Gary Reeder
Back a hundred years ago in Tennessee I used Red Dot in
Wednesday, October 30, 2024, 12:42

my 45 ACP shooting in the combat games. I used 5.5 grain of Red Dot with a 230 grain hard cast lead bullet in my AMT long slide. I shot right at 200 rounds every day rain or shine in practice so I went thru an 8 lb keg fairly quick. I was loading on the old model 450 Dillon press and pretty much wore it loose after about 5 years of this.
The 5.5 grain load with a 230 bullet is just a C hair over max but it ran the long slide with never a hitch.
Later on in '87 or so I was loading 38 Super for Kase and Colleen, as they had got into the combat shooting. The problem there is the 38 Super had to be loaded at absolute max to reach the power level required to shoot in the matches as at the time the combat shoots required a 45 ACP loaded hot to shoot in the games. The main problem is the 38 Super load would bulge the case to a point where it was almost impossible to reload the cases. I tried but could never get the bulge at the base of the case completely out, at least out enough to where it would reliably function the gun. I had Colleen and Kase to practice with a load that was below max that would function their pistols but not bulge the brass. Kase's gun was a custom Para Ordnance and Colleen's was a custom Springfield Armory and both were guns we built in our shop. Both were 18 round guns.
Their loads that would hit the power factor to allow them to shoot in the matches was a 125 grain hard cast lead bullet with a really stout load of Red Dot that hit the power factor but ruined the brass. At the time I was buying 5000 rounds of 38 Super brass in bulk and it lasted maybe a month of shooting. I kept 2 Dillon presses going pretty much every night to keep them shooting.