I'd been loading fo my smith 686 plus. The ear blast was just too much. So I took husbands FNFNX in 45 acp. I only keep it in the vehicle and on the nightstand. What's a good powder and bullet to reload for this. I'm a good shot with factory ammo in it but want to reload so I can shoot more.
Loads for fnx 45 acp
- Thread starter Wendyj
- Start date
g.willikers
New member
If your pistol will successfully feed the 200 grain semi wad cutters, or the 200 grain round nose, loads that yield around 850 feet/second are very comfortable to shoot with plenty of power.
There's so many useful powders for this, it would be hard to list them all.
Just go to the powder manufacturers web sites for their loading information.
I prefer Hodgdon, but any of them will do nicely.
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol
There's so many useful powders for this, it would be hard to list them all.
Just go to the powder manufacturers web sites for their loading information.
I prefer Hodgdon, but any of them will do nicely.
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/
http://www.hodgdonreloading.com/data/pistol
I did have some loaded at + p 38 loads. The 3 inch barrel and large 7 round cylinder made it super front heavy. I sold it and picked up a Sig p380 to conceal carry. Husband still has a GP 100 and a sped 6 that he likes but I just felt if I ever had to fire the 686+ in the house I'd lose target with muzzle flash and of course be deaf. Lol. I'm shooting factory 230 grain Remington loads in the fn now but I've googled powders for it and everyone seems to disagree with any given powder. Ideally like the hp38 in the 357 but don't know if it's suitable for the 45.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
There have been several discussions on this site in whuch Frank Ettin (an attorney) has explained why it's not a good idea to use reloads as self defense ammunition. Practice, absolutely, but not carry or nightstand duty.Wendyj said:
I shoot .45 Auto almost exclusively. For carry I've settled on Remington Golden Saber in the 230-grain flavor, because they feed in any pistol I've tried them in. For practice, I load my own using Winchester brass and primers, Berry's 230-grain plated round nose bullets, and 5.4 grains of Winchester 231 powder. (HP38 is the same powder as Winchester 231, so you're good to go there. And I don't mean it's similar -- it IS the same powder.)
Yes, I know that by the books that looks like a hot load. It isn't. The Berry's bullets are a bit shorter than jacketed bullets, so when loaded to the same overall length there's a bit of extra case volume. The velocity is around 800 fps, which is quite mild shooting and acceptably accurate.
Aguila Blanca
Staff
For range, I'm very happy with the load I posted above. Plated bullets aren't as cheap as casting your own, or even buying cast lead, but there's less worry about barrel leading. And I shoot at an indoor range, so having even the base of the bullet plated with copper may help keep a bit of lead out of the air.
Alliant Bullseye and Unique have been the "standard" powders for the .45 ACP for nearly a century.
There are many satisfactory powders available today, but the aforementioned perform as well as they ever did.
230 grain plated bullets from Berry, Rainier or others, loaded to 800-825 FPS make excellent, easily controllable practice loads.
For ammunition to be used for serious social shooting, factory offerings loaded with state of the art bullets are quite difficult to duplicate by handloading.
I've recently done considerable research on .45 ACP defensive ammunition, and the consensus of most of those doing the testing is that the 230 Grain Winchester Ranger "T" series and the 230 grain +P Federal HST series are truly superb offerings, that meet IWBA criteria for expansion and penetration.
There are many satisfactory powders available today, but the aforementioned perform as well as they ever did.
230 grain plated bullets from Berry, Rainier or others, loaded to 800-825 FPS make excellent, easily controllable practice loads.
For ammunition to be used for serious social shooting, factory offerings loaded with state of the art bullets are quite difficult to duplicate by handloading.
I've recently done considerable research on .45 ACP defensive ammunition, and the consensus of most of those doing the testing is that the 230 Grain Winchester Ranger "T" series and the 230 grain +P Federal HST series are truly superb offerings, that meet IWBA criteria for expansion and penetration.
Let me give a safe recommendation, load with a round nose full metal jacket bullet (RN FMJ). This is primarily due to reliability in feed. The original, 1910 round, used in the development testing of the 1907 Savage and the prototype M1911's, used a 230 RN FMJ loaded with 5.0 grains Bullseye. This load and this powder are still excellent all around choices for a 45 ACP auto pistol. I know of a number of NRA Bullseye shooters who use this load as "hardball" in when competiting for leg points. This load is reliable and accurate and has been used in several World Wars and a bunch of bush wars since 1910. The only compliant might be that a FMJ bullet does not expand, and that is true, it does not expand, but it will penetrate better than any expanding bullet.
Ammunition has tradeoff's. Hollowpoint may or may not feed perfectly, I would expect a modern 45 such as your FN will feed hollow point bullets perfectly, but everything feeds RN FMJ's.
This load will push a 230 FMJ just at 800 fps, which incidentally, was the velocity required by the Army in 1910. The pressure curve is totally appropriate for gas pistols: Bullseye provides a very fast kick to the side and pressures drops quickly. This has the effect of moving the slide quickly and allowing the case to relax off the chamber walls during extraction. This is all to the good for autopistols. Use any case and any primer you want. I taper crimp my cases so the case mouth is reduced to 0.469" to 0.470" with a bullet in the case. The bottom line for me, is why reinvent the wheel? This wheel will roll.
Kimber Custom Classic M1911
230 gr FMJ (R-P) 5.0 grs Bullseye 99' & 2005 mixed lot Mixed Brass WLP (brass) OAL 1.265" taper crimp .469"
12-Dec-11 T= 53 °F
Ave Vel =793.5
Std Dev =18.92
ES = 61.99
High = 817.4
Low = 755.4
N = 16
Ammunition has tradeoff's. Hollowpoint may or may not feed perfectly, I would expect a modern 45 such as your FN will feed hollow point bullets perfectly, but everything feeds RN FMJ's.
This load will push a 230 FMJ just at 800 fps, which incidentally, was the velocity required by the Army in 1910. The pressure curve is totally appropriate for gas pistols: Bullseye provides a very fast kick to the side and pressures drops quickly. This has the effect of moving the slide quickly and allowing the case to relax off the chamber walls during extraction. This is all to the good for autopistols. Use any case and any primer you want. I taper crimp my cases so the case mouth is reduced to 0.469" to 0.470" with a bullet in the case. The bottom line for me, is why reinvent the wheel? This wheel will roll.
Kimber Custom Classic M1911
230 gr FMJ (R-P) 5.0 grs Bullseye 99' & 2005 mixed lot Mixed Brass WLP (brass) OAL 1.265" taper crimp .469"
12-Dec-11 T= 53 °F
Ave Vel =793.5
Std Dev =18.92
ES = 61.99
High = 817.4
Low = 755.4
N = 16
