So I'm working up some loads for my 45 Super and I start to get this

[AbitNutz]

I started working up some load for my Para-Ordnance Longslide in 45 Super. The pistol has been Magnaported and uses a Kart 6" exact fit barrel and Wilson #5 link and a Briley spherical bushing. The barrel locks up with a nice snap. I'm also using a Fusion 6" guide rod and 6" recoil plug that lets me use 5" springs. It also has a Dawson extended ejector and an EGW PXT extractor. I was prepared to use an AFTEC extractor with an adapter sleeve but so far it doesn't need it.

I chronographed some aluminum Federal stuff. 230 gr at 855 fps. The loads were not strong enough to lock the slide back on the last shot and had very weak ejection. They barely made it out of the pistol.

It had a Wolff 16.5 lb recoil spring and a Wolff XP firing pin spring.

I started with Starline 45 Super brass and 185 gr Hornady XTP bullets. The first loads had 9.5gr of Power Pistol and proved healthy and chronographed at 1050 fps.
Much beter ejection and definitely snappier.

The next load was 10.0 gr of Power Pistol and were at 1160 fps. Definitely snappier yet...this is where I started to get firing pin drag in the picture...I still had the 16.5 lb spring in it. The cases showed no distress...no bulges or dents.

I think all I need to do is up the recoil spring...I'm going up to 20lb spring. Failing any improvement in firing pin drag, I can try a stiffer firing pin spring, if they make one. I can also try a titanium firing pin. Maybe the 20lb recoil spring will be enough??

I'm trying to get to true 45 Super power, about 1350 fps. I understand that when you start to push double stack pistols they begin to malfunction. This is true of 460 Rowland. Put one of those on a Para frame and it will malfunction. 45 Super isn't quite to the same level as 460 Rowland but it's not far off. I want to see at what velocity it starts malfunctioning or if it being a longslide and Magnaported can tame it. Funny part is that the recoil on the heavier load, definitely had less muzzle flip. I attribute that to the Magnaport...

[AbitNutz]

OK, going with a 20lb spring fixed it, but it's still not enough. I believe I'll go to a 22lb spring and up it. According to various reloading texts, I should hit 1350 at about 11.5gr of Power Pistol.

After I get this all tidied up I'm going to switch to my new 200gr SWC BB HP Grooveless Hi-Tek coated H&G #68's. As soon as I figure out how to make them...

I have the new mold sitting next to my Master Caster...It's going to be linotype to start with as I have at least a ton of the stuff.

[slughammer]

To me it looks a little like the primer is flowing into the firing pin hole and then being sheared off (from the picture).
I had a similar issue with a 9mm 1911. I found the cause to be a titanium firing pin that was returning during the pressure curve. I switched it out for a steel firing pin and the problem went away.

[AbitNutz]

I think it was firing pin drag. The slide was starting to move before the firing pin retracted completely. I moved to a 20lb spring and it went away. I think even 20lb's is too light. I'd bet I'm going to end up either at or near 28lb's. I'm pretty sure that I can reach my 1350 fps goal. The shell casings show absolutely no signs of stress, no bulges or swelling. If the primers don't puncture, crater, backflow into the firing pin hole...or misbehave in some other way. I believe that everything else can take it.

I'm so curious to find out if the gun starts malfunctioning with the top loads I'm looking for. Like I wrote, if you put a 460 Rowland kit on a double stack frame, it will malfunction with healthy loads. Clark says that the slide cycles too fast and the magazine can't handle it. The comp on the 460 is not for recoil, it's to slow the slide down. I'm sure does both, but Clark did it for reliability.

I'm really hoping that I have found a solution to this problem, at least for me. The combination of a longslide, Magnaporting and a myriad of other details, adding up to making a double stack 45 Super function reliably.

[slughammer]

Could have sworn it looks like a little sheared brass donut. Maybe they look differently in person compared to the picture. That inertia firing pin on the 1911 is interesting. Returns too slow compared to slide movement and you get drag; returns to soon during the pressure curve and the primer flows into the hole and gets sheared off.

1350FPS with a 185 does sound like a neat project, hope to see a picture with some targets.

[AbitNutz]

You may actually be right...maybe I only know about firing pin drag. Whatever is/was going on it stopped when I upped the recoil spring to 20lb's. I was doing the typical google search on 45 Super and it seems that one guy started with a 28lb spring and stayed there. He was using a single stack government model. I do believe that the longslide with the additional weight from the 6" spring plug and the addition of Magnaporting has had a positive effect on things.

I'm currently at 10.0gr of Power Pistol and 1160 fps. The way it's acting, I think 1350 fps can be reached and can end up being a long term, ever day load. The wide body frame with Hogue finger groove grips really gives me something to hang on to (I have large hands). The longslide combined with Magnaport, make this a joy to shoot. The weird thing about porting is, the heavier the loads, the more the muzzle stays down.

I really wish this .45 slide had the smaller 9mm size firing pin hole for .068 firing pins like STI and Caspian slides do. This slide takes the traditional size .093 firing pin. I think having the smaller firing pin and firing pin hole cause fewer problems in high pressure loads. Of course, I'm not going into the stratosphere with these loads so I should be ok.

[Tackleberry41]

I have never run my 45 super in my 1911, just in a blackhawk. But I run a 24lbs spring in a 1911 in 7.62x25 and it still flings them 40ft or so. All the stuff I have seen says use a 24lbs spring when running super.

[AbitNutz]

You have one of those J&G 7.62x25 barrels too?! I love mine. I use 38 Super magazine but still have to seat the bullet a bit deeper. What a great cartridge for the 1911. I have mine in a Kimber because of the W/N ramped barrel. Would love to hear more about your gun/experience with it.

I have really have come up with a whole thing to make it handle 45 Super. It's not just the recoil spring. Too heavy a recoil spring makes the slide velocity too high and gives fits. I don't want to go any heavier than Colt did in the 10mm, which was 22lbs.

1. C/P ramped frame 14 rounds.
2. Longslide
3. Ramped barrel-Kart
4. STI magazine with Wolff xp spring
5. 25 pound hammer spring
6. No bevel firing pin stop (Harrison makes a drop in)
7. 22lb. Wolff recoil spring8. XP firing pin spring
9. Titanium firing pin. (STI) lighter makes it faster to retract.
10. Shock buffer
11. Ported barrel/slide
12. 6" recoil w/full length guide rod lets use of 5" springs (STI)
13. AFTEC extractor sleeved for PXT extractor size.
14. Super brass.

[Tackleberry41]

My 1911 was nearly junk. Guy I know had the frame, old govt one, looked like it had been left in the yard a couple years. He was gonna chuck it, had some pretty heavy rust pitting, nothing structural, just looked terrible. But I bought some of the titanium epoxy stuff from Midway and used it like bondo. Cant even tell anymore. Originally it was gonna be 40, got an in the white slide off someone here who won it at a shoot and had no need for it. Never could get it to work reliably in 40. Might be the cheap barrel, but got tired of messing with it. Then I found that drop in 7.62x25 barrel. I already load for a tokarev. Might get a 9mm barrel for it at some point, but it needs new guts, as it was just whatever parts I had in my bin to get it running.

Yes they do need to be shortened to fit more than 3 in the mag. I just adjusted the load data to compensate. The factory stuff flattens primers, these dont. I run 14gr of Lil gun under a 90gr XTP, thats min load for factory length, near max shortened. Data I wrote down was 1598-1612fps. Even w a 24lbs spring they go pretty far. Been tempted to get an NOE 115gr mold with the HP pins powder coat them and see if they can be driven as hard. I have a unique cast load of 5.5 gr that got me 1215fps, they dribbled out the side, but do eject and cycle w that heavy spring.

The 45 super I am making are 9.8gr of power pistol under a 200gr XTP, I get 1247fps out of my blackhawk. I picked up some 460 rowland to use, probably could get away with super brass. I used min rowland data of 12.2 power pistol under the same 200gr XTP, and got 1431fps out the blackhawk. Only issue is they like to back out under recoil, havent messed with it to see if more crimp will fix it.

[AbitNutz]

I'm pretty sure that with the changes I've made, this pistol can withstand 45 super loads indefinitely. The load I've settled on is a cast bullet coated with Hi-Tek. It's a Magma mold of the H&G #68, SWC, BB, HP, no-grease groove. In linotype it drops at .4545 and 181gr. Hollow Point Mold Service modified the mold for hollow points. I'm using Power Pistol and am now getting 1350fps using this bullet and 45 Super Starline brass. The brass drops 6 or 8 feet away using a Dawson extended ejector.

The load is proving very accurate and reliable though the gun, no hiccups as of yet. I seat the shoulder of the bullet slightly above the case mouth. I chose to hollow point the bullet for a couple of reasons.

1: I like hollow points
2: I wanted to lighten the bullets since there were no grease grooves.
3: I wanted the bullet base heavy to give my GSI bullet collator every opportunity to run well...and you know what? It did. This bullet runs great through the entire GSI loading sequence.
4: I used linotype because I have a ton of it.

After the last coating of Hi-Tek I water quench the bullets and then size them...man do they take some horsepower to size. I use three Lee .451 bullet sizer dies mounted in an old Pacific Super Mag 3 ram press mounted upside down. This press is monster and is still stiff until the lube has a chance to get in the dies.

[Tackleberry41]

I havent messed with cast in the super yet. The good mold I have is the NOE 250gr with HP pins. Shoot em in pretty much everything in that caliber I have. Have 3 Lee molds but don't mess with the 2 tumble lube 230gr I have. The 300gr is a bit heavy for the super. Might work in a revolver, but not seen any data that heavy. I powder coat so dont see an issue with pushing that NOE that hard.