FMJ vs LHP vs LFN ? OAL .25 acp

D

DogTrot

Inactive
I was finding it scarce to score some bullets for my .25 acp's. None of my known retailers had any. So, I start searching the nets for casting ideas and found a source for cast lead hollow points and flat nose .25s so I ordered one hundred each.

While adjusting my Lee loader, the recommendations for the .25 acp lists the minimum OAL as .900 inches and a factory max of of .910 OAL I usually load my FMJs to .910.

Now the question.
How does the flat and hollow point affect the OAL compared to the FMJ?

The FMJ is .448 and the Flat nose is .430 and the Hollow point is .423. Since the two new lead bullets are a little shorter and I’d like to have my light crimp a little further up on the driving band, I need to push these down to the min of .900. I do use the starting charge of 1.1 gr for these little buggers anyway.

Any words of wisdom?
 
I didn't know oal has minimum. So you worry about pressure when you use 0.9" oal? Working up the load should take care of it, shouldn't it?

I bought 500 .25 acp cast bullets from a forum member. It is 55gr made by bear creek. Work great with 1gr of trailboss.

Everybody told me not worth the trouble to hand load .25acp. Apparently they didn't know the current price for loaded ammo. 30 cents a round!

-TL
 
Lyman Double Cavity mold sold

While browsing for casting supplies I found a .25 acp Lyman double cavity mold for sale on Ebay.

I watched the bidding start at 10 dollars then 17 dollars and 4 bidders. Finally it sold with 25 bidders. for $73.00 and shipping of 15 dollars!


Oct 11, 2016 , 8:44AM
Winning bid:
US $73.00
 
If the bullet has a flat point (HP is also a "flat point"), then that means that the bullet is missing that length from a FMJ, so the COL will be shorter. That missing length will add a very slight amount to the bearing surface, if everything else with bullet geometry was the same.
The COL is REALLY just a stand in for the distance from the lede/rifling to the contact point on the bullet's ogive.
There is NO universal COL. The COL range depends on the bullet and the barrel chamber and it falls back to a COL that is short enough that the bullet isn't jammed into the lede and the COL is not so short that the round won't feed.
YOU are in charge of determining the COL that is needed for the bullet you are using in your gun.
Make a couple of inert dummy rounds (no primer or powder) and start at excessive COL and find the COL range where that bullet will fit the magazine and feed and chamber in YOUR gun 100% of the time before you EVER start to reload.
You have almost no room for error with a .25 Auto and I can't even imagine shooting enough to reload for one.
 
"...didn't know oal has minimum..." Yep. Too short and it won't feed right. SAAMI Min OAL for .25 ACP is .860". And that's measured from the pointy bit to the flat bit, not the ogive.
Only ever loaded anything to the Max OAL given in my manual, myself. Saves a lot of mucking about. That'd be .910" for .25 ACP. Regardless of bullet type.
"...None of my known retailers had any..." All of 'em can order anything you want. How long that'd take depends on whether or not their distributor has any.
 
Ok,

Thanks for those words. I'm confident I can make up some of the shorter pills.

I'm using 1.1 to 1.3 of Universal Clays for the FMJ 50 gr. with a never exceed 1.4gr.

I noticed that my Lee's manual shows Red Dot has 1000 psi lower pressure and requires 1.1 but never exceed 1.1gr. That's kind of a narrow range for powder isn't it? I usually weigh each load but my scale might vary .1 grain either way. And would my 55 grain pill vs my 47 gr make a big pressure difference using the Red Dot?
 
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