Reloading Gurus - Need help

[Griff]

It's second-guess myself time. I'm pretty certain I'm ok, but am curious what those computerized load modeling softwares might say.

Here's what I loaded: 160gr roundish flat nose in a Cowboy45Special case with 4.4 grains of RedDot with WLR primers. The only load I had to go off of was a 200 grain bullet in a 45ACP case with 4.5 grains of RedDot. Since the C45S is the same case capacity as the ACP, I figured the slightly shorter bullet, and the powder charge I selected will be roughly equivalent to that 200 gr in pressure and fps.

What say you with those dandy, fancy calculators? Am I still in Colt SAA territory, or did I venture into Ruger-land?

[Terry Murbach]

NOPE. THAT IS A PRETTY WIMPY LOAD ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. YOUR THOUGHT PROCESSES ON IT WERE RIGHT ON TARGET THOUGH.

[Griff]

Thanks Terry, I loaded 103 of them for a cowboy match near Carson City, NV on Sunday. So they only have to go "ding" on steel at ridiculously short ranges, bit I'm SURE I'll still find a way to miss a few!

[Terry Murbach]

I GUARENTEE YOU THEY'LL FLY AT LEAST 75' ......

[Griff]

I GUARENTEE YOU THEY'LL FLY AT LEAST 75' ......

[JerryB]

75FEET!!! Griff what more could you want? At least you know they'll leave the barrel and not fall at your feet.

[earlmck]

Griff, if you really want to find out what the ballistics programs think about your load we would need a leetle more info. Like -- water capacity of the empty case, level full; length of the bullet; overall length of the loaded cartridge.

I guessed that you had a loaded length of 1.275 for both the 200 grain load and the 160 grain load and the QuickLoad wizard guessed you'd have about 900 fps from either load but the 160 grain load would be under 9K psi while the 200 grain load was over 13K psi. So we are guessing you have a real mild load there but it should still ping pretty good at 25 yards.

Good luck in Carson City and if you run into old LeverBob, give him a "howdy" from the bunch here.

[Griff]

Griff, if you really want to find out what the ballistics programs think about your load we would need a leetle more info. Like -- water capacity of the empty case, level full; length of the bullet; overall length of the loaded cartridge.

I guessed that you had a loaded length of 1.275 for both the 200 grain load and the 160 grain load and the QuickLoad wizard guessed you'd have about 900 fps from either load but the 160 grain load would be under 9K psi while the 200 grain load was over 13K psi. So we are guessing you have a real mild load there but it should still ping pretty good at 25 yards.

Good luck in Carson City and if you run into old LeverBob, give him a "howdy" from the bunch here.

Thanks Earlmck. In the old Hodgdon book I found, it listed 4.5gr of RedDot @ 901fps. Pretty good "guess"! Since I gotta keep 'em below 1000fps for the pistol, I'm hoping that only droppin' a tenth is still there around 900, even with the lighter bullet. Using the highly accurate and consistent "eyeball" measuring device, I estimated my load density @ 50%.

That just might happen. Sending him a pm now...