reloading .45acp with speer 185g SWC bullets using bullseye powder.

I only have two reloading books and the recomended starting load is WAY diffrent.

I loaded a few with the lower of the two (4.2g) but would like someone to check in another book or two to give me an idea what I need.

the books I have are the lee modern reloading and the hornaday handgun reloading.

I do plan on getting more load books (I have one that should be here this week)

Thanks in advance

The 185 gr lead swc cast bullet with bullseye starts at 3.5 gr.,this give a 734 fps(very lite target load) in my very old speer no.8 book. If you are using a jacketed bullet you will need to load hotter. If shooting a 1911 type auto u may need more powder to work the slide.

its a jacketed round.. so 4.2 SHOULD work.

I also want to find the lightest load to reliably work the slide so I can use it to introduce some friends to shooting.
(my friends wife is scared of guns but shows some interest in overcoming the fear)

Bullseye From 3.5 grains to 7.0 grains
CCI-300 Primer

got to the range today.

the 4.2 was JUST enough to cycle the slide. in fact at the last round it didnt have enough to work the slide back to lock open. the 4.6 just had enough to lock it.

I think a few more 1/10ths of a grain should be great to introduce my friend to shooting.

I think I am starting to get the hang of this reloading thing.

till next time

You might need to switch to a lighter recoil spring if you want to shoot really light loads in your .45acp.

I was thinking that but this load is pretty mild as it is.

I will load up some 4.9g and see how that does when I hit the range tomorrow.

I' also playing around with some 200g flat point that seems to work pretty good.

now I just need a nice bench rest to work on accurate loads.