Re: OT -- It wouldn't have gone down that way in a TEXAS zoo

Grumman-581 wrote

Not really. Currently at the top of the list is 9mm. It's used in
production division, where all calibers, including the most powerful, are
scored as minor. The low cost of feeding a 9mm is already a major factor
and is becoming increasingly significant thanks to continuing increases
in
ammunition costs over the last year.

Have you tried reloading the solid copper bullets?

No, but mostly because I lack incentive to do so. Now that I've decided to
avoid the liability issue and carry factory ammunition, about the only thing
I load my pistosl for is practical shooting competition. For that, I use the
least expensive option that will give me good results. I have not had good
luck with moly coated lead and don't like the maintenance issues that come
with an all lead bullet, so I use jacketed HP bullets that I buy in bulk. My
last order was for 12,000 .40 and 9mm bullets.

Is it possible to use one of the bullets that is normally used for
reloading the .45LC in a .45ACP reload? 395gr would put a serious hurt on
something if you could keep the velocity reasonable...

The bullet pictured would probably not work. To fit in a magazine, it would
have to be seated very low. Even if that allowed enough powder to get the
bullet out the barrel fast enough to work, it would almost certainly drive
chamber pressures way beyond generally accepted limits.

The debate of heavy bullets versus lights ones is almost as interesting as
the discussion on calibers. In fact, it's the same one. Here's some of the
issues you may find interesting.

USPSA uses Power Factor to determine whether a round is major or minor
caliber. Power factor is the product of weight in grains and velocity in
feet per second divided by 1000. To make minor, a bullet has to be at least
9 mm in diameter and have a power factor of 125. To make major, it has to
have a power factor of at least 165. Power factor is a straight line
function. it increased directly with either weight or velocity. That means
you can get the same power factor by increasing the velocity and decreasing
the weight, or by decreasing the velocity and increasing the weight. Energy,
on the other hand, varies directly with mass, but as the square of velocity.
A change in weight has relatively less effect and a change in velocity has
a relatively larger one. The difference between power factor and energy
creates some interesting issues.

Felt recoil is at least partly an effect of energy. All else being equal,
more energy means more recoil. In a timed event, and in real life, recoil is
a disadvantage. More recoil means it takes longer for the gun to return to
the target and a longer "split" between shots. Some people handle this by
increasing the weight of the bullet and decreasing velocity to lower energy,
reduce recoil, and maintain power factor. The trade off shows up at the
terminal end of the shot. It's not an issue with .45 or, generally, with
..40. Both have plenty of energy, even with the heaviest rounds, to do what
is required in a USPSA match. It is an issue with 9mm. Anything will punch a
hole in paper, but it takes a certain amount of energy to knock a piece of
steel over. A low energy 9mm, loaded to minor power factor, can, and
sometimes does fail to knock steel over, particularly when the shot is not
optimal.

The same relationship applies to the real world. The recoil and terminal
effects of a large bullet, traveling at slow speed, versus a lighter bullet
traveling at higher speed are different. Things are complicated by the fact
that different terminal ballistic needs are best served by different
combinations. There's always a trade off and it does not always favor the
large bullet. In 9mm, for example, the 115 grain bullets I load most often,
are probably not the best for defense purposes. Neither are the 147 grain
bullets some of my USPSA competitors prefer. The best combination of weight,
velocity and controlability appears to be a 124 grain bullet, which happens
to be what the Hydra Shok bullets in my 9mm are.

I'm betting Popeye or Scott can do a better job of discussing what's best in
a .45 and why, but the same kind of issues arise there.

To make everything even more complicated there are cross overs in caliber. I
think Popeye mentioned that he likes 200 grain bullets in .45. I have 200
grain loads for 10mm and almost certainly could develop a workable one for
..40. At maximum recommended loads (does not necessarily mean what Popeye or
I might do), the hottest 10mm load runs about 100 fps faster than the
hottest .45 load. That certainly means more energy, probably means more
penetration, but does not necessarily mean it's more effective.

Lee


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