Favorite Brazos 160 gr. swc load

I have been loading 200 gr. Brazos swc coated in mixed brass with 4.0 gr. Bullseye. .92 to shoulder and .469 crimp in my Range Officer with good success. I bought a bag of the 160 gr. To practice with. I know that aol is the same, seat approx. .92 to shoulder, and crimp looks good too. Anyone have a favorite load for this bullet?

I have Bullseye, VV N310, Winchester w231, Red Dot and WST to choose from for powder.

Thanks for any ‘pet loads”

Joe

I haven't used Brazos but with SNS 160's 4.4gr N310 produced essentially the same groups as my Zero 185 LSWCHP loads (4.2gr WST)

4.3 - 4.5 of WST works well

4-4.2 BE is excellent. I would not use 231/HP38 as it's too slow in burn rate.

I have shot all kinds of 160's. They are a great cheap practice bullet. 4.2gr Bullseye, 4.4gr WST works well at 25yds. I have had good results with 4.0gr Bullseye with a .463 crimp. To have any accuracy at 50yds they have to be moving. The best I have been able to get is 2.5" groups with 4.5gr Bullseye or 4.6gr WST. I shoot Zero 185 LSWCHP. I find a different point of impact between 160's and 185's but not between 185's and 200's. I shoot Zero 185 LSWCHP's on both lines. 

Bill

Thank you everyone for the advice. I will load some up this weekend!

Joe

I’ve found the 160’s need to be humping a bit more than the 185/200’s.
Seems counterintuitive but it’s true!

james r chapman wrote:I’ve found the 160’s need to be humping a bit more than the 185/200’s.
Seems counterintuitive but it’s true!

Same here. with 4.4gr N310 the recoil is less than 185's but when I tried to reduce the load further the group got bigger.

I like 4.4 bullseye. The tightest ransom rest group (1.7" at 50) out of my gun that I have is with that charge weight and Bob's 160s, same profile as the brazos just traditionally lubed.

I'm loading 160 Brazos with 4.4gr BE. Shooting a Rock River wad gun with a slide mounted Aimpoint Micro H-1.  10# spring (believe factory is 11?) About 1000 rounds through gun. 4.3gr BE and below seems to eject a bit weakly and has occasionally stovepiped.  4.4 has been reliable.

Sighted in at 25yd. Looking for suggestions for sight adjustments for 50YD. Please specify inches or Aimpoint clicks.

(Informal club BE shoot. Have been shooting .22.  I'd like to shoot.45 but won't have an opportunity to sight in at 50 ahead of time.)

Bruce

I will be shooting the 160's at 25 yards. I did not think they were a good 50 yard round. I am using the 200 gr. SWC and the 185 JHP for 50.

They are EXCELLENT at 50 yards. PC bullets are a bit slicker than straight lead so mere powder is needed. The H&G S242 mould ( that I bought at Canton) works with less powder

Great to hear, I will give them a try at 50 as well.

Hello,

I shot next to an older shooter of some repute at Perry this year. He told me he was shooting 3.3 of Titewad under Brazos 160s using a 1:13 twist KKM barrel. His opinion was that driving the (light) bullets a little slower in a fast twist was probably OK.

Thanks,
Chase

This is timely .
I have some Brazos 160 to load.
So far I'm not getting them to come to battery, I believe I need to adjust my crimp.
I was having good results with the 185 SWC and JHP, but for some reason the coated 
160's aren't chambering easily. 
I'll sort it tomorrow.
My 45 game needs work...

Al W. wrote: but for some reason the coated 
160's aren't chambering easily. 
I'll sort it tomorrow.
My 45 game needs work...

Try a different brand magazine.

160’s are the hardest 45 bullet to get to feed smoothly in my experience. Mostly magazine related; when cartridge is released from magazines feed lips.
Jon

Jon Eulette wrote:160’s are the hardest 45 bullet to get to feed smoothly in my experience. Mostly magazine related; when cartridge is released from magazines feed lips.
Jon

Thats been my experience so far !

I have some Bob's 160's I just decided to try last week. Loaded some up and tried them and they would not chamber properly. I was using some type of unidentified Wilson magazine, so I switched to a Wilson 47D magazine and feeding is effortless again. 

The 47D may not necessarily be the solution in your pistol though.

joeangi wrote:I have been loading 200 gr. Brazos swc coated in mixed brass with 4.0 gr. Bullseye. .92 to shoulder and .469 crimp in my Range Officer with good success. I bought a bag of the 160 gr. To practice with. I know that aol is the same, seat approx. .92 to shoulder, and crimp looks good too. Anyone have a favorite load for this bullet?

I have Bullseye, VV N310, Winchester w231, Red Dot and WST to choose from for powder.

Thanks for any ‘pet loads”

Joe

What I ended up with that ran the gun was:

3.8gr BE
I pulled data from Nosler who liked the 1.10 OAL 
When I loaded to that aprox length I have no shoulder on the round, which is think is what it needs to feed correctly.
My final flush shoulder OAL is 1.130 with a .469.5 crimp.
The round has a bit of that "wasp" waist look but its slight.

I measured from crimp to bottom .469.4
                                                 .471
                                                 .470
                                                 .467 this is a very limited area 
                                                 .473 this for about a quarter inch
Its running, as I said, is accurate and the rounds can be cycled manually without undue resistance .
I know its a light load and my recoil spring would need to be changed , Think I'm still running the stock spring in there. 
I like the low recoil. 
I'll fire some of these low charge rounds and test up to 4.2 and see how that goes.

I seat all SWC's to the same depth by the shoulder. With that, the COAL for the Bob's 160's (Same as Brazos) ends up being 1.150".

Glad you got yours to feed.

I just recently received some Brazos .45 160s FB Hitek coated bullets. I had been using both 180 and 200 gr Brazos in front of 3.9 gr VV N310. I tried 4.3 of N310 with the 160s. It shot well but a tad weak for my gun set up. I increased it to a "heavy" 4.4gr, maybe 4.45 or so, and it worked great at 25 yds. I shot it some at 50 yds and it was pretty good, but verdict is out on that. I did find that my normal 6-8 clicks delta between 25-50 yds is too much when using the 160s. I did not chrono the load so I do not know what it is doing, but the holes were clean at 50 yds, and sight adjustment between 25 and 50 appears to minimal. I'll know more tomorrow.

Allgoodhits wrote:I just recently received some Brazos .45  160s FB Hitek coated bullets. I had been using both 180 and 200 gr Brazos in front of 3.9 gr VV N310. I tried 4.3 of N310 with the 160s. It shot well but a tad weak for my gun set up. I increased it to a "heavy" 4.4gr, maybe 4.45 or so, and it worked great at 25 yds. I shot it some at 50 yds and it was pretty good, but verdict is out on that. I did find that my normal 6-8 clicks delta between 25-50 yds is too much when using the 160s. I did not chrono the load so I do not know what it is doing, but the holes were clean at 50 yds, and sight adjustment between 25 and 50 appears to minimal. I'll know more tomorrow.

I've been having fits moving from 25 to 50 yds with the 160. My 50 yd game ain't much, but my performance with the  45ACP really needs improvement .
Have been loading 4.1 gr of BE , which I was told was the lightest load that will stabilize that projectile.
Have my pistol at the smiths . 
Interested to see my results upon its return.

I no longer use BE, but my recollection is that 4.1gr would be a very light ( too light) load for 160 gr in .45 acp. Consider 4.3 or slightly more.

3.7 gr Alliant e^3, 0.92" base-to-shoulder, 0.468" crimp. Labradar puts them right around 800 fps MV. They group well at 25 off of a bench. I figured they are best for a softer-shooting short line load. In my 1:16 SA barrel they shoot about 6 to 8 MOA (1.5" to 2") to the right, compared to my 50 yd zero (185 JHPs).