I did a REALLY dumb thing

[Quiet Burp]

First post and I did a REALLY dumb thing.
I've started WB, bought a brand new Ruger, BUT I'm moving and all my reloading gear is packed away (don't have .45acp dies yet either).

A friend offered to load me 100 to try my new gun out. I told him repeatedly to load 3.9grains of my WST behind the 230grain lead coated projectiles.

They worked but they were pretty hot! Ended up he loaded them all at 4.9grains of WST

Could that loading have damaged my new pistol in anyway? What would the pressure have been from these loads?

Thanks in advance.

[RoyceP]

Depends on the bullet. Hodgdon Calls out the Hornady 230 grain FMJ FP as being OK for minimum loads of 4.1 grains of WST to 4.9 grains of WST at a reported 16.100 CUP with a velocity of 848 FPS.

Sounds like your friend was OK.

[Quiet Burp]

Depends on the bullet. Hodgdon Calls out the Hornady 230 grain FMJ FP as being OK for minimum loads of 4.1 grains of WST to 4.9 grains of WST at a reported 16.100 CUP with a velocity of 848 FPS.

Sounds like your friend was OK.

Hi Royce,
The projectile loaded was below, how much different is a cast lead (coated) projectile to a FMJ?  -

[Advertising]

[Hair Trigger Jim]

Cast lead is softer and will create less pressure than a similar jacketed bullet, so you should be fine.

[Abilene]

Hodgdon's data shows 4.9 gr WST as a max for a jacketed 230gr bullet, but only 4.3gr max for a 230gr lead bullet.  Perhaps the lead bullet generally being .001 larger diameter is a factor.  There's a reason they felt really hot.

[Galen]

If the your gun is still together and not in a few pieces your good.

[wildman1]

Guess I wouldn't have that friend load any more for me. When I load for myself I am very careful. If I load for someone else I make sure every load is correct. I loaded for a friend of mine for about 6 years and he never got any surprises.
wM1

[Professor Marvel]

Your friend apparently exceeded hogden max load for lead 230gr.

What does your brass look like? Any primer flattening, splits, etc? Can you post fotos of the brass?

If there are no “pressure signs” you should be fine, but I advise not shooting more of those and sticking
With the load you had specified to your friend.

Whilst I do not advise exceeding factory max, in my callow youth I was experimenting with heavy .45 acp loads
Using special cases, detailed data, various lead bullets, including 255 gr .454 long colt bullets, and heavy recoil springs and buffers.
My intent was to work up to .451 Detonics “magnum” loads using cutdown .45 magnum brass.

With care and proper tweaking, the 1911 platform is “up to it” but this is not for the iunwise without proper testing equipment.
One is periously close to a “kaboom” which is just not worth it.

Yhs
Prof mumbles

[Hair Trigger Jim]

If there are no “pressure signs” you should be fine, but I advise not shooting more of those and sticking
With the load you had specified to your friend.

While I am not terribly concerned about it being unsafe, I'd note that the load specified in the original post is 0.1 grain below Hodgdon's recommended minimum load for a 230 grain lead bullet.

And the contrast with that is probably why the cartridges felt so snappy, even if they may not have been unsafe.

[Professor Marvel]

MyDear Jim

As abilene posted:

Hodgdon's data shows 4.9 gr WST as a max for a jacketed 230gr bullet, but only 4.3gr max for a 230gr lead bullet.  Perhaps the lead bullet generally being .001 larger diameter is a factor.  There's a reason they felt really hot.

As I mentioned, the 1911 platform is quite robust, and based on my … ahem.. experiments, i doubt any harm was doen to the pistol.

Copper jacketed bullets can often be loaded hotter than lead, I believe but cannot yet prove that it is due to the “self lubricating” and “free machining” attribute of copper and brass . This datum is usually found in machinist and metallurgical manuals as opposed to loading manuals… some consider lead to be self lubricating and lead is actuLly added to some steels such as 41L40 for improved machinability …

but somehow the lead bullets add more friction than copper jacketed.

[Dave T]

To me the real lesson to be learned would be not to shoot someone else's reloads. Shoot white box factory ball for a couple months and save the brass for your own reloading when you start.  YMMV!

Dave

[Coffinmaker]

   PLUS ONE for DaveT 

Personally, I have NEVER, EVER, for any reason fired any ammunition that I didn't load myself or purchase over the counter.  I trust ABSOLUTELY NO ONE with my continued Health, Welfare and retention of MY extremities.

A fool and his/her body parts are soon separated (Murphy)

[Quiet Burp]

Thanks all.

[Boggus Deal]

BUT 3.9 may not make power factor in some places. Here in the high desert, 4.1-4.2 is needed to reliably make 160. I’d be very leery of 3.9 in the future.

[Boggus Deal]

  PLUS ONE for DaveT 

Personally, I have NEVER, EVER, for any reason fired any ammunition that I didn't load myself or purchase over the counter.  I trust ABSOLUTELY NO ONE with my continued Health, Welfare and retention of MY extremities.

A fool and his/her body parts are soon separated (Murphy)

So, you’ve never fired a factory loaded round? 12 gauge? .22 LR?

[Boggus Deal]

I'm always confused by people who join a forum and their first post is used to criticize people who have been there ahead of them.  It's particularly interesting when they clearly didn't carefully read the post they're criticizing:


 Welcome to the forum Boggus Deal.

Griff

Thanks for the welcome, about 16 years late…

[Coal Creek Griff]

Thanks for the welcome, about 16 years late…

You are correct. I misread your number of posts. Here I was being critical of you for not carefully reading. For that I apologize.

Griff

[Boggus Deal]

While some folks on here, and the SASS Wire, are focused on increasing their post counts, others are out actually shooting or doing other things. It’s easy to miss that.

[wildman1]

Boggus deal is one of the few 1911 smiths I trust my guns with.
wM1