reloading

[4runnerman]

Hi all.New to the forum here.Looking for advice and any help out there.
Reloaded my first rounds yesterday 45 acp 5 grains Unique,200 gr hp-xtp.
Shot very tight groups 2 inch at 25 yards.Problem was- I noticed some flash from action(alsmost like fire) and also had debris come back in my face. All rounds shot very nice,I did notice a lot of black powder burns on out side of cases also. Any ideas?

 

[NCMountain]

Crazy question but did you seat the bullet to proper depth to allow proper burn and pressure to build prior to release of the bullet? I assume you did a factory crimp as well?

Just some throughts.

 

[CrustyFN]

Sounds like your charge is too low. According to the Alliant web site 7.3 grains is max. Reduce that by 10% and that should be your starting load.

Pistols and Revolvers
45 Auto
•200 gr Speer GDHP

Minimum OAL
(inches) Bbl Length Primer Powder Charge Weight
(grains) Velocity
(fps) Print
1.2 4.4 CCI 300 Bullseye 5.8 934 View this recipe
1.2 4.4 CCI 300 Unique 7.3 984 View this recipe
1.2 4.4 CCI 300 Power Pistol 8.3 952 View this recipe
1.2 4.4 CCI 300 Blue Dot 10.5 1,010 View this recipe

 

[rg1]

Charge is definitely too low even for a start charge. I'd say start at 5.5 and work up to approx. 6.8 grains of Unique with the 200 XTP with an overall length at 1.230". At 6.5-6.8 grains you should be in a good pressure range to get best performance and best powder burn with Unique. I'm surprised your pistol even cycled with only 5.0 grains? At 6.8 grains you would be at or near a maximum load. I shoot 230 XTP's up to 6.5 grains of Unique with no problems but it is near maximum for 230's.

 

[4runnerman]

Thanks to all for the sound advice. Like i said im new to this and all i have read says to start low and work your way up to be safe I guess i started to low.I will reload with 5.5 and go from there.Once again Thanks to all

 

[CrustyFN]

4runnerman I was wondering if you have a manual and if so where did you get the 5 grain starting load? It's a good idea to not start below the recommended starting load. You will get a lot of good information from Alliant and Hodgdon's web sites in the reloading data section. Even with all of that information you will want to have at least one good manual. My quote is from the Alliant reloading data section. Welcome to reloading, load safe and have fun.

 

[4runnerman]

Thanks.I do have a manual ,but it does not have a listing for that certain bullet weight using that powder. You guys have been a great help.I will post next week with my new load, 5.5 gns this time. I attached my first load target. this was about 30 feet.View attachment 56023

 

[GeauxTide]

Unique is pretty dirty, but it shoots the 200gr SWC hard cast better than anything else in my pistol. Bump the load up to between 6 and 7gr.

 

[jfrey]

You seem to be a little light on your powder. Try 6.0 gr. and see if it works a little better. You can use more with jacketed bullets. Unique is an old standby powder and it is all I use in my .45 and 9mm loads. I shoot the 200 gr. Berry's FP bullet and it works fine for me. Check your loading manual. The Speer manual has good data on Unique.

 

[azklmsr]

Everyone is on track with the answer. I looked through some of my references. Looks like your load may be below 10,000 psi. Pretty low for that powder, actually any powder. That powder does not get happy until well into the teens. kinda cool to see what happened though.

I accidentally loaded some 200gr LSWC with a very low dose of Titegroup, well below recommended mins. It actually cylced my gun. It was very sunny, and you could see the bullet pass the target. That was pretty slow.

good luck

 

[4runnerman]

hornady 230 fmj-rn

You guys have been a great help(thanks) I have one more for ya. 230 gn hornady FMJ-RN My book says 6.1 for max load and the web page says 7.1. Big difference. Any thoughts on this one. Using Unique powder CCI primer
Thanks
Bruce