Ruger American .45ACP

I just bought a Ruger American in .45ACP. With the intent of shooting cast bullet reloads. I have a couple of bullets/molds, that I have been using in my 1911 pattern guns for the last 50 years, with great success. My favourite is the Hensley and Gibbs #68 a 200 gr. SWC. A long time favourite among .45ACP shooters.

I cannot get that bullet to feed in the American. I get "stove pipes" some times, sometimes the round starts into the chamber, and then jams at about a 45 deg. angle with the rim still in the magazine, I have even had it feed the empty case back into the magazine. I have tried different powder charges, sized the bullets .452 and .451, all to no avail. My alloy is quite hard #2+.

Since I reload for all of my handguns I do not have a large quantity of "store bought" ammo. But what I have used seems to function in the American, I have had a couple instances of shooting about halfway through a magazine and having the slide lock back.

My question is, has anyone loaded cast bullets for the American .45, and if so what worked for you.

As a point of interest, I have had some success loading a Lee bullet for the .45 Colt, it is the 255 grn. RNFP bullet. I would really like to get something in the 200 grain range to work.

Thanks..j

Hey there. I don't have any advice for you other than you should ask this question at the Cast Boolits forum. I'm sure they will get it straightened out fast. I'm a member there under the same name.

castboolits.gunloads.com

I belong to that forum as well, I just thought that someone here might have had the same difficulty with their American .45.

Thanks..j

I'll just add that while I have no experience with the Ruger American (yet), my suspicion is that these modern "duty" pistols aren't designed to feed light 200 swc loads that are typically used for target shooting. I experienced the same thing with my FNX - every round I tried to feed it would just jam up on the shoulder of the bullet. This is the same gun that has successfully fed thousands of rounds of ball ammo, any hollow point I've ever tried, the Lee 255 rnfp, and even the 45-270-SAA Keith style bullets without any malfunction. Basically, I think the manufactures are designing them for duty ammo, not target ammo.

That makes sense to me. I have read a few other folks here saying that their new American didn't like low or modest power ammo but did great with stronger stuff.

I shoot some fairly intense loads in my 1911 pattern guns, and have a 22# Wolf spring and shock buff installed on all of my guns. The load I was trying to get to work in the American, I have chronographed at just over 1000fps in my other guns. That should be sufficient impulse to cycle the action.

I went through my can of .45ACP ammo, and down in the bottom of the ammo can I found a box of 225 gr, RN cast bullet loads, I loaded up back in 1970 when I got my Series 70 colt. I loaded a magazine full of those into the American and went off to see how they worked, They cycled through the gun flawlessly.

I am still in a bit of a quandary over why the H&G 200s wont work.

I ordered up a 230 gr. truncated cone design bullet mold, after the result with the RN bullets this morning, I am fairly confident that should work. Fingers crossed.

41-44-45-48 I have the 45 270SAA bullet mold, I use that in my Redhawk .45Colt. When you load those into .45ACP cases what is your COL. That is a big bullet and takes up a lot of space. What sort of powder charge are you using..?
Thanks..j

I think they were right at max length - 1.25" ish. I remember doing the plunk test while I was seating them and stopped the seating die as soon as they would drop in the chamber. I think I was using unique, starting somewhere around 4.5 gr maybe (don't take my word for it). While it's a heavy bullet, it puts a lot of weight in the nose so it's actually not too bad about case volume. Once I got the load dialed in they were 100% reliable. Those things hit hard too.

The problem with the 200 gr swc I tried in the FNX wasn't the power level, it was the shape of the bullet nose. Even the first one in the magazine wouldn't feed racking the slide by hand. The funny part is they feed just fine in an old Colt that would jam every time on the 45-270-SAA bullets.

My 2 Cents: I run a 250 Gr. LRNFP. For .45lc. Over 5.0 Grs. Uniuqe In My 1911's . Got The Info. Off Here And Has Worked Great for Yrs.

I have loaded the 270 SAA bulet in .45ACP brass for my Blackhawk .45 convertable, I seat them right at the crimp groove over 6 gr. of Unique.
You would think that with the 270 in the designation the bullet would weigh 270 gr., I have talked to a number of folks that have that mold and the lightest weight was 280 gr., my mold produces a nearly 290 gr. bullet, they do hit hard.

I have a 255 gr, RNFP bullet, the ogive on the bullet is a bit off so they feed sometimes and sometimes not.

I also have the 240 gr, .45 Auto Rim bullet, I seat those flush with the front driving band, over 6 gr. of Unique, they function in my 1911 guns just fine, but will not function in the Ruger, This appears to be a case of the COL being too short.

Revolvers are easier, a primer. a bit of powder and any old bullet..they work.

Over time I have shot a bit of everything through the 1911 guns, and did it with reliability, this guns seems to be a bit fussy. Back when I lived in the East, and had only one hand gun, things were simpler. I had a load for my old 1911(not an A1), using a round ball for a percussion revolver, I think the load was 6 gr. of Bullseye, I crimped the ball at the "equator" and they would function through the old gun, made a great small game load.

I read a review on the American 45 done by the fellow on Gunblast, he listed all of the different ammunition he has reliably fired through the gun, the list was some what extensive. One of the loads he mentioned was a 200 gr. SWC, he also listed the new Ruger non metallic ammo, that uses a 115 gr. bullet, some of the Buffalo Bore 255 gr. loads, and a bunch of stuff in between. I am thinking that the weight is not as much of an issue as the bullet shape.

Thank one and all for the feedback..j

PS When I can get the gun to function is is a real shooter, I just need to work my way over this particular "sped bump"..

The next episode in the "saga", I live in the mountains quite a ways out of town so I am prone to make do with what I have. I know that the Buffalo Bore 255 RNFP loads work in the American as per the review on Gunblast. I revisited my 255 grn. RNFP bullet It is the lee mold and just a bit different than the bullet the BB folks use. I loaded one of those bullets into the case and checked chambering, the first attempt did not allow the action to close fully, so I moved the bullet back in increments until it would close, then loaded up several more and hand cycled them through, they chambered, and ejected properly, so I went off the see how they shot.

They all functioned properly, fed and ejected. They shoot a little high, that is to be expected with a heavier bullet.

All in all I am pleased with the result, once again thanks for the input... j

I don't shoot cast lead bullets, haven't since i was shooting black powder. I do however reload for my 45acp guns which are a Ruger SR1911, Ruger SR45, Ruger American 45. I normally use Hodgdon Titegroup and 200gr Rainier RN with a charge of usually 5.2grn. Been using this load for a long time now and i have great results with it. The combo loads and ejects with no problems in all my 45's.

Only thing i can offer is maybe the Ruger American just doesn't like cast lead bullets. Other wise it seems to be a quite good shooting pistol.

The 225 grain .45ACP loads I made up many years ago, all functioned flawlessly in my American, I shot some more of the 255 grain bullets and they all functioned . This gun is a real shooter, I put three shots into about and 8" spot on a big rock out in one of my meadows at 110 of my paces, That was just "flat footed" off hand shooting.

I do not like using that bullet, the ogive is such that it has to go a long way into the case so it will feed. It does feed and shoots very accurately.

I am quite sure that the problem with my 200 gr. SWC is just the shape of the bullet.

A number of folks on the other forums I belong to have had problems feeding SWCs in their various ,45 ACPs, and the preamble in a lot of the loading manuals is that, guns may require modification to reliably feed the SWC design bullets.

My old Colt and my AMT .45s will feed almost anything. And they both have 22# springs, The only modification to my Colt is a good set of adjustable sights, my load for that gun is a 240 gr. Keith SWC over 6 gr. of Unique. The first hand gun killed bear I shot in Alaska was with that gun and load. The AMT is normally loaded with the H&G 200 gr. SWC over 7.5 grains of Unique. I have used those loads for the past 40 years.

I live in the mountains and have numerous encounters with bears and mt. lions, not to mention trying to discourage the wolves from hanging around in my horse pastures. Reliability in my handgun is pretty important for me. I am confident that the new bullet mold I ordered will "sort" this all out.

I like the way my American shoots, and I like the ability to have 11 rounds immediately available.

Thanks ..j

Got my new mold yesterday, it is the Lee 230 gr. truncated cone, they function perfectly. That design has a pretty large meplat which should do a good job on game.

I have a American .45 and shoot cast bullets all the time, 230 grain. I have had no issues.

Ruger Guru

Have you ever shot any 200 gr. bullets? If so what design was the bullet? I have read a number of reviews and the consensus is that the American functions best with bullets in the 225-230 gr. range, at or near full power.