[GRT45]

Originally Posted by SDGlock23

I would have to say that I'm satisfied with a 250gr XTP leaving at over 1,150 fps, that's near 750 ft-lbs. To put that in perspective, that's as fast (or faster) than a .45 ACP 185gr +P and weights 65gr heavier, or the same speed as the 85gr lighter 165gr .40 S&W factory load.

45 Super 250gr XTP at over 1,150 fps yields a Taylor KO Factor (TKOF) of 18.

That is exceptional for 45 Super; better than the top ranked factory ammo for TKOF which is Buffalo Bore at TKOF 17 (45 Super 255gr HC-FN 1075 fps, 654 ft-lbf). TKOF 18 is right up there in the beginning range of .460 Rowland.

I like the option of a heavy jacketed XTP bullet versus hardcast lead from Buffalo Bore. I would buy some of these 45 Super XTP loads if an ammo manufacturer offered it commercially. I may drop a line to Underwood Ammo and link to your post.

Thanks for the report. Good job!

[SDGlock23]

Thank you GRT45, sorry I didn't see your post until now though!

[SDGlock23]

I've got some more .45 Super I'm going to work up, but in the meantime I found a nice little load for the .45 ACP. Shot from a stock Glock 30 Gen4 (3.78" barrel):

250gr Missouri RNFP "PinBuster" hardcast, 7.0gr Power Pistol @ 1.180": 910 fps avg, 3 fps extreme spread!

1.180 was the longest OAL that would chamber in the Glock barrel, I can load them a little longer out of the G21 KKM barrel but what I was looking for I found. And that is a load that packs a good punch, easily capable of dealing with most critters you would come into contact with in the woods, in the lower 48 at least! I feel this is a good solid load in a good carry-able package (G30).

Although I haven't tried them in the Glock barrel yet, the Beartooth 255gr WFN hardcast would be an even better option because 1) it's shorter than the Missouri RNFP and 2) has a larger meplat (flat nose) on it which is better if you want even more damage. As long as it cycled it would be a great choice too for those that only load for the .45 ACP.

[SDGlock23]

Got some beautiful Hunters Supply 275gr FN hardcasts in the mail yesterday!



Very good profile, I can even load them to 1.260" too so that's fantastic. I loaded some up today with them, mainly just to get a base. My goal is 1,100 fps from the 5" KKM, and I'm essentially there, just shy but that's easily fixed. Here's what I have for now:

275gr Hunters Supply, 8.5gr Power Pistol @ 1.260": 1,078 fps (29 fps ES) That's a TKO rating of 19.1!

275gr Hunters Supply, 8.5gr Longshot @ 1.260": 1,075 fps (16 fps ES!)

275gr Hunters Supply, 9.2gr 800x @ 1.260": 1,075 fps (26 fps ES)

275gr Hunters Supply, 10.0gr Blue Dot @ 1.260": 1,009 fps (22 fps ES!)

I sure didn't expect Power Pistol, Longshot and 800x to give me almost identical results. What I'm going to do next is drop the oal to around 1.250" and with both Longshot and Power Pistol work some a 8.4gr, 8.6gr and even try 8.8gr.

Blue Dot did well, just not as well...likely needs more powder! However since there's really not any data out there most of this was just to get an idea of where to go next.

A few little things extra. For a good stout .45 ACP load, a week or two ago I loaded up 7.0gr Power Pistol under a Missouri 250gr RNFP "PinBuster" at 1.180". These are loaded at this OAL only because that's the longest that would chamber in the Glock 30 Gen4. This same load averaged 910 fps from the 3.78" Glock 30 and out of the 5" KKM today, it averaged 975 fps. That's a pretty stout .45 ACP, and honestly, I'm real impressed with this load. I suspect around 950 fps from the Glock 21. Very useful and very potent for sure, and it's caused me to have have a whole new respect for this ole warhorse of a cartridge, just fantastic.

One more. Probably the epitome of useless, but in case you have some 395gr Cast Performance WLNGC bullets laying around and a Ruger to shoot them in, from my 5.5" Bisley:

395gr Cast Performance WLNGC, 19.0gr H110 @ 1.720": 1,007 fps (22 fps ES!)

395gr Cast Performance WLNGC, 16.0gr Lil'Gun @ 1.720": 968 fps (18 fps ES!)

Not real fast, but it's almost 1oz of lead too. I'm sure I could drive it faster but I don't really see a point to it. Just another load that there is almost zero data for. I'm sure I with a 7.5" barrel one could get close to 1,100 fps. But my preferred heavy load for my 5.5" Bisley is:

330gr Beartooth WFNPB, 22gr Lil'Gun @ 1.625": 1,287 fps (29 fps ES)

BUT! This is a .45 Super thread and I'll have more before long.

[dougader]

For Blue Dot, I started with a single line of data from the Real Guns site that lists the Speer 260 grain jhp over 10.4 grains Blue Dot for 979 fps. COL was 1.240" and they used CCI 300 primers.

http://www.realguns.com/loads/45Super.htm

I loaded up the Beartooth 265 grain WFNGC bullets to 1.185" - 1.186", WLP primers and started at 9.3 grains for just over 1,000 fps with a 6" LWD 4-port barrel.

I loaded higher, and liked the velocities (up to 1177 fps) and ES as low as 11 fps, but taking into account that the Real Guns data is targeted for 28,000 psi I decided 1,000 fps was good enough for me.

I'm curious as to why you want to shorten the COL rather than add a little more powder in increments of .01 - .02 grains at a time? I'd think that as long as the rounds feed well I'd leave the COL alone and deal with powder charges instead.

The BD velocities were linear in my loads and fairy close to what I was expecting. Only the ES's were a surprise to me. Just don't switch up on primers with BD, or shoot in very cold weather.

I like the 1.240" COL you are able to use with these Hunter Supply bullets, and the meplat still looks good. Are these gas checked bullets or plain base? They look great either way, and at these relatively moderate velocities I don't see where the gas check is really a necessity.

[SDGlock23]

Originally Posted by dougader

For Blue Dot, I started with a single line of data from the Real Guns site that lists the Speer 260 grain jhp over 10.4 grains Blue Dot for 979 fps. COL was 1.240" and they used CCI 300 primers.

http://www.realguns.com/loads/45Super.htm

I loaded up the Beartooth 265 grain WFNGC bullets to 1.185" - 1.186", WLP primers and started at 9.3 grains for just over 1,000 fps with a 6" LWD 4-port barrel.

I loaded higher, and liked the velocities (up to 1177 fps) and ES as low as 11 fps, but taking into account that the Real Guns data is targeted for 28,000 psi I decided 1,000 fps was good enough for me.

I'm curious as to why you want to shorten the COL rather than add a little more powder in increments of .01 - .02 grains at a time? I'd think that as long as the rounds feed well I'd leave the COL alone and deal with powder charges instead.

The BD velocities were linear in my loads and fairy close to what I was expecting. Only the ES's were a surprise to me. Just don't switch up on primers with BD, or shoot in very cold weather.

I like the 1.240" COL you are able to use with these Hunter Supply bullets, and the meplat still looks good. Are these gas checked bullets or plain base? They look great either way, and at these relatively moderate velocities I don't see where the gas check is really a necessity.

Dougader, generally speaking I load them out about as long as I can so long as they chamber at that OAL. There are instances where I will decrease OAL just slightly as long as there was no pressure signs at the longer OAL. As to why, well I don't have any concrete reason for it, other than seating slightly deeper can increase velocity without adding powder but can also affect how consistent it is. It also adds to it's efficiency although I do understand that it raises pressure somewhat, and sometimes it may benefit reliable functioning. In other words, no real definitive reason, just because.

I did this today with the 275gr Hunters Supply. Instead of 1.260" I wanted to try 1.250" and see what happened. I just so happened to add .3gr more powder as well (Longshot) and from the 5" barrel I averaged 1,137 fps with a 275gr hardcast with an extreme spread of 15 fps. (789 ft-lbs...)

The 275gr are a plain base bullet and has a great profile and I've not noticed any excess leading thus far. Speaking of which, I don't think I'm going go too much further. My goal for this 275gr was 1,100 fps. I know I could get 1150 fps if I upped it to 9.0gr Longshot @ 1.250" but other than "just because", I'm totally satisfied and see no reason to push it any further. Almot 800 ft-lbs with an almost 300gr bullet is pretty darn good to me.

My next post will be the data I collected this afternoon with the 275gr hardcast and the 250gr Speer Gold Dot.

[SDGlock23]

Okay here's the data from the other day. From Gen4 G21 with KKM 4 port barrel (5"). Using new Starline brass and CCI LP primers.

I've used Longshot before with good results, but wanted to try more of it in the Super. Anyways, here's what I got.

250gr Speer Gold Dot, 8.5gr Longshot @ 1.215": 1,122 fps (35 fps ES) That's 699 ft-lbs !

275gr Hunters Supply Hardcast, 8.8gr Longshot @ 1.250":1,137 fps (15 fps ES!) That's 790 ft-lbs! (20.1 TKO rating)

I've got faster with the 250gr XTP but it's shorter than the 250 Gold Dot, which is a rather long bullet. The 1.215" OAL is the longest that will chamber in the G21 KKM barrel, the profile of the 250gr Gold Dot is more blunt, as it's a revolver bullet first and foremost.

However, what I got above is plenty fast, they will come apart in a hurry if driven too fast. To add, I loaded up a 200gr Gold Dot over 10.2gr Power Pistol and while I didn't chronograph it, I suspect to be hovering around 1200 fps from the 5" KKM since 10.5gr got me 1210 from the 4.6" KKM I used to have.

Bullet experienced some failure though since it shed several pedals which tells me ~1200 fps is a touch fast but not overly so, and while I know water jug testing isn't the be all end all of bullet testing, it's a media that's somewhat hard on bullets. So while that doesn't mean it will for sure come apart in flesh and bone, if it stays together in water there's a good chance it will in flesh.

I would say 1100 fps is plenty for the 250gr Gold Dot (and 230gr Gold Dot too). I'm pretty sure there aren't very many animals walking around that a 275gr hardcast at almost 1150 won't sail completely through. My goal was 1100 fps with the 275gr, and I'm beyond that so I probably won't be doing much else to that load, it's more than enough anyways. It's 25gr shy of 300gr and packs almost 800 ft-lbs along with it. Should work quite well