Summers Enterprises Bullets

First topic message reminder :

I’ve been shooting assortments of bullets recently trying to get rid of the last “of” batches of partial bullet boxes. Finally opened new box of the Summers 45 180 FB bullets. I really like them. I have not tried the coated bullets yet.
But here’s a pic of bullet love lol.
Jon

Rodger,
Not yet. Been to busy to swap out powders:)
Hopefully soon.
Yesterday with two fast twist barreled pistols with 3.3 BE 200 Summers I was shooting ragged hole clustered groups. Have always liked non-coated bullets. I shot up all my reloads and need to load again. Will try and use WST next batch.
Jon

Jon Eulette wrote:Rodger,
Not yet. Been to busy to swap out powders:)
Hopefully soon.
Yesterday with two fast twist barreled pistols with 3.3 BE 200 Summers I was shooting ragged hole clustered groups. Have always liked non-coated bullets. I shot up all my reloads and need to load again. Will try and use WST next batch.
Jon

Thanks for the quick response Jon.
I've been playing with some 170gr SWCs I cast and have been shooting good when I do my part.
Hope the Summer's 180s will do the same. Had to change type of magazine I use do to the skinny nose of the bullet that is the same length as the H&G 68 and OAL as a Zero SWCHP would fail to feed and not clear the thin shoulder on the bottom of the barrel ramp.
Went with some old Metal Form Military style to get them to feed.

Is your 170 profile similar to 160’s? They’re a pain to get to feed smoothly. I use GI type magazine because it releases cartridge later. Seems to help.
Jon

Jon they are actually the same OAL as the Zero 185 SWCHP,200gr Zero SWC and the Summers 175gr SWC. Here's some pictures

WST is a great 45acp powder. 180gn LSW I use 3.8 to 4.0. Soft and accurate. It is temperature sensitive so in the cold weather go 4.0.

rich.tullo wrote:WST is a great 45acp powder. 180gn LSW I use 3.8 to 4.0. Soft and accurate. It is temperature sensitive so in the cold weather go 4.0.

Rich, if I may, are you running a slide mount optic? MS and recoil spring weight?

I’m having very occasional failures to fully extract / eject with 4.0 gr WST and the 170 summers (which I like a lot). My gun is not terribly tight, no optic, 12# recoil (I think may have 11#) and 19# mainspring. 

Thanks
Rod

RodJ, I use a similar load to yours, 4.0 of WST with 180 gr. Brazos flat base bullets.  I use a 12# recoil spring, and have a slide mounted optic (Primary Arms) which I believe weighs about 4.5 oz, it is an H1 clone.  

The 180 gr Brazos bullets are a little heavier than 180 gr, probably closer to 182.  The lighter weight bullets you are using could be a factor.  When I was using Brazos 160 gr bullets, I had to up the charge to 4.2 gr of WST.

What is your crimp?  I am using .466 crimp.  You may need to crimp tighter, with lighter bullets, like maybe .465 or so.

Rburk,
Thank you for that comparison. I’m shooting irons on my RO.  At 4.2, no problems.  Interesting that you are okay with an optic at 4.0 WST and the slightly heavier bullet.

Honestly I can’t measure crimp accurately. Someone here (Jim Chapman?) has a steel plate with machinist accuracy holes drilled to check crimp. Brilliant.  I’m getting a “solid” crimp but try not too go super tight for concerns expressed (but of which I have no test data or measurements) that it’s possibly to crimp so much as to deform the inelastic lead and the brass spring back to shape, such that th3 crimp doesn’t hold tight.

Anyway, very helpful to know your experience. I might need to play around a bit with crimp.  My loader is a Star universal with Lifetyme dies.

Rod

Measuring crimp with a micrometer is tricky and I am never 100% sure of my crimp measurements.  A good way to check your crimp is pull a bullet, and measure it with a caliper.  Also, you can see and feel the actual deformation of the bullet.

WST is very good. 3.9 to 4.2gn.

I run 4.0 of wst with the flat base 180s for the short line. Soft load that works well

w3.9 to 4.1 WST is very good.

3.9 to 4.1 WST depending on the temperature.