I am starting out in Bullseye comp....Based on a lot of research, I am heading to the range with 4.2 grains of Bullseye with 185 SWC. Any thoughts on whether I am on the right track?

Also, how many times can a case be used? Until obvious damage?

How does the spring weights in the 45 effect the amount of powder in a particular load?

Thank you and I have a lot more questions.

Your load should work, but I haven't used it, so I can't say for sure. Your pistol will tell you. It's well below maximum, so a 12 or 14 lb. spring is preferable to the standard 16 lb. spring, assuming you're using a 5" 1911. A very rough rule of thumb is that cases will land 6 feet away from a properly sprung pistol, shot from standing.

Your cases will last a very long time. I lost track of the number of reloads on my first lot of cases, but I'd guess they went at least 25 reloads. They'll fail by splitting at the mouth or length-wise along the body.

Bye
Jack

Thank you Jack...the range tomorrow should tell the tail.

A cardinal rule to remember when shooting any match is to RELOAD your empty magazines BEFORE trying to pickup your brass. A stupid common sense thing to remember because there often is not much time given between stages and you don't want to be caught flat-footed with empty magazines when the rangemaster is calling out the commands.

Do not expect to retrieve every fired case and be sure to mark them with a marker pen for identification purposes.

Good luck on your endeavor!

Checking in my NRA reloading handbook which is some what dated. Listing for the top shooters using a 185 gr bullet was between 3.0 gr and 3.5 gr of bullseye powder. Unless bullseye has changed in performance over the years your load seems to be on the heavy side. How far the case is ejected is not a good measure of performance. But rather the results on the paper. A heavy recoiling pistol is no joy to shoot, after all your just punching a hole in a thin piece of paper. Just my 2 cents Tom F.

I lucked out with my 45 auto using a 210 grain H&G #68 clone and the Saeco 190 swc, that 4.5 grains of Bullseye worked great.
Cases were lost before they failed.
Jim

A 185 grain jacketed SWC over 4.2 grains of bullseye is a commercial match ammunition equivalent. It will usually function a standard 16 lb spring, though it is more reliable with a 14 lb spring. The lighter loads are for lead bullets. These need even lighter recoil springs. I used to shoot 3.8 grains of Bullseye under 185 grains LSWCs, with a 12 lb recoil spring. I never found loads lighter than that to be as accurate.

All did not go well. I could not get the 45 to chamber a round. I thought it might perhaps be the crimp, but I tried factory ammo also and no dice.

The round would go about 3/4 in, hang up at an angle and not chamber.

Thought?

Possibilities:
- The extractor is too tight and the rim can't slide up by it.
- The bullets are seated too short (more likely) or to long. What is your cartridge overall length? What factory loads are you using?
- Your magazine(s) are out of spec. There's some real junk out there and some of the junk isn't cheap. Make & type of magazine?

Details about your pistol? Make, model, barrel length?

Bye
Jack

shootem45,

You never did say for sure whether you were using a 1911, or not? It is implied, I suppose. If so, the extractor tension is a good call. There is a standard chamfer shape and polishing that custom gunsmiths apply to the underside of the extractor hook groove that can help.

I've seen a couple of extractors that had their firing pin stop groove too far to the rear, with the result that the hook was held too far forward in the extractor tunnel, with the rear edge of the hook groove proud on the breechface. This would stop a cartrige about 3/4 of the way in. It requires extractor replacement or careful rework to fix.

I've seen the feedramp in the chamber mouth overhang the receiver feed ramp just enough to cause the bullet to hit it like a speed bump, slow down and tip up so that the spring can't quite get it into battery. Especially not if the chamber is rough. You test for this by assempling the barrel and slide stop pin onto the frame without the slide, pushing the barrel down and to the rear and making sure that overhang isn't there.

Phillip Hemphill (6 or 7 X NPSC winner)pulls the barrel out of his autos and drops 150 bullets in it, before the matches, in order to check em all for fit prior to a match.

PUll your barrel and see if they drop in.

This link posted by EMC2 in another thread is worth your time to look over:
http://www.sightm1911.com/lib/tech/reliability_secrets.htm

Could you post a picture of your loaded rounds?
Also, what diameter of bullet are you using?
If too large, it might be causing interference on chambering. If loaded too long, it might stop the slide short for the last 1/8 of an inch, or so.
As mentioned, an easy check is to take the barrel off and drop the loaded cartridge into the chamber. It drop in easily all the way. If not, you need to change something in your loading procedure.

Thank you all for the advice.

I took the recommendation that the round was too lon and shortened it and low and behold it chambered properly. I can't get to the range for a couple days to verify though I will post a before and after shot when I figure out how to post a picture.

Thanks again for all the support.