Reloading for auto loaders

[4t5]

Will starting loads listed in manuals reliably cycle the action ? Or are they for revolvers and such, and autos should be run on near max loads ?
Gonna start loading for my 9mm shield.

[Griff]

I'[ve found that to be really dependent on the particular gun. Seldom do any of my 1911s (only auto-loaders I have), run reliably at such low pressures. With a change in springs more reliability can be had. If a stock gun, just run ammo that mimics factory loads. Usually need not be max.

[Paladin]

I'[ve found that to be really dependent on the particular gun. Seldom do any of my 1911s (only auto-loaders I have), run reliably at such low pressures. With a change in springs more reliability can be had. If a stock gun, just run ammo that mimics factory loads. Usually need not be max.

+1

[GunnyMack]

Start with min and work up as always. Be sure you lube your gun per manufacturer specs and try them. What might work in a clean lubed gun might not work in a dry & dirty gun.
Ideally you want a load that just drops brass at your feet though that never happens!
I always looked at min and max then picked a charge half way between.

[4t5]

Thanks guys , I too wanted brass to stay close by and not have to chase it every where, I think I’ll try about 75 % of max and load only a few to see what happens.

[COSteve]

Something to consider. If you want to regularly shoot reduced loads consider a reduced power recoil spring. That way you'll keep the reliable feeding with reduce loads. I know that Strike Industries and Wolff Gunsprings sell them for many pistols.

I have a custom longslide Glock I developed in 2004 that shoots .45acp, 45 Super and 10mm and I have different captured recoil rod and spring combinations depending upon what I'm shooting.

The stock 17lb one is for the .45acp and goes in when I add that barrel while I have both a 20lb and 24lb combination when I'm shooting the hotter 45 Super or swap in the 10mm conversion barrel.

[Grizz]

Something to consider. If you want to regularly shoot reduced loads consider a reduced power recoil spring. That way you'll keep the reliable feeding with reduce loads. I know that Strike Industries and Wolff Gunsprings sell them for many pistols.

I have a custom longslide Glock I developed in 2004 that shoots .45acp, 45 Super and 10mm and I have different captured recoil rod and spring combinations depending upon what I'm shooting.

The stock 17lb one is for the .45acp and goes in when I add that barrel while I have both a 20lb and 24lb combination when I'm shooting the hotter 45 Super or swap in the 10mm conversion barrel.

that sounds versatile, do you hunt with it?

[COSteve]

At almost 76 hunting is in the past, however, when I go on my 'woods walking' hikes in the Rockies, I load it up as a 10mm with either 180grn or 200grn hardcast hot loads. So, with the 2rd extension, I have 17+1 rds of hurt on my hip to protect from anything whether it be 2 or 4 legged. In the Rockies we have to be prepared for deer, elk, bear, moose, etc. so you need something reliable and stout.

BTW, even with 3 times the on board load of ammo, my G20/21L as I call it, is lighter than my friend's 6" S&W 686 in .357mag. Plus, with my hot 165grn loads vs my .357mag hot loads for my Rossis, it shoots a larger, heavier bullet faster out of my Glock than the S&W shoots the hot .357mags. Plus, followup shots are much, much faster and more accurate with it's superior grip and much lower bore axis.

And yes, it is versatile and it's also a very formidable platform. I also load it up as a 10mm with some of my 165grn 'nuclear' loads for shooting steel at 200yds with just a melted Bomar rear sight and FO front sight. Those screamers are going 1,589fps with 925 ft/lbs of ME at the muzzle and I can aim at the top of the plate and hit it dead center.

Here it is about 5 minutes after I unpacked the 45-10mm conversion barrel I got from KKM Precision in the fall of 2004. I'd picked up a Jarvis 6" 45 barrel for it when I got the complete slide earlier in the spring so I'd been shooting it as a .45acp longslide for about 5 months.

This picture is before I added the FO front sight, mag extensions, Grip Force Adapter (to fill in the deep cut of the top of the backstrap so it presented like my 1911) or did the trigger work on it as I wanted to make sure that it would function well with the 10mm conversion barrel.

I found that the 3rd gen ECI extractor for the .45, not the 10mm worked the best as the 'claw' in the ECI version was canted about 8° in at the top vs the previous non-ECI version which was vertical and that allowed it to reliably engage the smaller 10mm rim.

100_0777.JPG

[Grizz]

That's a Keeper. how is you can shoot 45s in a 40 caliber barrel? Or the other way around?

thanks for the info. looks like a wonderful side kick.

[44shooter]

A lot of practice loads like Winchester white box and UMC are no where near max and often less than standard specs and run well in most guns. In my 1911 even starting loads of Unique behind a 230 grain run just fine.