SR1911 barrel

[VA Shooter]

Have any of you all sluged your SR1911 barrel? I'm thinking about casting for mine and wondered what you all came up with

 

[The Blackhawk Kid]

JMHO, cast bullets don't shoot well in my 1911's. I have Colt's, Para Ord's, Wilson, Baer,Glock etc. FMJ jacketed just work better.

 

[novalty]

JMHO, cast bullets don't shoot well in my 1911's. I have Colt's, Para Ord's, Wilson, Baer,Glock etc. FMJ jacketed just work better.

Say what?

Think at least 1 or 2 people are happy with 200gr. LSWC's. What were you using for cast bullets Blackhawk Kid?
Typically sized to .452 and "plunk" tested for correct crimp and OAL, and you are good-to-go.

 

[Pocketfisherman]

The most accurate bullets I shoot in my 1911's are cast 200gr SWC with a flat base. From a rest at 25 yds, 1.5" 5 shot groups are the norm from my Rock River Arms wad gun, and 2.5" from my Kimber. My Ruger 1911 does about 3" with the same load. I buy cast bullets sized to .452 for all my 1911s.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Typically sized to .452 and "plunk" tested for correct crimp and OAL, and you are good-to-go.

What is 'plunk' tested? I don't load 45 acp but curious. I usually just look at the profile real good and push down on the bullets to make sure they are secure. :D

 

[LaneP]

I haven't slugged my SR1911 CMD but I started out loading mainly commercial cast 225gr .452" flat point bullets using Bullseye, W231 and more recently WST. I'm not on my home computer at the moment or I'd tell you the brand of cast bullet.

In every case no matter how I tweaked and fiddled with charge weights or seating depth I would get leading in the first inch or so past the throat.

Ended up getting an Ed Brown match barrel for it. Fitted that (it's a great barrel) and still the same leading.

Finally on a whim I ordered a Lee push-through sizer in .451" and ran a batch of bullets through. Leading in the barrel throat disappeared. I honestly don't know why that would be the case but now I take every batch of 500 cast .452" bullets, run it through that sizer and they work great.

One thing common to both the original Ruger barrel and the Ed Brown replacement is COL tends to be short. I test drop a seated bullet to check for proper chambering before setting the seating stem and if I have much more than 1/32" of bore diameter bullet surface outside the case mouth I will get frequent failures to fully lock up.

So that's my experience with that pistol up to now. Shoots great, and using one of those commercial cast 225 gr FP's sized to .451" over WST that pistol groups awesome.

 

[LaneP]

Typically sized to .452 and "plunk" tested for correct crimp and OAL, and you are good-to-go.

What is 'plunk' tested? I don't load 45 acp but curious. I usually just look at the profile real good and push down on the bullets to make sure they are secure. :D

That's a reference to using the chamber of your pistol as a gauge to check the OAL loaded length of the seated bullet.

Remove barrel, drop loaded round in chamber. The round with seated bullet should fall to the same depth as would an empty, resized case.

This is preferable to using a case gauge because it takes into account the idiosyncrasies of your particular barrel, throat length, etc.

 

[WESHOOT2]

I have and shoot lead bullets in my Kart and BarSto and EAA Witness barrels, sized from .4505" to .4535".

Successfully.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

Typically sized to .452 and "plunk" tested for correct crimp and OAL, and you are good-to-go.

What is 'plunk' tested? I don't load 45 acp but curious. I usually just look at the profile real good and push down on the bullets to make sure they are secure. :D

That's a reference to using the chamber of your pistol as a gauge to check the OAL loaded length of the seated bullet.

Remove barrel, drop loaded round in chamber. The round with seated bullet should fall to the same depth as would an empty, resized case.

This is preferable to using a case gauge because it takes into account the idiosyncrasies of your particular barrel, throat length, etc.

Oh, OK. Same as checking to make sure they chamber ok. :D

 

[novalty]

Here is a picture example of what the "plunk test" is looking to accomplish with semi-autos. Typically seen it referred to as the "plunk" test, as it is the sound you can get when you drop the round into the barrel.

 

[anachronism]

Every gun barrel has the potential to be different, and totally unique. I have one 45 that will chamber .453 easily, and another that's pretty snug at .452. The only way you'll know what you have is to slug your own particular barrel. Another pitfall is excessive taper crimping with lead bullets, and of course use of the infamous LEE FCD.

 

[jimbo1096]

I have a fairly tight chamber and found rounds that chamber easily in the Colt 1991 won't lock up in the Ruger. I have to go with a light taper crimp with the Lee factory crimp die and then 'plunk' test every round to make sure they chamber properly. If there is any iregularity in the case, slight bulge or lead shaving on the case mouth, it has to go through the Lee factory sizer die.
I had problems with the Rainer clad too.