Light/Reduced .45 Short Line Loads

I shot a match last weekend. First time shooting my .45 in about 5 months. No practice for match. Last match I had shot was in early November. I share this because I think its important to show the foregiveness of reduced loads.

I was shooting 3.3gr Bullseye with 200 gr Magnus LSWC.

To me these are not bragging targets, I've shot much better. They are just to show what you can do using reduced powder charge.

I did change recoil springs from long line load.

I encourage you to try this for yourself if you haven't already.


I suck at posting pictures so I apologize in advance.

The first target is a RF target (upside down).
The second target is a TF target (bottom to left).






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Jon

When I grow up, I want to shoot like that. 

I'm willing to bet someone was unhappy about that 9.  Me on the other hand would have to wonder who was shooting at my target.

hmm... you make me rethink shooting only JHP    

After those targets, does he have any bullets left to sell??? Lol

Get your X-count up.

Can I say... " I told you so.."?????
Now think about frame mounted optics, a light weight slide, and imagine 2.8/3.0 BE

You know Terry has bullets!  What I want to know is:
1)  What pound recoil spring did you drop to?
2)  Slide mounted red dot?

Jerry Keefer wrote:Can I say...     " I told you so.."?????    
Now think about frame mounted optics,  a light weight slide, and imagine 2.8/3.0 BE

That's exactly what I was just doing.

How do you get you gun to run on 3.3 Bullseye? Iron sights?

Ok, I was shooting a longslide using 5" gov't springs, so not a fair question for me to address recoil spring weight; gonna vary.
I'm building a custom frame mount (extremely low) for a 30mm tube scope right now. Also building the pistol. I'm almost ready to start maching off material to lighten it. My goal is trying/using 3.0 gr BE (like Jerry). So I will have to break in pistol to get it to perform with the reduced load. I'm not a fan of the frame mount, but I'm gonna wring it out for all its worth. I just finished rebuilding a Clark .45 and installing a frame mount and didn't like it. So I'm trying to be open minded. Someday hopefully in next month or so I'll have something to report; pics, targets, etc.
Jon

Longslide: runs both Ultradot and Aimpoint Micro. I use custom small base mount with cantilever mounted Ultradot.
Jon

Nice targets!!  I would be vary happy with those!!!

s1120 wrote:Nice targets!!  I would be vary happy with those!!!

If your pistol is up to it, this is an indication of what is possible with Magnus bullets.  Other makes are OK but Magnus and Zero and a few others perform at this level.

Jon, maybe you already know, but Caspian makes a plug for 6" guns that works with springs for 5" guns. I've used anything from 8 to 12 lbs springs in my longslide with a frame mount. It runs on 3.5 BE with the 12 lbs spring, so I assume it would run on a lot less, I just never tried it.

A couple yrs ago to help my arthritic shoulders I lightened the springs and loads for my .45. I ended w/3 grains of BE a 160 SWC and a slde mtd UD. Functioned fine  but the sllde hit the frame too hard  when I used enough pdr ( 3# BE) to run it. My spring set up was a Wolf 6# V and mainsprrg cut to 1.8".

I tried this w/ 2 pistols but didn't think much of it, BUT my shoulder was likely too far gone to give it much of a test. Now I shoot a .38 Giles conversion,  but not many rounds anymore.

my experiences, maybe it will help someone.
Ron

The load/technical point Jon's making is good.  Especially if there's been a great amount time between practice on the short line.  However, when I see targets like he posted and the extended time between match's/practice's (there's a guy like this on my team) it makes me believe we shoot with our brains more than our bodies.

All skills are perishable, but Jon's to the point where his brain knows what to do (very, very well) even if all the parts on his body haven't done it in a while.

I shoot about once a month and that's typically a match. When I finish building a pistol I function fire. If I'm lucky I might get one practice day a month. I have been shooting my .38 spl for cf at 1800 matches. Full 2700 is only twice a year out here. So I do think about shooting everyday  and handle guns everyday, but don't shoot as often as I'd like to. As we all know the .45 isn't forgiving to shoot without practice. These reduced loads make it much more forgiving than using long line loads for the whole 900. Fortunately for me I have mastered the fundamentals.
Jon

Jon,

What would you recommend as a starting point for reduced loads using Clays powder with the 200g LSWC, and 185g LHPSWC?
Norman

Norman, I personally haven't used clays. Recommend downloading ammunition until your pistol doesn't function anymore, then find a load that functions. Obviously you need good ejection. You also need to ensure that you have a recoil spring that will keep the gun in battery. If your gun will function it will shoot good at 25 yards. 25 yards is very forgiving for light loaded ammunition. As we all know 50 yards is another story
Jon

i've successfully used 3.4 grs of Alliant Claydot with the 185 lswc. it should translate well to Clays.