Newbie reloader here. Well last night I attempted my first reloads, 45 acp. Pretty much if there was a mistake to be made I made it. So glad I did not get a progressive press, there were plenty of other challenges. I certainly did not need to add the complexity of a progressive press to the mix!

Anyway I was wondering how important is it to get to the published COAL?

The Speer book says for .45 acp a COAL of 1.650. Starting with new cases I totally over expanded and ended up with a COAL in the range of 1.255 - 1.300. None of my rounds were over 1.300.

Should these rounds not be used?

Thanks all for your thoughts.