Berry’s 230 Grain HHP — High Performance Load for the .45 ACP

Unquestionably, 9mm is the self-defense caliber of choice for a majority of people. It’s effective, has much less recoil than the .45, and is far less expensive to shoot. However, some still believe “bigger is better” theory when it comes to bullets. I’ll happily concede that I’m a confirmed fan of the .45 ACP, particularly in the 1911 platform. Shooting it can get expensive, but Berry’s has a self-defense solution!

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About the Guns

This is my 45th year of using the .45 1911! The Marines handed me one, and I took to it pretty quickly. It’s a veteran of two world wars, many other military conflicts, police use, and civilian use. I carried a .45 1911 during my entire police career and personally know four men who’ve saved their lives, or the lives of others, with the .45 ACP. Another friend stopped a charging black bear in his camp with his .45 GLOCK. Though old, the cartridge still speaks with authority and keeps getting better!

For this article I pulled two of my own firearms from the gun safe, a .45 Kimber 1911 and a .45 Ruger Blackhawk. Both guns weigh within one ounce of each other, 38 ounces and 39 ounces respectively.

I’ve been shooting Kimber 1911’s for nearly 30 years now, but this one is not that old. The single-action semi-automatic “Eclipse Custom” has a 5” barrel and comes with tritium night sights to assist with low light shooting. It’s proven accurate and reliable.

The old three-screw Ruger Blackhawk convertible came with cylinders for both .45 ACP and the much longer .45 Colt. It’s a rugged and accurate old gun, easily strong enough to handle the most powerful .45 ACP loads. This one has the 4 ⅝” barrel and the rare brass grip frame.

About the Berry’s 230 Grain .451” Hybrid Hollow Point

Berry’s bullets use a soft swaged lead core, which is then copper plated and re-struck to form the final bullet shape and bond the copper plating to the lead core. Most of the Berry’s plated bullets we’ve used here on Ultimate Reloader are intended for target practice or competition. This one can certainly be used for that but is purpose-built for self defense. Berry’s calls this line of bullets their Hybrid Hollow Point and offers them for five different cartridges in a number of different bullet weights. In .45 alone, they offer 185, 200 and 230 grain HHP self-defense bullets!

From Berry’s:

Berry’s Hybrid Hollow Points are the result of two merged developmental ideas. Following the same process as our Superior Plated Bullets®, they start with a swaged lead core that is then electroplated with copper to final weight. Lastly, they are re-struck to ensure precise specifications and create the Hybrid Hollow Point nose design. This design allows for maximum expansion and weight retention, becoming one of the most reliable self-defense bullets available today. The .45’s penetration is 11″-13″.

- - Bullet O.A.L.:.610″
  - Cartridge Name:45 ACP
  - Cartridge O.A.L.:1.210″
  - Recommended Velocity:825 – 975 fps

- Load data for our Superior Plated Bullets® can be found in any manual or on any powder manufacturer’s website.

- Cast or jacketed data with the same grain weight and profile will work with our bullets.

- You can use a taper or a roll crimp.

- Don’t over crimp the brass after seating. This causes bullet core separation, leading to increased copper fouling and accuracy issues.

- Don’t exceed the recommended maximum velocities listed. This creates bullet core separation and accuracy issues.

- Use a round nose seating stem. A flat point seating stem will alter the performance of the Hybrid Hollow Point.

About the Loads

I wanted to test both a standard and +P load, selecting Hodgdon’s HP-38 for the standard level loads. Gavin and I had recently discussed all of the different cartridges we’d used HP-38 and W 231 for over the decades. (W231 is the same powder carrying Winchester’s label.) This powder is excellent for standard velocity loads in a wide range of cartridges, producing excellent accuracy and tremendous consistency. HP-38 flows very well through a mechanical powder measure, making it a fine choice for either single-stage or progressive press loading.

I opted for Ramshot Silhouette for the .45+P loads. I used this powder with impressive results in our .45 vs 10mm story. This time, I wanted to push performance at the top of Hodgdon’s data.

Hodgdon’s Online Reloading Data Center showed 1,000 fps to be within reach using a 230 grain bullet! Silhouette is a very fine grained spherical powder which meters easily through a mechanical powder measure. It’s well-suited for use with a single-stage press or a progressive press.

The HP-38 load looked to be right where I expect most 230 grain .45 ACP loads to be, somewhere between 800 – 850 fps at the muzzle of a 5” semi-auto.

The Silhouette load caught my attention with that 1,009 fps velocity at max charge! That’s well above what the .45+P ammo I’ve used generates for muzzle velocity. (Most of them top out around 900 – 950 fps.) I had to give it a try!

I loaded everything on a Lyman All-American 8 turret press after hand priming the cases off-press. I paired the turret press with RCBS dies, electing to use to taper crimp with a separate fourth crimping die.

There are some things to consider while loading .45 ACP with Berry’s bullets. Berry’s bullets are composed of a soft lead swaged core with a thin copper plating applied. This is a great way to make a bullet, but the plating can be damaged by aggressive crimping. If the plating is broken, the bullet will not perform as intended. Also, don’t forget that .45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth.

I recommend using a good taper crimp with any bullet for the .45 ACP— it is generally easier on the copper-plated Berry’s bullets. It also smooths out the shape of the reloaded ammunition, helping it move easily from the magazine, up the feed ramp, and into the chamber.

Different bullet types and makes feature a wide variety of nose shapes. Some are rounded, some are pointed, some are flat… Berry’s recommends using a round-nose bullet seating stem for their 230 grain HHP bullet. I used that with no problems at all.

Don’t forget to check seating depth. Berry’s recommends 1.210” but I found that wouldn’t quite chamber properly in the .45 barrels I use, so I seated the bullets at 1.10” overall length. Always remember that seating a bullet deeper into the case can raise pressure.

I check my ammunition by using the 1911 barrel as a case gauge. I also load several of the cartridges into my magazines and check to see if there is any problem getting them to feed properly. This can be done with dummy ammunition, using no powder or primer.

The .45 ACP is a low-pressure cartridge compared to many other popular cartridges, yet it’s been a heavy-hitter from the beginning. With today’s powders, cases, and bullets it has even greater potential.

I loaded all .45 ammunition for this project using a Lyman Brass Smith All-American 8 turret press Reloading kit. This kit includes a powder measure and stand, beam scale, and the press itself which is shown here on an InLine Fabrication mount. This is a combination I’ve used to load thousands of handgun and rifle cartridges for target practice and hunting.

Results

First up was the HP-38 load. It was very nice to shoot, with mild recoil and good accuracy. When I kept proper sight alignment and sight picture and kept my trigger finger under control, the HP-38 load just kept plunking those 230 grain Berry’s bullets into the steel and onto the paper target. The tight SD figure pleased but didn’t surprise me as HP-38 is known for excellent shot to shot consistency.

Finally it was time for the Silhouette load! Would it break 1,000 fps with the big 230 grain bullet? YES! We chronographed five shots—one was considerably slower than the others. I suspect I accidentally put a little less powder in that case or didn’t crimp it as tightly. Either way, the string of fire averaged 1,016 fps, but with a slightly disappointing 21 fps SD. I’m sure that without that one slowpoke, things would have looked better.

Recoil with the Silhouette load was greater than with the slower HP-38 load, but was still easy to manage. The weight of a 5” steel 1911 helps with the recoil as does a proper grip and stance while shooting.

Like many shooters, I practice mostly with economical handloads or bulk commercial ammunition, but carry commercially-available ammunition for self-defense. It’s important that the practice ammo and the carry ammo have the same point of impact! This is often determined by bullet weight and velocity. I was pleased to find that the Underwood +P 230 grain ammunition has roughly the same velocity as my +P handloads.

I’d anticipate that it shoots to the same point of impact. At 850 fps, the HSL ammunition should share the same point of impact as standard 230 grain .45 ACP ammo.

Be sure to confirm bullet impact before carrying self defense ammo. It’s vital that the self defense ammo and the practice ammo hit the same place at the same ranges.

Costs

All handloaders like to save money. Sometimes it’s hard to beat factory prices, for example, bulk 9mm FMJ ammo can be very inexpensive. .45 shooters though know that their pistols are more expensive to feed, particularly when using self-defense ammunition. During my law enforcement career, I had quite a few 500-round training days. Not only do hands get sore on a day like that but the cost is significant.

Using new brass and the Berry’s HHP bullet, our HP-38 loads cost $.61 each to assemble. Re-using spent brass reduces that to $.37 each.

A typical self-defense type jacketed hollow point costs about $0.11 more than the Berry’s. With these higher costs, a round of .45 would cost up to $0.72 using new brass and approximately $0.48 per round using fired brass.

If you aren’t a handloader or it is too expensive, there are many good commercially available .45 ACP self-defense ammunition options available. I selected four to include in this article:

Federal’s 230 grain Hydra-Shock has long been proven as an excellent self-defense choice. I carried it on-duty for several years. It came in at $1.35 per shot. Speer’s 230 grain Gold Dot also has a stellar reputation as self-defense ammo and came in at a whopping $1.75 per round.

Underwood produces a variety of excellent and innovative self-defense cartridges. I found that they use the very same 230 grain Berry’s HHP bullet that we used. Theirs is a +P loading, advertised at 1,000 fps which is faster than any other 230 grain .45+P ammunition I’ve ever used.

HSL is a Utah company and I found that their standard velocity .45 ammo with the 230 grain Berry’s was available at an outstanding cost of only $0.60 per round!

Many handgunners go through a lot of practice ammunition. When loading 500 or 1000 rounds of .45 the savings by using economical Berry’s bullets and re-using spent brass are considerable.

Loading 500 rounds of my HP-38 loads with the 230 grain Berry’s HHP cost only $185.00 compared to $875 for 500 rounds of Speer 230 Grain Gold Dot ammo.

Conclusion

Berry’s HHP bullets are true self-defense bullets that shoot well and are considerably less expensive than conventional jacketed self-defense bullets. I believe that this 230 grain Berry’s HHP bullet is a fine choice for the .45 ACP cartridge for both practice and self-defense carry.

With today’s powders and bullets, the old .45 ACP is more effective than ever. It already had a good reputation, even with FMJ “hardball” 230 grain ammunition, and is even better with the various modern bullets available.

For many people, the recoil and blast of the standard .45 is quite enough to deal with. However, the .45+P is an excellent choice for those who want extra velocity. Greater power produces greater recoil, making it important to practice handling that increased recoil.

Commercially available ammunition at either standard or +P levels is available with this bullet. I recommend carrying commercial ammo for self-defense purposes. I’m glad that I was able to note my 45th year with the 45 ACP using a new bullet and two good handloads for it.