reloading 45acp

The place to discuss reloading techniques.

Moderators: Bullseye, Moderators

User avatar
Bullseye
Site Admin/Host
Site Admin/Host
Posts: 6382
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 12:23 pm
Location: USA

Post by Bullseye » Mon Aug 11, 2008 10:09 am

No I haven't tried one of these FP stops.

R,
Bullseye
Image

User avatar
bearandoldman
Ye Loquacious Olde Pharte
Ye Loquacious Olde Pharte
Posts: 4194
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:30 am
Location: Mid Michigan

Post by bearandoldman » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:02 pm

Bullseye wrote:No I haven't tried one of these FP stops.

R,
Bullseye
By decreasing the leverage on the hammer it makesw a light spring act heavier. It will also reduce muzzle dip as the slide goes forward because you can use a lighter spring. It was LMB's original design, but the Army made him chane it bedause it maked the gun harder to hand cock by using the slide to load anc chamber.
You have great day and shoot straight and may the Good Lord smile on you.
Image

Adam67
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:57 pm

Post by Adam67 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:43 pm

Bullseye wrote:4.2 should be fine for that spring. Are you having functioning problems? If you are - How does it feed/chamber with the extractor removed?

R,
Bullseye
Well nothing serious....I've had a couple of occasions where the gun has failed to cycle all the way back to battery (I think that's how you say that). Basically the slide did not go all the way back so when I tried to fire the next round I just got a "click" since the hammer failed to make contact with the firing pin. I believe that those occurred with some 3.9gr loads I was trying. The gun is new though and my need some break-in time since it is fairly tight.

User avatar
kardar
New member
New member
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:22 pm
Location: Mississauga

Post by kardar » Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:19 pm

Hi Adam

A friend of mine bought a Kimber recently. She was told to shoot about 500 factory rounds for it to settle down. What does Springfield recommend?
Regards,
Kardar

User avatar
bearandoldman
Ye Loquacious Olde Pharte
Ye Loquacious Olde Pharte
Posts: 4194
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:30 am
Location: Mid Michigan

Post by bearandoldman » Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:17 pm

I use Alliant Green Dot 6.5 grains with 200 grain LSWC and it runs just fine in my SA Parkerized Loaded, my SA Micro Compact and My SA Custom Shop V-10. I have never really done any break in, I just take them out and shoot them and do not count rounds or look for problems that really do not exist, and as long as it ain't broke I don;t fix it either.
You have great day and shoot straight and may the Good Lord smile on you.
Image

User avatar
kardar
New member
New member
Posts: 6
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:22 pm
Location: Mississauga

Post by kardar » Mon Aug 11, 2008 2:47 pm

I have similar experience with my CZ97B. It will function with any factory ammo and most of my reloads. I have had issues only when I try to shoot my BE reloads in it.
I shoot my CZ97B for IPSC.

Adam67
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:57 pm

Post by Adam67 » Mon Aug 11, 2008 5:01 pm

kardar wrote:Hi Adam

A friend of mine bought a Kimber recently. She was told to shoot about 500 factory rounds for it to settle down. What does Springfield recommend?
Regards,
Kardar
Well there are two schools of thought on that. 1) Shoot full factory loads for the first 300-500 rounds to "break it in". 2) It should work properly right out of the box as long as its set up properly. Not sure who is right on this one. Seems to me a "custom accurized" gun may very need a little break in time since it has much tighter tolerances. A factory Mil-Spec should work right out of the box IMHO. Mine had a slide-to-frame fit job performed on it by Springfield's Custom Shop.....so she's fairly tight.

stork
Advanced contributor
Advanced contributor
Posts: 333
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:12 am
Location: North Dakota

Post by stork » Wed Aug 13, 2008 12:26 pm

Adam,
If I missed this info in a prior post, my apologies.

How is your Springfield set up?

Open sight's or Dot?

If a dot,
Slide mount or frame mount?

Are you using any buffers?

Your 4.2 gr WST with a 200 SWC should be a very accurate load. However, if you're not using a slide mounted dot the spring weight sounds a little light. For the 50 yard line I use 4.3 WST with a 200 gr H&G 68 crimped to .468 and use a Sprinco 13# spring with a slide mount. For 50' and 25 yard I use 3.5 gr Bullseye with a 195 gr H&G 130 and crimped to .465. By the end of a 2700 match the 3.5 gr load is marginal to cycle the action if I haven't done a little cleaning between the Centerfire match and the 45 match.

If you're using a frame mount or open sights I would bump up the spring wieght to a 15 to 16 1/2# spring. You may be battering your frame & slide much more than is good for it with that light of a spring.

My current wad gun started out as a "Loaded" Springfield. It was a 6-8" gun at 50 yards. After I had the frame/slide tightened, a new trigger installed, new trigger spring, fitted the mainspring housing, installed a fitted slide stop, installed a Clark slide mount and 1" Ultra Dot with a 12# Wolf recoil spring, and had a Kart match barrel installed. It converted that particular unit to a <2" wad gun.

That was nearly 35,000 rounds ago. I had the Kart replaced last year in preparation for Camp Perry as it had increased to a consistent 4" with an occational 3" group @ 50 yards. It is now back to a consistent <2" gun. I also went to a 13# spring instead of my standard 12#. I found my groups were a little tighter with the extra spring weight. I change my recoil spring every 5,000 rounds.

My hard ball gun also has had the same treatment with the exception of the sights and spring. I use an 18# spring for both hardball and my long line load of 4.3 WST with no function problems what-so-ever.

Bullseye is by far the hardest shooting sport I have ever participated in. It can be so exasperating one string and a real ego booster the next one.

FWIW
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” – George Washington

Adam67
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:57 pm

Post by Adam67 » Wed Aug 13, 2008 5:38 pm

She's a Springfield Loaded Target SS. She's had a "Slide to Frame" fit job performed by Springfield's Custom Shop. Original barrel and bushing. Open sights right now but plan to add an Ultradot Matchdot to the slide in the near future. You say the spring is probably to light for open sights? The brass appears to be flying about the right distance.

stork
Advanced contributor
Advanced contributor
Posts: 333
Joined: Tue Aug 16, 2005 10:12 am
Location: North Dakota

spring weight

Post by stork » Thu Aug 14, 2008 12:05 pm

Adam,
Your 45 will function with a spring that's on the light side, however, using a spring thats too light will batter the slide and frame much more than it should be. You want to preserve that nice tight fit that you paid $$ for.

I was told that the correct spring weight is heavy enough so that the brass just piles up right next to you and slightly behind, provided the extractor and ejector are tuned. Also, if you limp wrist the firearm, the slide may not lock back after the last shot is fired.
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government.” – George Washington

Adam67
Regular contributor
Regular contributor
Posts: 69
Joined: Wed Mar 12, 2008 3:57 pm

Re: spring weight

Post by Adam67 » Mon Aug 18, 2008 11:16 am

stork wrote:Adam,
Your 45 will function with a spring that's on the light side, however, using a spring thats too light will batter the slide and frame much more than it should be. You want to preserve that nice tight fit that you paid $$ for.

I was told that the correct spring weight is heavy enough so that the brass just piles up right next to you and slightly behind, provided the extractor and ejector are tuned. Also, if you limp wrist the firearm, the slide may not lock back after the last shot is fired.
Thanks.....I've been playing around with it. It appears to be working just fine with a 14lb although I did see another (one) failure to go back to battery out of about 15 shots fired with that spring.....that's still too often. Maybe it just needs a little more break in. Or, the ammo I'm using seems a little on the dirty side. Which is odd, WST is supposed to be fairly clean. I put the 16lb in and shot some factory 230gr FMJ's.....those all worked flawlessly (in a very clean and well oiled gun).

Post Reply