When I load for my 22-250 or 270 Win. I trim the case, ream the primer pocket, debur the flash hole, neck size only, turn the outside diameter of the neck and use Redding Competition Dies.

When loading the 45 ACP it is my understanding that none of the above will do much to improve accuracy. I am shooting a springfield 1911 that has had a match grade barrel fitted to it and a slide to frame fit.

It is my opinion that at least trimming the cases and using Redding Comptetion dies would improve accuracy. I don't see how a lot of extra steps would improve accuracy in a revolver. But when loading for a 1911 which is closer to being like a rifle than a revolver I think extra steps would improve accuracy ? Norman

Since the 45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth, case length unifirmity is an issue. When loading mine with 200 gr cast bullets, I clean, trim if necessary, bell the mouth, prime, charge with powder, seat then run the loaded round through a Lee post loading sizer/crimp die (to flatten the belled case mouth) but leave that die screwed out at least 2 full turns so it DOES NOT crimp the case mouth. Good luck.

When I load for my 22-250 or 270 Win. I trim the case, ream the primer pocket, debur the flash hole, neck size only, turn the outside diameter of the neck and use Redding Competition Dies.

When loading the 45 ACP it is my understanding that none of the above will do much to improve accuracy. I am shooting a springfield 1911 that has had a match grade barrel fitted to it and a slide to frame fit.

It is my opinion that at least trimming the cases and using Redding Comptetion dies would improve accuracy. I don't see how a lot of extra steps would improve accuracy in a revolver. But when loading for a 1911 which is closer to being like a rifle than a revolver I think extra steps would improve accuracy ? NormanUnlike an accurate rifle, accuracy in a .45 ACP is considered very good if it will group under 3" at 50 yards fired from a rest. So to use all the accuracy improving techniques that you now use on your rifles would only result in a slight improvement on the .45 ACP. There is a limitation as to what a 5" barrel and match chamber can do for you in an accurized 1911. To get the most accuracy out of your pistol, purchase match grade ammunition or reload to match grade specs preferably with match grade jacketed bullets and tune your reloads to the pistol. On the 25 yard range, I use 185-200 grain SWC cast lead bullets for sustained fire matches. At this shorter distance, there is more latitude in what bullets I can shoot and still retain match accuracy. I check my brass for OAL using a Midway cartridge gauge and remove brass burrs around the flash hole but other than that, I just try to be very consistent on my reloads. There is very little cartridge case stretching in the .45 ACP even after repeated firings so it is rare to have to trim any at all. This is just my take after having fired the .45 ACP 1911 in NRA competition since 1963. You do your own experimenting and see if what I am saying is at least half-right. :p

I'm with Marshal on this. Near no one can shot a .45 well enough that teeny leetle differences from all the work would ever be noticed. When you're shooting a rifle from a bench that's capable of 1/4" accuracy, let's say...you see the small stuff's effects right away. Here, we're talking inches at 25 yards, much less 50.

Trim to length if necessary, and load 'em up...

You will reap far greater results by buying a large lot of the same brass for uniformity and paying attention to detail while loading than all of the extra stuff one would do with a rifle round, in my opinion. Having the same lot of cases and a good load will do WAY more than all the case prep in the world. I have never had to trim a .45 ACP casing, if anything they seem to get shorter. When you get your new brass you might want to see if the length is uniform, if not it might pay some dividend to trim it all to a uniform length...but you'll probably only have to do it one time for the life of the brass. Contrary to what some will say, a slight taper crimp is advisable on auto pistol rounds and can be beneficial to accuracy and certainly to function.

In over 20 years of reloading .45 acp, I have never trimmed a case. As a short straight-walled case, they don't stretch like bottlenecks do. While trimming might become necessary eventually, I always lose them or wear them out otherwise before they'd need trimming.

Marshall- Trimming should not be necessary-if brass has strecthed to that degree, discard it- as for the other steps, unless you are a bullseye shooter of exceptional skill, you will never know the difference. Most shooter, myself included, are not as accurate as their pistols and most bullets shoot well - the 45acp is very forgiving- and yes, you should taper crimp to prevent bullet set-back- which canl not only cause malfuntions, but will also increase pressure dramatically- Good luck

I would think that trickling the powder or making the charge more accurate would be the best you could do in a .45 acp. I have done everything you said before...flash hole uniforming, case mouth forming, trimming, even weighed the cases out and diswashed them to get all the carbon from the pockets, pocket scrubbed, etc...just like i would my long distance competition ammo. In the end, the only thing that seems to show up in accuracy is the powder primer combo and the accuracy of the load, even then, not as much as you might think in a .45 acp. Seems most of you have experienced the same thing, we all tried it once just to see...we're kind of visual driven aren't we?

Some brass has pretty ragged burrs in the flash hole. I'm not good enuf to tell the difference, but the guys I shoot with who are aces with their .45s say they really can see an improvement after deburring. The deburring is alleged to improve round-to-round ignition uniformity.

Remember that flashhole deburring only has to be done once in a case's life, so it's not too great a burden.

I tracked several hundred .45 ACP cases through 50 reloadings. This was softball. 3.8 grains of Bullseye behind 185 grain cast SWC's. I determined that the cases not only did not stretch, they actually shortened an average of a third of a thousandth per reloading.

In a rifle case, the pressure expands the brass and the pressure is high enough to make it stick to the chamber wall. The exception is the case head, which is too thick to stretch as easily. So the head get slammed back (by whatever degree of excess headspace exists) into the breech face. Since the sides of the case are stuck to the chamber, the only way for the head to move backward is for the web just ahead of the case head to stretch. This is how the case lengthens. When you reload, the sizing die squirts excess brass up into the neck, and not back down into the web. It is why the brass on a much-used case gets very thin just ahead of the case head. It is why rifle cases that are neck-sized only or which are fired in a tight chamber don't grow as quickly and last through more reloads than those being full-length resized or fired in long chambers.

In the .45 ACP the brass never sees enough pressure to stick to the sides of the chamber, so the whole case moves to the rear when it fires. Because the chamber is tapered, the sides of the case actually expand, drawing the neck down and making the whole case shorter. When you resize, most of the expanded web squeezes back up into position, but a little bit is flowed back toward the rear, causing the case to fail to recover its original length completely.

One important reloading tip this leads to results from the fact head-spacing on the case neck will give you progressively more headspace over time if your cases are shortening. If you are using a semi-wadcutter, because its nose is too short to hang up in you magazine if you seat it out a little, you may headspace on the bullet's contact with the rifling lead in the throat. Just set your dies up so a cartridge dropped into the barrel stops with its head just flush with the back of the barrel (the hood or extension on a 1911). This raises pressures a little, as touching the lands with a rifle will do, so it is a trick for target loads. I had it reduce my sandbagged 25 yard groups with soft swaged bullets from 2.50" to 1.25"; just this loading method change alone.

As to accuracy, my old Series 70 GC, when first fitted up, shot 5 rounds into a raged hole at 25 yards from sandbags with an early Aimpoint site. As best we could measure, it looked like 0.37" C-T-C, though it is hard to get the calipers accurately placed on the edges of a hole like that. This was the old style fit-up; TIG welded build-ups for the link lugs and extension, hand made and heat treated link, a solid bushing to replace the collet type, and the usual peened frame rails and lapping fit of slide and frame. The original Colt barrel was half a thousandth out of round at the muzzle, but that didn't seem to bother it much. I had re-crowned it by the ball bearing and lapping compound method. The load was Federal 150 primers in W-W cases, 4.2 grains of Bullseye pushing a 200 grain Hornady jacketed match SWC. These were loaded on an old Lyman Spar-T turret press with Lyman dies and a separate taper crimp die. The charges were thrown with an RCBS drum measure.

I don't recall the gun stayed tight enough to hold much under an inch at 25 yards for very long, but it was certainly satisfying to see what's possible when everything is just right; even if I didn't stand a snowball's chance in Hades of taking advantage of that precision in a match.

Nick

Unfortunately, winning at pistol competition goes far beyond having the best and most accurate equipment. The human factor enters into the equation and we humans are a complex variable. :p