cagueits

I am interested in duplicating the ballistics of my carry round - Federal's Premium Personal Defense "Low Recoil" 165grn Hydra-Shock JHP in .45AUTO (PD45HS3H). This will be strictly for training purposes (as I will still carry factory ammo), each factory round being close to $1, I was wondering if this would be a good idea. My current training round is Federal's American Eagle Hangun 230grn FMJ in .45AUTO (AE45A). This ammo prints 6" higher than my carry ammo at @10yds from a bench. I don't like practicing with ammo that gives me a different result from my carry ammo when I aim at the same place

How do I go about doing this?

I was reading that this can't be done:

http://combatcarry.com/vbulletin/sho...ight=duplicate

I'm assuming I need to get a bullet, spent casings, primer and gunpowder close enough to the original design. Can I get the same gun powder as used in the factory load, or is this a secret recepie Federal uses?

Thanks.

lowflyer

The reason that this is somewhat dangerous is that unless you are equipped with pressure reading instruments, you have no idea what pressures you may be producing for a given velocity with a given load. The best thing to do is get a powder manufacturer's reloading guide and look for a load using similar components that would produce close to the desired velocity and work up in 0.1 grain increments while looking for signs of over-pressure. I would probably do that and compare results on the target because that is what you are after more so than matching velocity.

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cagueits

Thanks for clearing that up.

RSSZ

To me very easy.

Get any(1st choice)165gr bullet or any(2nd choice)185gr bullet. Load it just a hair UNDER book max. It will so closely duplicate the 165gr HS rds. that they will shoot to the same hole at the closer(practice) ranges.

If you gotta use the 185's they will hit a little higher than the 165's.Loading the 185's right up to book max will raise the POI just a little.

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Any brand of brass will do,as well as any non mag primer. You must tightly crimp. Keep the OAL to book specs also. EDITED TO ADD :> any brand of "in the book" powder will do also. Pick the one that gives the fastest velocities. -------

frankmako

get the same bullet weight/type. find a powder that will give you the same fps as the factory load and then reload some. if you got a chronograph, run some tests. not hard to get the same loads as the factory. some time if you look hard you can find factory powder/bullets for sale on the net.

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rocky

If you reload you can pull and weight powder charge. just need to find out what powder they use. (BE SURE to check loading tables as well) .

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deadmarsh

Experiment -- you'll get there or darn close -- what you won't get is the low-flash powders, unless you buy that from Nobel...

Good Luck:


Dead

HotGuns

Actually, Accurate Arms is pretty low flash...specifically formulated for low flash.

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Chuck R.

I use 230 grn Bonded Golden Sabers in my CCW and HD .45ACPs, so like you I don't want to practice with them. There's also no way I'm sending a couple hundred down range to verify reliability.

So I buy the bulk 230 grn Golden Sabers from Graf & Son's and load them to the same MV using my chronograph and matching the factory OAL.

Recoil feels the same, POI is the same, and the times I've done low light training the Tac Light mitigated any muzzle flash differences there might be. It comes out to about $8.00 a box of 50 compared to $25 for 20. I also shoot a couple mags after every range session to get the lead from my 200 LSWCs out.

Chuck

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cagueits

Nobel is a gunpowder brand, a merchant, or what exaclty? (Google gave me back too many different hits)

Thanks to all for the help.