Loading for the ACP Revolver

Okay you revolver shooters.   Tell us what works in your Model 25/1955 S&W revolvers.  Anything to be gained in using AR brass?  Same bullet and load for 50 and 25?  Flat base or bevel base   Any gun specifics outside of uniformity in the cylinder throats?  How have you cut your forcing cone?  Anything to true the muzzle?  Will your hand loaded rounds headspace properly without moon clips?

They do go bang without a moony in mine, but I never checked it for accuracy, it was just to blow off rounds that were a little tight in the case gauge.

I shoot the same ammo that I load for the 1911s, and they shoot just fine. I have shot it during CF matches, loading five in the moonies, and rotating the cylinder to close with the hammer over the empty cylinder. Don't know why you wouldn't want to use them they are very convenient.

 I have lots of clips, so I go to the match with all the ammo I need for the whole match loaded in the moonies,  then I don't have to mess with loading/de-mooning. Clips are cheap.

Will your loads hold X ring or at least sub 10 ring at 50?

Mine will axe. 3.8 gr BE behind a 200 gr LSWC. Use the moon clips they make it super fast. I shot my 1955 last Nov. for the whole 45 match. I was waiting on the shooters with magazines.

Len



Did you pick up that beauty on the Ruger forum?

Axe, this is 4.8 BE with Hornady 200 JSWC.  The 1955 is a very early one.  According to the collector type guys on the SW forum, few are known to be older.  BTW I shot those 5 off hand at 50 yds.  And I have another 4 shot group similar in size but not centered.  I was on that day.

I have a Model 25-2 being mailed to me this week.  One of my goals is to break 2600 with revolvers.  They will have red dots on them, not interested in irons sights.  I really wish the NRA had a revolver designation for Bullseye.

Made a good trade offer and thought I had it.  Just got a message that he got the cash offer he was looking for.  Just as well for me.  That gun was a cherry safe queen that needed to go to a collection.  I'd have shot the blue off it over the winter.

Still need elaboration on your loads though.  Got a club member working on revolver shooting...

Axehandle wrote:Will your loads hold X ring or at least sub 10 ring at 50?

You see that I'm a Marksman, so I obviously can't hold X or 10 ring. I was saying that the common 3.8 Bullseye for 200 lswc works the same in the revolver as the auto for me. I was just suggesting to try your auto load, and it might work, and to go with the moonies.

Come on now KenO.   Classification has nothing to do with it.   Any serious shooter knows how well his loads perform in his gun!   Marksman, Sharpshooter, Expert, Master, High Master,..  Got to remove that loose nut holding the grip before we know what the ammo will really do! 

Moon clips work and most 625 will fire without them, HOWEVER, A bent moon clip can mess up your sustained fire.  A short round or long can have issues.  I bought a bunch of Auto Rim as soon as I started shooting serious.  They are easy to load and I prefer them to ACP with moons.

 
When I started working on my Distinguished Revolver badge, I noticed how fun shooting revolvers were. And then, when the NRA created the Metallic Sights and Production Divisions, I knew what my new goal was: Winning Production Division at Camp Perry with stock revolvers.  I have my .22 and  my .38 pretty much dialed in
I came across the "Babe" article where he talked about the reloads he used to make 2650 with his revolvers. One big point he made and I’ve found in some research I did on pre-war bullseye shooting which was done with revolvers is linotype. The bullets used in revolvers as far as what I’ve found had to be hard, real hard in order to avoid getting deformed when passing through the forcing cone. According to my research, the most accurate bullets in revolvers were cast with linotype from the H & G #130 and #78 molds. These bullets had longer bearing surfaces and therefore, more stability when passing through the rifling. The long bullet shape also meant that they could be seated further down in the case to take up more of that extra room and therefore use lighter loads.
  As far as powders go, it seems like it’s mostly up to personal preference, as the revolvers can use slower burning powders than the 1911 guys without any cycling issues. I prefer N310 for the 50 yard line and Power Pistol for the short line, as the quicker powder really torques my wrist. It’s just not as controllable for the sustained fire stages, so I went with a very low “Powder Puff” load, which will at least hold the 10 ring. I use Autorim brass as I have found multiple cases where they are preferable over moon clips. Mostly in the extra variable that the moon clip adds to the equation.
 Currently, for slow fire, I’m shooting the Magnus hard cast 200 grain SWC #802 bullet over 3.7 grains of Vit N310 with Winchester Large Pistol Primers. I seat em to about .001-.002 from the shoulder with a moderate taper crimp. This load, from the bench, went into 2.96 inches for 10 rounds, but I also suspect my gun has some issues. My short line load is a 165 grain full wadcutter I’ve found from Matt’s Bullets which has a longer bearing surface than the typical 185 grain SWC’s out there. This gives me more reliable ignition, as it’s a lot deeper in the case.  I put 3.6 grains of Power Pistol under that with the WLP primer and all brass is Starline.
  I did a lot of testing from the bench with an Ultradot Matchdot 2 and found a very nice, 10X shooting load with nearly zero recoil, which was a 185 grain SWC over 3.4G of Power Pistol. But, when I started testing larger batches, elevation was an issue, as it would occasionally lob a low visible miss or more often an eight or seven. There was also a whole lot of un-burnt powder, so I tried Winchester primers instead of CCI. This helped but didn’t eliminate the random flyers, so I tried the 165 WC and that helped enough to be a solid performer, if not optimal. I also strongly suspect that my cylinder throats aren’t uniform, and after Phil Hemphill and Axehandle looked at it this last weekend, it will get sent back to Smith and Wesson for some maintenance after this weekend.

My personal experience with handloads and S&W 45 ACP revolvers  was loaded with a large number of  misfires when my handloads, that I loaded for a 1911, would improperly headspace.  From fooling with Freedom Arms revolvers I knew that a properly chambered revolver cylinder would not need a moon clip to headspace rimless handloads.   Last year I had an opportunity to work with a S&W 45 revolver that was originally a 45 Colt.   The ACP cylinder in the gun was a custom and it worked with handloads with no clips.  Never had a chance to test the gun for accuracy but I'd bet it would have been exceptional.   I may run feelers out and see if I can get it to came back so we can play with it for a while..

Interestingly, I just noticed in that article, Babe said that he would shoot autorim brass in a 25-5, which is .45 Colt...