cast bullets data in 40 S&W and .45 acp

[oldmantoo491@hotmail.com]

ive already shot some cast bullets in my .40 glock and in my .45 glock, ..ive been told that cast bullets wont work in a glock. i know about 450 cops in harris county,tx that love it and ive seen their targets, ever seen a 1 hole group? i have many times in many calibers. if anyone has additional load data for the .40 or the .45 please email it to me. my 40 likes 175-180 gr cast and my .45's like the 230 rn.
email me at oldmantoo491@hotmail.com,,,please send some or a lot of data.

[versifier]

Loading data is easy enough to come by. Every load should be worked up in the gun you plan to use it in. Just going with someone else's loads is a violation of one of the basic rules of safe loading. There are no shortcuts to safety. You have to work up your loads just like everyone else does or sooner or later the law of averages will catch up with you and you or someone you care about will become a statistic. Responsible handloaders only post their loads for comparison. I will suggest a powder or two when asked, but not charge weights. Working it up is the shooter's responsibility.

Use of any handloaded ammo with cast or jacketed bullets in any Glock pistol voids the warranty. No big deal for me, I work on my own guns. YMMV.

There is no problem (despite what Glock's lawyers say) shooting cast in their .45ACP pistols. Loads still have to be worked up to find where in the charge range for a specific powder/bullet combination the pistol shoots most accurately. Go with a nice soft alloy like you would for any other .45. I run an alloy of 1/4WW's to 3/4pure, sized at .452" in my G21. I have settled on Lee's 230gr RN for all my .45's. 3500+ rounds through it so far with no problems, including a 1000rd torture test without cleaning. I am currently loading a surp powder, but have had good luck with most of the old standbys, especially UNQ and BEYE. Most .45's I've loaded for aren't really picky as to powder.

The .40's and 10mm's however are a different story. The higher pressures of these two rounds are problematic if you do not understand what is happening in the barrel as the bullet travels through it. With normal soft handgun bullet alloys, even when the bullets are properly sized the factory barrels will lead up quickly and can easily push pressures well past the redline. Result: KABOOM! Not good.

If you don't want to shoot jacketed bullets, you can either opt for an aftermarket barrel with cut rifling, or you can take your chances and use a really hard alloy like lino (at least 50/50 lino/pure or harder). They still have to be properly sized (between .001-.003" above measured - not listed - groove diameter depending on what will feed) or the barrel will lead up quickly. IMO no commercial caster of which I am aware sells them in large enough diameter to make them safe to shoot in factory Glock barrels, even if they are hard enough. You have to cast them yourself. Since even an aftermarket barrel with cut rifling will lead up quickly with undersized commercial bullets, you're still left to cast your own for decent accuracy and reliable operation. If you go aftermarket, you can return to using normal soft alloys. I had really good accuracy with UNQ in my G23. It wasn't the fastest, but I was after better accuracy as I often shoot at 50yds.

There is another issue for me with Glock .40 & 10mm's though. That is the poorly supported case head. Brass gets bulged and severely weakened on firing and normal sizers won't remove the bulge enough to get them to feed properly. I know there are push-through sizers on the market now that will make the brass so it will feed, but nothing can be done about the weakened spot on the case web. Brass hardens and gets brittle when worked, so case life is severely compromised. It isn't rocket science to realize that the more loadings, the more likely a case failure, damaged pistol, and injured shooter or bystander. Again, the practical solution is an aftermarket barrel that better supports the more of the case head. I could only get two loading/firings out of cases in my Gen1 G23, and that only with minimum loads. The factory barrels just aren't designed with safe handloading in mind, rather they are designed to feed and fire any mil ammo put through them with no provision for what shape the brass will be in after. Supposedly the Gen3 and newer pistols have better supported chambers, but with the higher pressures involved with both rounds, I still have my doubts.

[runfiverun]

most of the guy's i know that are having good luck in the 40's are pushing them about 950 fps.
the 45's are super easy to get good results from with cast.
both however need to have the bullets diameter adjusted to the bbl's diameter.
quite often 451 will work but mostly 452 [or even 453 in some cases] is needed.
the same in the 40 cals i have seen up to 403 necessary to shoot properly with no leading.