Good day at the Range

[Headhog]

Went to my gun club to do some testing. I had one of my AR's that I needed to rezero the red dot and I had a batch of 45 ACP ammo to test.

The AR I was working on was my pistol AR so a zero at 50 yards is sufficient. After the first 3 rounds, it was clear that I was shooting about 6 inches left and 2 inches low. A few twists of the adjustments knobs and I was moving into zero. 15 rounds later and I was on the money and done, but that didn't stop me. I had some ammo to burn so I finished up the leftover box of 50 and proceeded to shoot 50 more.

Now on to the 45 ACP. My new load, with Missouri 230 gr. LRN (HiTek coated), worked great. I had been using Blue Bullet 230 gr. LRN coated bullets and loading them to 1.250" LOA. I found I can't load the Missouri 230 LRN to that length. Hodgdon shows a length of 1.200" LOA and so I tried that. Bingo, these rounds functioned perfectly. Seems the MB must be a slightly different profile and loading them longer was causing the bullet to just touch the lands in my 45 pistols. Occasionally the slide would not go into battery with the longer length.

Paul

[fortyshooter]

I went with the Xtreme plated 230 gr. RN bullets at 1.250 to go with one type load. My HiPoint 45 carbine did not like the MB bullet but no issue with the Xtreme and my 1911's like them also. Did you adjust your powder load for the shorter COL ?

[Rifletom]

Goes to show you that different handguns are, well, different. All my .45 acp loads use either x-treme or Missouri[plain and coated] 230gr RN at 1.260-1.265" and they cycle/fire fine in my Springfield 1911-A1 mil-spec just fine. No wonder we handloaders have gray hair! Just to add, I only use McCormick "Shooting Star" mags in my S.A. 7 rounders if that means anything.

[Headhog]

I went with the Xtreme plated 230 gr. RN bullets at 1.250 to go with one type load. My HiPoint 45 carbine did not like the MB bullet but no issue with the Xtreme and my 1911's like them also. Did you adjust your powder load for the shorter COL ?

No change to powder load since the recipe I'm using came from Hodgdon and showed a 1.200" LOA. I will chono the rounds and see how they compare with the longer length, but that will be another range trip.

Paul

[Headhog]

Goes to show you that different handguns are, well, different. All my .45 acp loads use either x-treme or Missouri[plain and coated] 230gr RN at 1.260-1.265" and they cycle/fire fine in my Springfield 1911-A1 mil-spec just fine. No wonder we handloaders have gray hair! Just to add, I only use McCormick "Shooting Star" mags in my S.A. 7 rounders if that means anything.

Tom, the original MB loads at 1.250" worked without a problem in my Springfield TRP. The occasional jam showed up in both my Les Baer 1911's and also my Glock 41. Actually the Glock had more problems and everyone accuses them of having loose chambers. I know Les Baer likes to use very tight chambers and short lead to the rifling. That's one of the ways he claims to get better (match grade) accuracy. What this does show is every manufacturer uses different specs and what's works in one gun my not work in another. When you reload you have to test.

Paul