45 ACP Lead bullet

I reload .45 ACP with an italian brand bullet, Lead .452" 200 gr SWC how accurate the same by SPEER now available in Italy ? Someone  use it in competition at 25 yards?

The Speer is a Swaged bullet and is reasonably accurate.  Some pistols like them some don’t.  Is this Italian brand bullet cast or swaged?

Swaged soft lead can be superby accurate at 50 yards but requires special loading procedures. The problem is standard dies and expanders are set for .451 jacketed and this swages a soft bullet during seating. This gives both leading and poor precision.

Either use an oversize resizing die like the Hornady 454 Casull die or make sure your expander plug is .452 or larger and is as lng as the bullet bearing surface.

For 0.001" larger bullet, no special actions are needed, OTHER than what you should do any way with all lead bullets: seat the bullet, crimp, pull bullet, ensure bullet diameter is the same.
1) you can order special expander plugs. Target is 0.001-0.002" smaller than actual bullet diameter.
2) Swaged commercial bullets are almost universally 11-13 BHN, same as all my cast bullets have been for decades. If you wonder, write to the manufacturer and find out.
3) Hornady and Speer swaged bullets in .45 and .38 wadcutter have been extremely poor compared to Zero and Precision Delta swaged bullets. Magnus is also better.
4) Except for bullets I cast myself and quality control myself, commercial cast bullets are generally not close to the accuracy of swaged bullets--and isn't that the goal of the competition?

Used Speer at 50 Yards. Did well. Same or higher score on target as 22 LR.  The 45 cuts a bigger hole then 22.  The 45 can nick the next higher scoring ring.

>Used Speer at 50 Yards. Did well.


Great. Compared to other swaged bullets of the same weight? Compared to jacketed bullets of the same weight?
Just like to know. As I said, Speer and Hornady weren't worth my buying compared to Zero, Precision Delta, or Precision Bullets (Texas). Groups were 25-100% larger for me. YMMV.

200 gr home cast.  Any cast bullet may contain an air bubble.

In Italy can only find cast bullet 45 ACP in .451.. in USA the standard is .452 any reason?

The bullet making company bought the wrong sizing die?

Greetings,

The Italian Pardini GT45 has a groove diameter of 0.450". At least the ones I measured.

In the USA, most match barrels are 0.451" and throated for 0.452" Lead bullets.

Cheers,

Dave