Inspired by Taffin

[serialsolver]

In the Sept 2007 American Handgunner Mr. Taffin wrote an article about heavy bullets in the 45 acp. It was the inspiration for my latest project. I have worked up a load that pushes a 250 gr. Bullet out of this Glock m21 at 950 fps. I have made some inexpensive additions to the pistol as you can see. Now I just need some time to sight it in and I'll be ready for hunting season. As I side note the same load runs out of the Glock 30 at 890 fps.

[Markbo]

Are you going to try to make a holster for that or just use the strap as an over the shoulder kind of thing?

[serialsolver]

i'm just going to use the sling for it.

[the priest]

SS,

www.glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=938598

Thought you might find this interesting. Specifically the comments by DesertScout. I've been reading a lot about the glock 10mm and found this thread a few nights ago. Given that you've got a G21 and will be hunting with it,....well, food for thought. Good luck with the .45.

[serialsolver]

Mr. Taffin’s article was my driving force with this project. I keep it with his books I use for reference. I also run across this thread on Glock talk with folks who have been running 45 super thru Glocks. I was not looking for more velocity I just wanted a heaver bullet. I just can’t get out of my head the thought of a modern light weight, high capacity, rock rugged pistol with night sights or optics that shoots the ballistic twin of the old 40 grs. of black powder 45 colt load.

glocktalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=197490

[the priest]

Interesting. On one hand I am amazed what can be done with these. It's neat to see people experimenting with different ctgs and loads.

On the other I'm still fearful of something bad happening. Even with a spring change to make it cycle without beating up the pistol on the first stroke,......there is extra torque and stress put on that handgun,....and it's not all metal.

[serialsolver]

The pistols are stronger than people think. I have been an armorer since the early 90s and what little I know about the manufacturing is that they are built strong. I know a former glock employee. When I told him about the load I was using his comment was not about the gun handling the load it was concern over the brass blowing out the unsupported chamber of the barrel. I told him the brass was what I watched very closely and I run a heavy recoil spring for the slide velocity. He was still more concerned about the brass. I think the polymer frame acts like a big shock buffer but I still watch the locking bock and the pin. I don’t think my loads put any more stress on the pistol than the 10mm. High pressure and velocity are the killers to Browning's tilt barrel design. That’s why the desert eagle were so big.

[the priest]

Interesting. Did you ever ask your glock guy about the non supported barrel thing? That is why they don't offer them?

[serialsolver]

The unsupported part of the chamber is at the feed ramp of an automatic pistol. the more open the chamber is around the feed ramp the more reliable the pistol will be but the less support the case has. Of course the less open the chamber is the harder it will be for the pistol to chamber a round. In the 45 super the case has more brass or is thicker in the unsupported part of the chamber to keep the case from blowing out. I don’t know of any body that makes a barrel with a more supported chamber for auto pistols since it may be less reliable. In the auto pistol there is a balance between reliability and safety.

[the priest]

KKM, Lonewolf,.......etc, etc, etc. are all more supported than factory glock chamber which has a tendency to have other issues as well.

Agreed that more support (or more precise chamber) means possible feeding problems.

[dennyl]

I have set up on my Glock 20

[fltbed]

I to was inspired by Mr. Taffin and did a similar series if tests last spring with my slightly modified 1911. Here’s my write up, copied from the 1911fourm:


45 acp heavy loads

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After reading John Taffin’s articles on loading the 45 acp to original 45 colt spec’s with 250/260 gr. Lead SWC bullets and reading all the post’s on the 1911forum about it. I decided to try it myself.

My test gun is my old Springfield “Loaded” 1911 stainless. This is my USPSA Single stack/limited 10 gun and has been modified for competition with a trigger job, mag well, checkering, fiber optic sight, EGW firing pin stop, etc. The only change I made to it was to change out the recoil spring for an ISMI 20 lb. (heaviest one I had on hand).

I contacted a friend I met on brasstrader.com who casts very good bullets, and he had both the Lyman 250 gr. And the RCBS 260 gr. Molds and was willing to send me a sample of each for some brass I didn’t need.

Mr. Taffin always used Unique to fuel his “heavy” acp loads but I always thought there were better powder choices, so I settled on three to try.
Winchester Super Field, served me well in the 40 S&W with 200 gr. Bullets loaded to the old USPSA power factor.
Blue Dot, has been my go to powder for over twenty years for high velocity loads in the 9mm, 40 S&W and 45 acp.
Accurate No. 7, because I had some sitting in the powder locker and I found loading data for it.

WSF: I was on my own here as I could find no data at all for anything heaver than 240 gr. JHP’s. I worked up to 6.0 gr. Showing 890 f.p.s. with both bullets but accuracy just was not there.

Blue Dot: This was a real disappointment as I experienced three jams where the slide closed before the rim of the cartridge was in front of the breach face. Although the brass showed no sign of excessive pressures the apparent extreme slide velocity stopped further testing.

Accurate No. 7: This was a real shocker as the only load tested was what I felt to be a good start load of 0.5 gr. under suggested load in the data I could find. Velocity was way over what I expected and accuracy (especially with the RCBS 260 gr. Bullet) was better than I can normally do with open sights. I feel a new can of No. 7 needs to be acquired and further tests run.

All the ammo was loaded in Federal brass with Winchester primers to an OAL of 1.200 (ten shot strings). All the brass was ejected 8-10 feet away and none of the empty cases showed signs of excessive pressure. Target was at 50 yards.

Lyman 250 gr. SWC:
6.0 gr. WSF Vel. 890 f.p.s. ES. 43 SD. 15 group size 7.5”
10.0 gr. No. 7 Vel. 940 f.p.s. ES. 50 SD. 15 group size 5.2”
8.2 gr. Blue Dot Vel. 850 f.p.s. ES. 43 SD 14 group size 7”

RCBS 260 gr. SWC:
6.0 gr. WSF Vel. 890 f.p.s. ES. 22 SD. 6 group size 9”
10.0 gr. No. 7 Vel. 940 f.p.s. ES. 43 SD. 12 group size 4.25”
8.2 gr. Blue Dot Vel. 890 f.p.s. ES. 78 SD 23 group size 7”

I feel this further proves what Mr. Taffin said in his articles about the 45 acp being capable of doing anything the original 45 Colt load could do.

The sad thing is, that here in Pennsylvania, shooting any critter for any reason with an auto loading handgun will get you a fine and your gun confiscated by the game commission. Of course, everybody throws in the qualifying statement “only if your caught” but I don’t like to take chances with the game nazi….er…wardens.

As always, this data is safe in my gun. Experiment at your own risk.

Cheers.

Jeff

PS Sorry for not posting any pics but my camera died.

[serialsolver]

Fltbed, I found your post on the 1911 forum when I first started out. I had worked with heavy bullets in the Glock 21 and 30sf for couple of months but have since lost interest. I lost interest because of the Glock trigger and a Smith & Wesson 44sp then a 329pd I have posted about in double-action revolvers.

[dougader]

That's exactly the type of thing I have been mulling over and fiddling with for years but never seem to have enough time to get it all done. I haven't read JT's article, but I just thought from reading John Linebaugh's writings about how a 250-260 grain 45 slug could cleanly take deer to 100 yards... well, why not load the 45 auto with a heavier bullet? I mean, Speer 11 and 12 both list 45 auto loads with their 260 grain jhp. I've read that thread on GT several times and the links posted there also.

I've messed with 250 grain hardcast rnfp and Beartooth 265 grain WFNGC bullets but I'm not satisfied yet. I set up a G21sf with a LW 6" barrel with the little 4 ports along the top, a 22# recoil spring and steel guide rod. I use 45 Super brass and CCI 300 primers. Not set to share data. But I have been messing with AA7, Blue Dot, Universal, 3N37 and AA9. Have wondered about Longshot and True Blue as well. So much testing to do; so little time.

[dougader]

This little bullet does 1033 fps from the 6" LWD ported barrel.... its the 265 grain WFNGC for 628 ft lbs muzzle energy: