 16
dshack said:
I would be inclined to go with Berry's Bullet recommended COL at 1.250
The page you linked to only shows the SAAMI maximum COAL, which they correctly list as 1.275".