The good & the bad reloading 45 ACP brass question

[Gary Wiant]

Thanks for the information I'm learning a lot about loading for 45 ACP.

I will be loading on a Dillon 550B. I'm hoping I'll have my 1911 by the middle of January so I have a chance to shoot it before my shoulder surgery the end of January.

Both of our 1911's have been purchased used. Mine is a Sig Scorpion 1911. The original owner told the gun shop he had an STI trigger put on it and doesn't remember shooting it much at all. My daughter's boyfriends 1911 is a Para Ordinents Match (Elite or something like that). His has a match barrel on it but im not sure about mine. I have been looking at the Sig in the sales case for a couple weeks, i just finally couldnt wait any longer & said hey put that on lay-a-way for me.

I'm a big fan of Acme bullets especially since I've called and gotten great service.

 

[Medic505]

Note;
For CCW carry or defensive rounds, I recommend Factory ammo

Best advice I've read in this thread.

 

[Gary Wiant]

For conceal carry and defense I'll probably get RIP ammo like I carry in my 40cal Shield

 

[TIMO]

Gary,
Just wanted to add 1 more post for you. Everyone has provided some great information. I believe you stated your purchase is used but mostly a factory pistol from a quality manufacturer. I would think it will perform as designed.
As with anything, not all 1911's are created equally. As always, you never know when you buy used firearm.

First off, I would disassemble, clean and properly lube your 1911. I would shoot at least a 100 rounds of factory ball ammo through it to get familiar with it and try all your magazines to ensure they work with the standard ball ammo. Function and reliable feeding starts with the pistol itself, if it will not feed ball ammo, it probably will not feed anything else.

A lot of (pistol) factors effect the feeding and reliabilty of the 1911 with factory and reloaded ammo.
Lubrication
Magazine (Clean, feed lips, spring, follower, body)
Feed ramp (Polished/smooth)
Breech face (Clean,smooth-no burrs)
Extractor(Internal) (Clean, proper tension)
Recoil spring (Proper weight)
Magazine catch (Worn not properly engaging the magazine)
Human factor (No comments)

I hope this may help and has not run on about the 1911, it is just from my experience.
Tim

 

[Steve Ladino]

Ok thanks to everyone for their responses. My 1911 & my daughter's boyfriends 1911 will be used a lot for woods / adventure walks so distances anywhere from 20 - 100 yards. Now I'm considering just getting all new brass ( probably Hornady) I'm not exactly sure what projectiles I'll be using but I know it will be something from Acme bullets & will have Hi-tech coating. I load my 357 with bullseye so I'd like to find a load with it. I will either be using Lee or Dillon dies.

Thanks again keep the information coming

I haven't seen it mentioned so far but the closer you get your bullet weight variance to 0 grains the better your long range accuracy will be.

 

[Gary Wiant]

Timo - yes for sure it will be cleaned very, and lived with Slick 1.

Steve Latino, or anyone else. I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Also I forgot to mention that the barrel feed ramp was sent out to a gunsmith and polished when the trigger was installed.

 

[Metal God]

(
First off, I would disassemble, clean and properly lube your 1911. I would shoot at least a 100 rounds of factory ball ammo through it to get familiar with it and try all your magazines to ensure they work with the standard ball ammo. Function and reliable feeding starts with the pistol itself, if it will not feed ball ammo, it probably will not feed anything else. )

I agree , When shooting a firearm for the first time ( new or used ) I recommend an over all check , lube and factory ammo first . This removes all the questions after if something goes wrong . Like were those hand loads , did you lube the gun , did you check the gun for obstructions or defects . I always at least run a boresnake through the barrel before firing any new to me firearm .

 

[TIMO]

Timo - yes for sure it will be cleaned very, and lived with Slick 1.

Steve Latino, or anyone else. I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Also I forgot to mention that the barrel feed ramp was sent out to a gunsmith and polished when the trigger was installed.

Gary,
Great. I think you will enjoy your 1911. Also check into the Jerry Kuhnhausen books on the 1911, they are excellent.

Tim

 

[riflewoman]

How much lubrication does a 1911 need? Just like a Harley Davidson motorcycle, if it isn’t dripping oil add some.

 

[fyrewall]

I have a Kimber 1911, and I buy once fired brass real cheap for real informal shooting. I have no problems with the small primer stuff and like it because it is even cheaper than the regular large primer .45 auto brass. I have found most once fired brass to be .889 to .891 long and this works. I like Berry 185 RnHb bullets and Tite Group powder, and CCI 500 & 300 primers. No malfunctions, not even a "smoke stack". When seating bullets I have my Kimber barrel handy and I drop each round after taper crimping with my Lee crimp tool into the chamber to check out things.

For other stuff, I use store bought Hornady ammo and shoot up the entire box at the end of the year then replace it.

My Kimber 8 shot magazines work real good and I check them out continually.

As for lube I have the same small bottle of M-Pro 7 that I bought 3 years ago and this is used for small moving parts. For high impact areas I like tiny amounts of boat trailer grease, being aware that at sub freezing temps this stuff is like glue.

I am a old guy and at one time I had a Remington Rand (typewriter) 1911.

 

[cdhbrad]

"Steve Latino, or anyone else. I'm not sure what you mean by that."

I believe what he meant was to sort your bullets into groups with "0" grains of variance within that group and, when loading, segregate the groups and only load and shoot bullets from a specific group to obtain the best accuracy. While that my apply to precision rifle loading, I can tell you from my experience in recently weighing some of the 185 and 200gr Acme SWC bullets you mentioned possibly using, you will have a LOT of Very Small Piles......I saw variances of 1-5 grains in just a random sample. It really isn't practical to sort 500-1000 bullets into groups and, using a Progressive Press, load each group, etc.,etc.
For what it seems you and I do with our 1911s, just loading whatever bullet we put in the press will work just fine for our purposes. The photo I posted earlier was shot with random head stamp "range" brass, and cast SWC with the only constants being primer, powder throw from my RCBS Uniflow, and seating depth. 5 rounds in a ragged hole @25yds is way better than I will do when I'm pulling the trigger, so I won't be sorting my bullets anytime soon.

 

[Gary Wiant]

I ordered a Dillon die set, my question is would I be better off with a Lee Factory Crimp die or is the Dillon crimp die do the same as the Lee?

Thanks

 

[alb]

IMO the Lee FCD is really in a class of its own; that's the one to have.

 

[onelastshot]

I agree with others who stated that the best approach is to separate the large and small primer brass and throw the small primer crap away. I think it's ignorance and dangerous to have two different types of primers for the same cartridge. There's absolutely no benefit or purpose to have both small and large primers for the same cartridge. There are reasons we have standards in the industry, its called safety. I learned that there were both small and large primers when I purchased some one time fired mixed head stamp brass and went to prime the brass; I couldn't figure out why some primers wouldn't seat, the pockets were too small.

Time for manufacturers to rethink what they're doing and start putting safety first.

 

[Gary Wiant]

I purchased a Lee FCD on eBay for under $20 shipped

 

[wholman]

send all of your small primer brass to me pm me and I will
give you my address.
Thanks

 

[hoz53]

I purchased a Lee FCD on eBay for under $20 shipped

i havent read the whole thread so this might be redundent but i will say get some form of powder checker for your dillon. just one double charge could really ruin your day. i have a dillon i use to load 45 acp and what scares me is the double charge possibility and on a seperate note if someone gave me a bunch of small primer brass id shoot it at least once.

 

[fyrewall]

I agree with others who stated that the best approach is to separate the large and small primer brass and throw the small primer crap away. I think it's ignorance and dangerous to have two different types of primers for the same cartridge. There's absolutely no benefit or purpose to have both small and large primers for the same cartridge. There are reasons we have standards in the industry, its called safety. I learned that there were both small and large primers when I purchased some one time fired mixed head stamp brass and went to prime the brass; I couldn't figure out why some primers wouldn't seat, the pockets were too small.

Time for manufacturers to rethink what they're doing and start putting safety first.

A safety aspect is the use of lead free & heavy metal free primers in indoor ranges is to greatly limit lead vapors and small primers can be made lead free (no lead compounds). Apparently, these manufacturers have considered the hazards of lead vapors in indoor ranges. Possibly, visitors or paying shooters would be affected to a lesser extent but what about employees and other personnel charged with running the operation day by day and up to years of exposure to lead vapors. Encapsulated bullets would be required to further limit lead vapors.

As for seating small primers vs large primers an analogy might be seating bullets having different diameters. Like, would you be surprised to find a .451 bullet would not fir inside a case intended for a .357. An important aspect of private enterprise to duplicate what would normally be considered a large scale industrial activity involving strict quality control measures through each process stage would require similar efforts of the small private operator or a hand-loader with his relatively simple equipment.

Pay attention to detail and the little hand-loader can produce a product superior to the best of any big industry and American Industry has been proven over and over to be the best on this planet.

 

[Steve Ladino]

If you're shooting for groups then sorting brass will help a little (if you're a good shot to begin with), and only beyond 15 yards.
For practicing drills it's a huge waste of time to sort brass, besides the obvious sorting by primer pocket size.

I do emphasize on checking the once fired brass over very well. I've found some that would of been dangerous to shoot.

Weighing bullets is an accuracy asset for the 45/1911

 

[Zero333]

Weighing bullets is an accuracy asset for the 45/1911

I agree most handgun bulk bullets benefit from weight sorting if trying to shoot 1 hole groups.
However...
All the Berry's bullets I've ever bought didn't need sorting. They are of superb quality in my opinion, and it shows on the targets.