I was working up a load for 45acp tonight. I have more than a few options.



Do you usually load the all the ammo for a gun the same (max power and accuracy)?

OR

Do you load some have less powerful loads for practice and some more powerful loads for personal protection, and some other load for what ever competition you attend?



I am considering working up A hot load that is reasonably accurate. I could use that one load for everything under the sun.



But another part of me says it would be cheaper, if make a functional (low to medium power), reasonably accurate load. I could use a good bit less powder over a couple thousand rounds. And then load just a few high power loads for those times when I need it.



What ya think?

I load different bullets for defense than plinking. But then I'm ok with marginal accuracy with my plinking rounds.
Gene

I tend to make up loads that I need for that gun. That becomes evident with use.

My 38 Colt snub, as example, I only have one load for. It's the lead practice round to shoot in similar fashion to the factory loads I carry for defense.

The Deer rifle has 2 loads. One powder charge for deer, utilizing a couple different bullets (Long range - regular range). Then there's a small game load for taking camp meat while afield.

The 45 Bisely has a number of loads because it's a What-Not gun. A shot load, a squirrel load, a practice long range load, a "short Magnum", and a heavy magnum.

Well this is how I do it. Every rifle I have has been purchased for a specific task in mind. Example: my 7mm Rem Mag launches a Premium bullet at good velocity and it will do for deer or elk (if I have to) all day long. If I see a coyote I will pound him too using the same load. I will not develop a load for that task. All my rifles are set up that way.

Now my handguns are different. I have plinking loads for them and full power loads also. This way I stay profficient. As far as defense...only factory loads.

I tend to be a one load and use it for everything kind of person. If I find a niche in my firearm coverage, I use that as an excuse to buy another gun.

ddunn...let me be specific for your 45acp. If you shoot nothing but full-house (I hate the term "max loads") in your pistol you will beat it to death eventually. I have two loads I use....a full-house load that gives me 100% feeding and reliability along with reasonable accuracy and a range load that is very accurate. I trade out the springs when I go to the range and when I'm finished I put the full-house springs back in and fire a magazine to get every thing "seated" and to check zero.

The 1911 is a wonderous piece of equipment....dont leave home without it....my current one is a much tuned Combat Commander LightWeight.

For most of my handguns, I usually use two loads.

The first is a high performance load for whatever serious purpose the handgun is intended for. Maximum loaded defense or hunting loads, or carefully prepared target loads.

The second load for the same handgun would be more "economical" in some way or another to be worth fooling with. Maybe in bullet cost, maybe in recoil, perhaps noise.

In the semi-auto's, I use about the same power level for good function, but cheaper bullets like FMJ practice loads. An example is my 1911 .45ACP with factory loads. I use WW230 HP's for full power loads, and the WW230FMJ's for the range. Similar ballistics and POI, but 50% less cost to shoot. Reduced loads in semi-auto's have just led to frustration for me.

The revolvers are normally loaded down for quieter, more comfortable practice. I shoot .38Specials through my .357Mag and shoot .44Specials and .44Mags through the .445 Supermag. The downside is a change in POI.

I am sort of drifting toward having one load per handgun at this point, since I don't blow the amount of ammo I used to and economy isn't that important when you only shoot a few rounds. Having similar pistols in different calibers drives this, too. I have a Beeman P1 pellet pistol, a Ruger .22/45 .22 rimfire handgun and a 1911 .45 that all handle and point about the same and that helps me avoid having to download the .45 for a lot of practice.

In my rifles, I try to optimise a load for the rifle and shoot everything with it. Most stuff I shoot is relatively small and doesn't seem to care much which rifle I'm using anyway. If a particular rifle doesn't work, I just use a different rifle that does.

I started out with two loads per rifle, trying to have overlap, so I could carry a spare rifle on every hunt, and/or a rifle for my wife. My .35Whelen had a heavy 'bear/moose' load and a light, reduced 'deer load' (in case my .280 croaked). Then, my .280 had a varmint load (in case my .22-250 got broke), and deer load, and a heavy load to back up the Whelen if needed. Ad nauseum . . .

I finally gave all that up and streamlined. The .35W works OK for almost anything I might shoot with a 225PAR, as does the .30-06 with a 165PAR, a .280 with a 150PAR, the .260 with a 125PAR, etc.. I found it too confusing to keep track of different loads and too complicated to find a second rifle load that works well with the primary load and sight settings.

I've also found that bullets outside the mid-range weight for the caliber often leave something to be desired. Light 'varmint' bullets in the .280, for example, slow down quick and dropped ferociously, making distant hits actually easier with a regular deer bullet.

I load ammunition with one objective in mind, and that is optimum performance for a specific set of tasks.

Once I established an accurate, safe, maximum-performance hunting load for an individual rifle, for example, I stick with that one load for as long as I own that rifle, or until the barrel needs to be replaced.

I don't 'load-down' for any firearms I own. I want to practice with the exact-same ammunition (or equivalent) I plan to use when the game is for keeps. How can you get to know a firearm any other way?

I don't use handloaded ammunition in my carry guns, due to legal considerations that have court precedent behind them, and this aspect of strategy should be taken very, very seriously by anyone who carrys a handgun for personal defense. Civil court lawyers will create a fiasco over "hot-loaded" or "specially-destructive" ammunition that's used in a self-defense shooting by you, the defendent, and you don't want to deal with that kind of stuff.........

However, I handload practice ammunition that shoots and performs exactly the same as the factory stuff I use when I carry. This concept is the only way to go in my estimate.

AD

A great 45 target load is a 200 lead swc and 5 grains of bullseye. Its a real goto load for comp shooters. Other than that I completely agree with the legal issues of reloaded ammo for defense and one load per rifle.

For pistol loads, I usually load for plinking/target & then another for hunting. I use factory ammo for SD, some say for legal reasons, but I shoot very little factory ammo & find it hard to beat for reliability & perf.
For rifle loads, I load for perf. whether hunting or target. I am also in the never download camp, if I want to shoot something that kicks less I drop to a smaller caliber.

For the auto pistols, I usually stick to one bullet weight (115 - 9mm, 200 - 45) and see which powder works best. For the revolvers, it's usually light practice loads for cast bullets, and one jacketed bullet weight (125 - 357, 210 - 41, 240 - 44) at 'full' power (not necessarily max load). The rifles are where I'm going back to basics. For a long time I tried to load all sorts of loads for the rifles, and ended up finding out a little bit about a lot of different loads, and not really knowing jack squat about any particular one. So for the future I'm going to stick to 168gr bullets in the 308, 180gr bullets in the 30-06, and 250gr bullets in the 340.

Every load is based on a fantasy that it will be a:

1) carry load

2) deer hunting load

3) prarie dog hunting load.



1) I have never used a gun to defend myself

2) I have never been deer hunting

3) I have not shot a prairie dog in 20 years.



That doesn't stop me from working up loads.

I usually have just one load per gun - 5.0 gr of Titegroup with a 200 gr RNFP in my .45 acp, 85 gr of IMR 7828 with a 180 gr Nosler Partition in my .300 Wthby, 28 gr of H-335 with a 40 gr BT or V-Max in my Savage .223, 27 gr of H-335 with a 50 gr TNT in my CZ .223, etc. I do have two loads for my .30-06 = 52 gr of IMR 4064 with a 150 gr Ballistic TIp or 55 gr of H 4350 with a 180 gr Hornady Interlock.

Have used 11.3 max of Power Pistol with a 185gr Golden Saber for the 45 Super. Will stay at 10.7 feel's more reliable and will stay with that bullet also unless the Golden Saber Ultra gets out. But you mentioned just as my signature is and my 7mags all three since 1972, I have used H4831-69.8grs and a 139gr Hornady

I always load one load for each gun but each caliber I own has a specific use, so the caliber is bought for a specific range of game and I load the bullet accordingly. I am a little funny in that I also like to load the caliber with a bullet that it is traditionally for eg; .458 lott has a load worked for the 500 gr woodleigh soft.

Ed, Are you of the opinion that each caliber handles a specific weight bullet better than others? I'd like your thoughts (and everyone elses) on the following match-ups: 22-250 (52gr), 257 Roberts (100 grs), 270 Win. (130 gr), 7mm-08 (139 gr), 7mm Rem Mag (162 gr), 300 H&H (180 gr), 375 H&H (300 gr).
Do caliber "designers" design a "best" bullet match-up for a caliber?
Jim

I do two loads for some, one load for others.

I have 2 loads for my carry pistol. A low-powered, lead bullet, low cost plinking load, and a JHP, higher powered defense load.

I have 2 loads for my .308 rifle. A .30-30 level plinking load and a normal power hunting load.

All others, 1 load.

Jim,

I think that they basically do design bullets to calibers I would think that in the .375 H&H for example that the 270 & 300 gr bullets would be of tougher structure than say the 235 gr variety. Also I feel that calibers naturally adhere themselves to an "optimum" bullet weight, all though bullets such as the Barnes X are changing the rules there slightly.