Toolnup wrote:Hi all,
Been reloading for rifles for a while but I have just started pistol shooting and got myself a CZ Shadow 1.
What is the general consensus on the most accurate projectile shape, round nose, hollow point, something else?
Also it seems ADI have recently released new powders for pistol. I was under the impression AP70 and AP100 was always the pick of the bunch but have been replaced with APS350 and APS450.
Which one is now the new 'go to' powder?
Cheers.
It's much simpler than you think. Your CZ likes the same ammo as many of the handguns I have. Personally I would stick to one powder and not experiment with many different types. Up to now your CZ would love loads like a round nose 135gr Hi-Tek coated bullet available from many local makers. I cast my own in this design and Hi-Tek coat them. Up to now I've always used AS50N (shotgun powder) or AP50. If you are relatively new go straight to APS450. This new powder for your CZ with a 135gr bullet and anywhere from 2.4gr to 2.7gr You can load it up with 3.0gr or more but frankly if you are shooting targets and not IPSC there is no point. If you set most commercial bullets up with 1.110" to 1.115" overall length you will have about 800fps velocity through your CZ with 2.4-2.5gr of APS450
I would simply use this as a starting point and I think you will end up with excellent results with the 135gr bullet and no more than 2.7gr of powder and the overall length I mentioned.
You can go up or down with the powder all you like it won't make a huge difference. The accuracy will be excellent throughout the range of powder weights I mentioned so long as the bullets you buy are sized to .356" and not less. A few tenths larger diameter than this is OK but less than .356" is not ideal.
Ideally you should taper crimp with a dedicated taper crimp die after seating the bullet and go light on the crimp....378" to .380" is fine measured at the top of the case after crimping.
Also make sure if you are using once or many times fired cases, particularly if you don't know which pistol they were fired in, to have the cases Rollsized to get rid of case bulge. I Rollsize all my cases regardless of what they were fired in. This is critical if they were fired in Glocks or similar Service type handguns used with heavy loads like +P's Many relaoders don't realise that full length sizing does not always get rid of this case bulge and often jamming becomes a problems not to mention the fact that bulged cases will fail much more quickly after numerous reloads.
I have cases that I've loaded over 40 times and they still look like new. Yes, once in while a case will split after much abuse but the Rollsizing extends case life exponentially.