I have not posted in a while do to being very busy with work and other things that keep me away from the range but I have freed upsome time and, a few days ago I picked up a 300 grain mold in .45 cal. It makes sweet bullets. I have not gotten to shot any as of yet but I have loaded a box of 50 for my fathering-law’s .45 Long Colt. Judging from the loading data this should be a pretty nice load for hog hunting. I will be taking pictures of the loaded rounds and that target damage when I get the time to shot some of them. The load that I loaded for my father-in-law is 9.2grains of Unique in a Winchester case with a CCI 300 primer. I am thinking about loading some up for my Marlin lever action but with 11.9 grains of Unique That should be a very sweet bullet for hog hunting. I am thinking the 300 grain bullet will be a bit overkill on a whitetail deer but it should take a hog down pretty easy. I was also reading an article in Handloader that the writer had loaded the 300 grain bullet in to a .45 ACP sitting on top of 5.9 grains of Unique. I’m not real sure that I would want to try that, for the reason that the bullet is almost as long as the ACP case.

I assume father-in-law owns a Ruger .45 Colt. That's a pretty healthy load for anything less.

I assume father-in-law owns a Ruger .45 Colt. That's a pretty healthy load for anything less.

Well I did It I reloaded the 300grain Lead Round Flat Nose in to .45 ACP. I loaded it with 6.4 grains of Unique Winchester Brass and a CCI #300 primer. The round had above normal recoil but not very much over normal. The thing that was strange about it was the at 15 yards the bullet grouped the best and at 7 yards you could not keep it on the target. I don't understand why but that is how it worked out.
Below are images from the range.

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g251/Shooting_Crazy/shooting/DCP_2344.jpg
This is the target at seven yards after I shot this 7 round group I was thinking that maybe 15 and 25 yards would not even hit the target.


http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g251/Shooting_Crazy/shooting/DCP_2347.jpg
This is the 15 yard target it is not the best that I have ever shot but it is not that bad. It is also alot better then the 7 yard by far. This is also a 7 shots.


http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g251/Shooting_Crazy/shooting/DCP_2349.jpg
This is the 25 yard target not that good but still alot better then the 7 yard target. This was an 8 shot group


http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g251/Shooting_Crazy/shooting/DCP_2345.jpg
This is the test weapon it is a M1911A1 Auto-Ordnance 7+1 5 Inch BBL


Also phatdad had went out and watched me shoot then he fired a few down range. Things we ran into with the load both bad and good:

1) the bullet was seated a little to long and made feeding a big pain.

2) the back presure was really bad and pushed the primmers back and beat the head stamp up pretty bad.

3) Out of a total of 60 rounds fired 3 cracked cases.

4) Cut very clean holes in the target no hour glass shapes.

5) Belling the case was a pain to seat the bullet.

6) it seemed the further out you went the bullet was moving up on the target.


All and All the 300 grain in the ACP is more problems then it is worth dealing with.

"All and All the 300 grain in the ACP is more problems then it is worth dealing with."

I think that is a wise decision. Some of the things you mentioned are a bit scary to me. There is an article in the latest Handloader magazine where the author used specially made 300 grain bullets in .45 ACP with good results. The trick is that these bullets had a tapered base, allowing for deeper seating without distortion.

Ugh...300gr in an ACP....think I'd forego any further testing with this one given the results you stated about pressure problems.

I used to shoot 300's in my .45LC, healthy loads...some considered pushing the excessive limits. After shooting many of these with a host of loads, then switching to a 300gr cast doing the same load workings, I was not real impressed with the performance on game. Peformance on paper was good with the right load. Took a couple deer while hunting and put down a few that had been hit by vehicles. Through & through penetration but not very impressive terminal performance.

Changed to the Lee 255gr RF cast which gave me higher velocities which resulted in much better terminal performance. Still get through & through penetration but a lot more internal damage. I took two coyotes and one deer with these, all dropped in their tracks. I then got bitten by the blackpowder bug and use this same bullet but now cast from 50% WW alloy 50% pure Pb and performance is excellent.

My Springfield 1911A1 loves almost any 230 grain bullet sitting over 10.6 grains of Blue Dot. So far I've tried Sierra & Speer JHP's, bulk FMJ's from some surplus place I found on-line (unknown mfg) and the Lee TC bullet cast from WW alloy. All group close enough that you can't tell the difference which ones were shot and no functioning problems with any of them.

In my 1911 I shot a lee 200gr LRFN sitting on 5.5gr of unique that is one of the best rounds that I have shot in it. I had to see if I could do the 300gr and how it would work. I will not be shotting in the 1911 any more. Also I have also been running some test on a 300gr in my .45 Colt and I have gotten some pretty good groups pressure are about normal and the recoil is not bad at all. I load I am useing is out of the Ruger/TC only data in my Lyman Handbook and here is an image at 25 yards with a 7 inch BBL Ruger Vaquero the load is 9,2gr of unique.

<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g251/Shooting_Crazy/shooting/100_0237.jpg" border="0" alt="Image hosting by Photobucket"></a>

I didn't think the Vaquero was up for digesting full snort loads like the black/red hawks or am I thinking of something else?

Got the new model BH in stainless 4.625" bbl and I can tell you for sure, don't waste your time with IMR-4227 in this one...unless of course you're looking for the flash-bang loads. Real impressive looking from the spectators standpoint, especially in low light conditions, but it ain't worth a drop of snot for anything else. Don't have my notes from my ultra mag days playing with the 300 grainers but I think I settled on either H-110 or W296 but don't hold me to that... Recoil was not bad at all, lots of roll but not a lot of kick. Side note is my buddy started using the IMR-4227 loads in his rifle with good results, added bbl length makes a lot of difference giving that powder time to burn in containment instead of wasting it in the open air.

I went to a yard sale one time and picked up a nearly full bulk pack of some hard cast 230gr RN's in .454 dia & a 5# can of Alcan AL-5, think I gave 5 bucks for the lot. Bullets were too big for the acp so I used them in the colt which even though it has the .452" bore, it does not care much on the cylinder side. Used 5.5gr charge, mild plinking load but they are quite accurate. Not worth much for anything but vermin but are a whole lot of fun for plinking.

Holy crap! A .45 ACP with a 300 grain bullet? Now that's what I call a personal defense load. Probaly has a nice kick to it too.

If memory serves, the author was getting around 750 fps. with these special 300 grain bullets, and good accuracy.

Loco, How bout a write up on that AO pistol???

I'm considering this as a full size 1911 A1 option, would like toi know what you think of it!?

Thanks

Nate

The biggest I have shot with 45acp is 250gr...

Good luck!!!

Well I did It I reloaded the 300grain Lead Round Flat Nose in to .45 ACP.

Yikes~! I cast that bullet, and I wouldn't have attempted that. I hope you had one beefy spring in that 1911...

a.

loco cerveza, I'll second you on the Lee 200 RF in the 45 acp. sundog