You didn’t say what brand .45 bullet you’re using. They vary in length and that can affect COL.
I’ve been loading Berry’s 230gr RN (P) which they spec at .638″, which is reasonably close to the .635″ the current batch I have measures in length and X-Treme 230 gr RN (P) which I’ve measured to be 0.646″ long. I’ve been using load data for the Speer TMJ (#4880) from Speer’s load data and Lyman’s 51st edition. The Speer TMJ is spec’d at 0.655″ in length.
The Speer data sheet shows Min load of 6.0 gr (793 fps) and Max load of 7.5 gr (973 fps) with COL 1.260″ using Federal cases and Fed 150 primers. They don’t state the test barrl length but I assume it’s 5″.
https://reloadingdata.speer.com/SpeerReloading/Handgun scroll downanc click on the “45 Automatic 230 TMJ RN” to download the .pdf.
The Lyman data shows Min load of 6.0 gr (665 fps) and Max load of 6.7 gr (840 fps) with COL 1.275″ using Federal cases and CCI 300 primers using a 5″ barrel.
I haven’t tried CFEPistol in .45ACP yet but have some on hand and I’ going to load some and try the combos. I’d anticipated using 6.2,6.4 and 6.6 grains in Win cases using WLP primers and loaded to a COL of 1.250″ and 1.260″ for the initial trials for Berry’s and X-Treme bullets.
Keep in mind the data is for a Total Metal Jacket and I’m using plated which are “softer” than a Jacketed bullet allowing for the use of a little more powder. IMHO the Max 7.5 grains listed by Speer seems overzealous. Mil-spec for a 1911 shooting a 230gr FMJ is 885 fps +/- 25 fps at 25 feet.
Depending on how the powder performs with the plated bullets I may buy some jacketed Zero Bullet, or when RMR gets theirs to market, 230 FMJ RN and give them a whirl.
Hope that helped.
.
