Has anyone had experience shooting cast bullets in the RIA 1911 GI or similar models in the 38 Super.

I am wondering if any of the typical style cast bullets work best or worse. I am interested in 115gr to 125gr wad cutters or round nose as well as semi wad cutters. The next bullet weight would be 135gr to 150gr. I am interested in low to mid-range target loads for punching paper at 50 to 75 feet.

I am concerned from some of what I have heard, that lead bullets can be very hard to get to feed well. Some suggest the over all length of cast bullet cartridge is critical to good feeding and can be difficult to determine.

Any help that can make a switch to cast bullets some time in the future will be appreciated.

The only cast bullets I've ever shot out of a semiautomatic are semi. I wouldn't try anything else because of the automatic loading, if it's just paper punching, a semi wad cutter should serve your purpose just fine -- clean cut with a black hole blow out.

I've only shot wad cutters from a revolver, still if you completely seat the bullet well back into the casing, the action of the semi auto should still function. But trying that method could lead to over pressure, so go with as low a grain powder measure that will cycle the weapon.

For range testing, make only 10 rnds with the various combinations of bullet type, weight, powder charge, and bullet seat. Use 5 rnds starting from the "weakest energy", and pick the best and shoot the other 5 rnds of the 3 best combinations of the 10 (yes, do 10 different loads). If you want to go full wad cutter, I think the 135gr will serve you best, a whole lot of play you can get with the lighter bullet.

You own a bullet puller, right?

Scrappy1

I did just what you suggested. My full wad cutter seated flush with the case mouth work fine. The semi wad cutter noses protuded far enough when the full diameter portion was seated flush with the case mouth that they still got stuck with the bullet nose hitting the ramp of the frame. Round nose bullets feed well although they do take a hit on the ramp leaving a pretty good dent.

Truncated cone shapes generally work well.

are you part of the post 435 gun club by any chance in south lakeville?

I have shot your basic shit load of cast bullets in 1911 based Supers ... a couple of hundred thousand worth.

As I was shooting IPSC at the time, they were all HOT rounds (beyond +P+) and the guns were built with ramped barrels and chambered with a Nonte reamer. The Nonte headspaces on the mouth of the case rather than on the rim. Have shot RNs, conicals, and SWCs.

A good smith can do the mouth of the barrel (called throating) so that things feed well. The risk is that if you do it this way, if you stick a hot round in the pistol you may get a taste of "Super Face" when the unsupported portion of the case cuts loose.

Best to install a ramped barrel. I like Nowlins. They are very accurate and hold up well. Uses the same ramp cut as the Wilson. I found that Clark's did not ... to soft ... and uses a different ramp cut to the frame. I believe Kart barrels also use the Wilson ramp and I've heard good things about them.

I found that Remington +P brass was best. Winchester is thinner. Starline is soft.

I developed a load for my Colt that used 250 lead RN hard cast that was reliable when the bullets were sized to fit the bore.

When pistols were legal in the UK I used to load a 120 grain BB-SWC (Hensley and Gibbs #267 cast in linotype to give the 120 grains weight) over 4.7 grains of Bullseye in a Colt 1911A1 38 Super Match. These were sized to .354" and my notes say: "Very, very accurate - all touching in a two inch ten round group". Distance would have been twenty yards and all firing done offhand.

i used to shoot a lot of 115 grain lead bullets in my colt combat elite 38 super. no problems.