160 g. .45 acp loads

Wv109323

New Member
I shoot NRA precision pistol. I am trying to use a 160 g. bullet close to the H&G 242S. So far I have not been able to get the bullet to shoot as well as the 200 g. H&G. I have tried 4.5 g. Of BE. which seems to be the go to load on the bullseye forum with no sucess. Has anyone got a load?
One thing I have not tried is a crimp below .469. Would crimp make that much difference?
 

fiver

Well-Known Member
it's been a while, but 7+grs of unique comes to mind just to get my 1911 to operate fully.
 

abj

Active Member
I'm a little late to this thread but, I shoot Bullseye pistol as well. Our group did the same thing with the 160 magma swc. to reduce recoil. It didn't work for most. It is a short for caliber bullet and has to be pushed hard for accuracy at 50 yds. At the short line a charge of 4.4 to 4.6 bullseye seemed to be what they settled on. Most shooters either went to the 175 grain H&G 68 clone at 3.7 to 4.0 bullseye, or the 200 grain 68 clone at 3.8 to 4.2 bullseye range. I think the 175 is the shortest bullet you can use with light charges and still get accuracy. If you can get the 200 to shoot at around 4.0 grains it is a pretty soft load. you will have to adjust sights between short and long lines.
Crimps on starline and remington brass is .469. Crimps on thicker brass, I'm not sure but I would think around .470/.471.
Hope the info helps.
Tony
PS. crimps on match barrels make a huge difference but it is barrel specific not manufacturer specific. as well OAL.
 
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LenH

New Member
I have shot that bullet in Bullseye for about 10 years. The guy that built my wad gun recommended it and us it for slow fire and timed & rapid.
I have loaded that bullet with 4.6 gr of BE and adjust the dot for slow fire (up 3 clicks) and back down for T & R fire.

I have tried several different bullets but always come back to the 160. I even swapped a guy 4K Zero 185 SWCHPs for 6K of the 160's.