.45 230 grain loads

[Hawk Eye Tom]

I went to the local gun shop today and he had a box of 500 round nose 45 cal. 230 grain lead bullets for a great buy .. The problem I have is my reloading manual has information for 200 and 250 grain lead bullets. Not 230 . Does anyone have a good load for 230 grain ? I shoot out of a six inch Anaconda .45. I use Bullseye powder the most.. Thanks for any info

[broknaxl]

The 230gr is used mostly in .45acp. I don't know what you could start at in a .45 Colt. I'm sure you could find a load for this somewhere.

[Oyeboten]

I was using 10 Grains of "Unique" with my 230 Grain Lead "SAECO" Wadcutters for .45 Colt, ( which I was experimenting with in two batches, one, where I set the Bullet less deeply than a RNL Bullet would normally be, I held them out intentionally, thus lessening the Loading Density, and, one batch where the seating depth was deeper, but, still a little less than a RNL would be ) specifically for my New Service 'Snubby' as prospective CCW Ammunition...

But, when I did a Range Report, ( on 'THR' ) everyone got all upset saying it was too hot a Loading.

Yet, the old 'LYMAN' Loading Manuals, for 230 Grain RNL Bullet, allowed somewhat more grains than that...and or, the 10 Grain was not the top Loading for what at the time ( early 1950s ) were primarily older and not repro Colt SAAs and, of course, original New Services.

This was giving me 840 FPS out of a 2-1/4 inch Barrel anyway, but, I forget what it was doing in Longer Barrels, even though I did try some to see.

If this is a Smokeless era Revolver, anything like 7, 8, or 9 Grains of 'Unique' and you should be fine, and no one would get upset or worried about it.


All in all though, Black Powder Loads for .45 Colt are likely to be the most satisfying of all. And they in fact are hardly much different FPS wise, than 'safe' Loadings of Smokeless is going to be, especialy if you have some Barrel Length going on.

I could post some close up images of the older 'LYMAN' data if you like.

[Ken S]

I shoot 5.5 Unique and a 230 grain RN .452's in my Colt 1911.
I use the 230 , .454 and 6.1 Unique in my 45 Schofield loads. Both are very accurate.

[1873Bob]

Here are some loads for ya. 230g 45cal lead. All out of a 7.5inch brl.

Clays 4.4g for 735fps 5.4g for 865fps
Trailboss 5.5g for 685fps 6.5g for 805fps
Universal 6.5g for 760fps 8.1g for 975fps

Anaconda should handle those with ease the highend loads you could top if you go careful.

[Philt1]

LOL, WOW 10 grains ? yeah that's running pretty dam hot my friend , but to each his own , i have never seen a load in 45 acp with that much powder - warning that is a dangerous load so be careful not to injure yourself , Im sure your cases where done after those rounds .

This is what i target practice with:

Titegroup - 4.4 , 230 RN Rainer , cci primer
Win.231 _ 5.5 , 230 RN Rainer , cci primer

I prefer the titegroup

[Gatofeo]

[QUOTE=Philt1;266680]LOL, WOW 10 grains ? yeah that's running pretty dam hot my friend , but to each his own , i have never seen a load in 45 acp with that much powder - warning that is a dangerous load so be careful not to injure yourself , Im sure your cases where done after those rounds .

Philt1, I'm sure that Oyeboten was using the .45 Long Colt revolver case, not the ACP case. Nonetheless, 10 grains of Unique in the .45 Long Colt under a 230 gr. lead bullet is a stout load. I would not suggest its use in anything but a Ruger Blackhawk, Freedom Arms or Thompson Center single-shot.
The Speer No. 13 manual lists 8.5 grains of Unique as maximum under the 230 gr. lead bullet. That's in an N-frame Smith & Wesson, which is certainly not as strong as the Ruger, etc.

I have a Ruger Blackhawk, old model, I bought new in 1973. Years ago, I used to run slightly less than the above amount of Unique under a 255 gr. cast Lyman 454424 semiwadcutter. A stout load, but accurate.
One winter, when it was 15 degrees Fahrenheit (-10 Celsius) and a bunch of us were out camping, I hauled out the Ruger and my Unique loads for some plinking. The gun and ammo had been in my car trunk, exposed to the cold for days.
First shot, normal. Next shot, keplop. Next shot, kerbang. Then normal and then kerplop. We had a can on a stump, and could see the bullets striking up and down that snow-covered stump.
That's when I learned that Unique, in large volume cases, doesn't fare well in the cold with standard primers. Switching over to Magnum primers cured the ignition problem.
Later, when I wanted heavy loads in the .45 Long Colt, I used Hercules 2400 or Winchester 296. Gave up trying to Magnumize my .45 Ruger when I bought an S&W .44 Magnum.

Word of advice: Don't just up and use any loads you see posted on the net. Check them against a bullet or powder manufactuer's website, or against a modern reloading book. I see all kinds of crazy recommendations. A quick check of the book often gives me the willies.

[ShootingMaster]

Another question here: I have a bunch of 230 grains RN-FMJ bullets sized to .451" that I use for .45 acp. I would like to use them also on .45 Colt reloads (in which I normally use 250 grains LFP sized to 0.454").

Should I expect some accuracy issues due to this difference in bullet sizes (.454" vs. .451")? I´m afraid that accuracy may be affected due to this 0.003" difference.

Thanks.
Regards.-

[WIL TERRY]

BET the ranch on it !!!

[ShootingMaster]

Thanks. My thoughts exactly.

I also re-sized some Winchester .45 Colt brass using my .45 Colt Lyman Resizing die. Then I took a 230 grn. RN FMJ bullet (.451") and pressed it with my thumb against the re sized case mouth. The bullet went right trough the case with no effort and very little pressure of my thumb. Not good.

Therefore I´m afraid that crimping should be a problem with 230 gn-.451" sized bullets. I was thinking of resizing the upper portion of the .45 Colt brass by using a .45 acp resizing die so I can properly set the bullet in position without needing crimp but I´m afraid I´ll be going through too much trouble just to use those 230 RN .451" on my .45 Colt.

What do you think?

Thanks again for your responses.
Regards.-