Shooting My Remington 1911

[JWFilips]

I have been shooting my Remington 1911 a bunch recently, and After fileing my front sights down slowly ....Have finally got my POA & my POI very close at 25 yards! I decided to go with a proven competition load of 4.1 Grain bullseye to Do the testing!
Now that I'm close I would rather some powder not so "snappy" as BE! Wondering what you fellows like for light 25 Yard shooting?
I do like American Select ( similar to Green Dot) & I'm using the Lee 200 grain SWC

 

[waco]

I have been using Hodgdon’s Universal or Redot.

 

[462]

My Randall likes 5.0-grains of Unique with Lyman's 452460 200-grain SWC or 452374 230-grain RN.

 

[smokeywolf]

Have to second Michael's "Unique" recommendation. I know it's not a real clean burning powder, but then, Bullseye isn't a whole bunch cleaner.

 

[Ian]

I used Unique for years, then Titegroup, then switched to Universal. WW231 is the ideal powder but ain't what it used to be as had been discussed here many times. Just dig in uour larder for slower poeders and try them, anything down to and including Herco will work fine with 200 to 230-grain bullets. American Select should be right there in the middle zone of pistol/shotgun powders and would be a good next thing to try if you have equipment that will meter it accurately. One reason I quit using Unique is it and Clays would both bridge in my Autodisk measures and were dangerous.

 

[Brad]

I have been using 4.8gr of Promo, essentially Red Dot, under the MP 200 SWC.

Many pounds of that powder have been used in my 1911.

 

[JWFilips]

Brad.....How Snappy?
I think Snappy powders cause me to flinch! I like slow push powders ( if they are accurate)

 

[Brad]

Not snappy enough to be an issue? I used up a bunch of Clays at 4 gr under same bullet.

Beet thing I ever did was replace the firing pin stop with one with a very small radius. Now that changed eed the recoil pulse a bunah.

 

[358156 hp]

Not snappy enough to be an issue? I used up a bunch of Clays at 4 gr under same bullet.

Beet thing I ever did was replace the firing pin stop with one with a very small radius. Now that changed eed the recoil pulse a bunah.

Easy for you to say... Clays was a favorite of mine when I shoot IPSC long ago.

 

[Brad]

Changed eed, a term that I learned from Ian’s neighbors

 

[CZ93X62]

4.5 grains of WW-231/HP-38 should about equal that 4.1 x Bullseye in the 1911. Both the #452460 and the Lee H&G-68 plagiarism dote on this load, and it gets along with the 16# spring in my Gold Cup nicely. Velocity is in the 800-825 FPS ballpark in 5" barrels.

 

[Ian]

Yap, that clays's aight, but eet ain't the onliest splody dust thar is what warks reel good en tha foetee-fav.

 

[Petrol & Powder]

I favor WW231 for several reasons, but tradition is probably the biggest reason.

As for the "Snappy" part, I'm not sure there's a viable solution there. To accelerate a 200 grain bullet from 0 to 800+ fps over 5" or less requires a lot of pressure in a short period of time. Anything that can launch a bullet into the proper trajectory AND operate the slide properly, is likely to give a similar recoil impulse to the Bullseye load.
I could put 7 different cartridges in a magazine, each loaded with the same bullet. With seven different powders that were regulated to achieve the same velocity with a common weight bullet out of the same barrel - I doubt the shooter would be able to distinguish the different powders.

 

[L Ross]

I favor WW231 for several reasons, but tradition is probably the biggest reason.

As for the "Snappy" part, I'm not sure there's a viable solution there. To accelerate a 200 grain bullet from 0 to 800+ fps over 5" or less requires a lot of pressure in a short period of time. Anything that can launch a bullet into the proper trajectory AND operate the slide properly, is likely to give a similar recoil impulse to the Bullseye load.
I could put 7 different cartridges in a magazine, each loaded with the same bullet. With seven different powders that were regulated to achieve the same velocity with a common weight bullet out of the same barrel - I doubt the shooter would be able to distinguish the different powders.

There ya go using logic again. How are we gonna have any fun with that?

 

[Petrol & Powder]

It's a failing of mine.

 

[Charles Graff]

I have never noticed Bullseye being "snappy" but that is what I load in 99% of my 45 ACP Loads. I did take a flyer with Unique back in the early 60's and AA5 about 25 years ago. With AA5 the slide movement was slow and I didn't like that. What's not to like about snappy? The 1911 pistol was designed around Bullseye and billions of factory and arsenal rounds were loaded with 5 grains of BE. I will stick with the original plan, thank you very much. John Browning designed that gizmo to work a certain way with all the moving parts moving at a certain speed in a certain order. Don't screw with perfection!

 

[RBHarter]

For whatever it's worth , probably little to not , I load a 175 in a 40 w/Unique in a 2.5" XD . I get 940 fps and it's actually pretty tame in terms of flip and recoil .......I don't know what it's like in the dark , probably about like looking into a flash bulb , but not what I would consider snappy . It's a max jacketed load for a 180 HP my bullet weighs 178 as cast +.5 to -1 gr average of 10 on 3 separate range trips , slow fire into 4" at 25 yd . Doubles at 15 yd tend toward 8-12" separations .

Curious throat in the XD it has about .1" to the lands which may account for the high velocities .

 

[MW65]

Unique has been a favorite for cast pistola rounds of mine for decades... everything from 38 to the 44 & 45 digested it just fine, and sent'em on there way...

 

[Ian]

Bullseye and the 230, not 200s. Works fine for both though. Bullseye has a fast pressure rise BUT a long burn curve. Red Dot, Promo, Clays, and Titegroup flash off very quickly and are burned out almost as quickly, so the energy is concentrated. If you can't feel the difference between those and BE, 231, or Unique in your wrist, I don't know what to say because it's pretty obvious to me and powder burn rate/bullet weight combinations can be tuned with the radius on the firing pin stop. Speaking of, most 1911s I've seen have far too large of a radius so that sissies and pansies can rack the slide, and that contributes mightily to perceived recoil and actual muzzle rise. A 1911 with a proper small radius firing pin stop is a cream puff to shoot even with heavy loads, but don't limp-wrist it or it will jam.