[elbooya]

Hi im new to this forum and to reloading. I'VE recently purchased a hornady lnl progressive press. Had a few indexing pawl issues out of the box bit worked them out. Everyting else seems fine except when i test my dummy rounds by loading them into a mag and dropping the slide on them they tend to sink about .005 further into the case. Seems like a little more crimp would fix this issue but pretty soon I find myself cutting the plating on the bullet. I am using Berry's 230 gn round nose and 200gn round shoulder, dies are hornady.

[rcmodel]

Crimp will not fix seating too long in the first place, or loose case neck tension.

It may be the bullet hitting the rifling leade that is setting it back.

Chamber check using the barrel out of the gun as a guage.
Loaded rounds should drop in freely so the case is even with the barrel hood.
And drop out freely when you turn the chamber pointing down.

If not that, you don't have enough case neck tension, and more taper crimp won't fix it.
In fact, it may make it worse.

The brass case will spring back after crimping more then the soft lead bullet core.
It won't spring back a tall!

If you need more neck tension?
1. Quit using Remington cases, or:
2. Turn down the dies expander plug with a drill & emery paper until it is at least .002" - .003" smaller then bullet diameter.

Then taper crimp just enough to straighten the case mouth bell, or measure to .469" Min - .471" Max.

rc

[Walkalong]

No amount of crimp can make up for poor neck tension in auto calibers such as the .45 ACP. All you nee crimp wise is to remove the bell or a hair more.

Your sizer could be too big, or your expander could be too little. try sizing a case and seating a bullet without expanding the case. If that cures things, your sizer is OK and you need to polish down the expander until it leaves you with enough neck tension.

Over flaring is problematic as well, and can hurt neck tension. Flare just enough to get the bullet started.

Welcome to THR

Oh, the pic happens to be a Berrys 230 Gr RN.

[steve4102]

As posted above, the crimp on a 45 ACP is only applied to remove the flare +. It is not used to secure the bullet. Neck tension does that. IMO there would be a lot less confusion if the taper crimp die was renamed the "Flare removal" die.

[Josh45]

I had almost the same issue with the same bullet. I was overflaring the case. Just flare enough for the bullet to get started and the seat it. You will then be good to but always check your barrel none the less...

[Hangingrock]

As for measuring crimp .469"Ø may or may not be minimum. Ball-Match Grade Lot RA 5028 (Remington Arms Co Inc.1960) measures .469"Ø but over the years I’ve measured crimp diameter Mil-Spec and on occasion that went down to .466"Ø

[rfwobbly]

Welcome to THR!

And welcome to real reloading.

As stated above, you ABSOLUTELY do not want the nose of the bullet touching anything inside the barrel when the case is head-spacing on the end of the chamber. If your OAL is being shortened when you drop the slide on a test cartridge, then it's touching something!

As the cartoon below shows, different bullet shapes can have different issues inside the barrel....
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-u4qAeVHifGI/TUQpFgf_jeI/AAAAAAAACu0/6qffBqY_gOU/s800/Bullet%252520Shapes.jpg

If your cartridge is being collapsed to a shorter OAL, then measure this new "collapsed OAL" and subtract another ~.015". So if your "collapsed OAL" measures 1.262" then you need to make up a test cartridge (no powder; no primer) at 1.247" (or shorter) and try that.

I suggest .015" because it's not enough to be 'barely not touching'. Like a car trying to jump a curb, the bullet needs to get a running head start at jumping into the rifling. And too, every reloading press makes finished cartridges with some length variation. So the clearance your single test cartridge enjoys is not the same clearance the next 200 rounds will have. Some will be longer (less clearance) and some will be shorter (more clearance). You have to allow extra clearance for the longer cartridges.

This points to a good lesson in reloading: Not every bullet offered on the market can be shot in every gun on the market. Some guns with tighter chambers or close-in rifling may simply rule out certain shape bullets.


Once the OAL is correct, then you can work on neck tension.

[Walkalong]

Using a barrel to find the max OAL for a bullet in your gun, for the reason so aptly illustrated by rfwobbly.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=506678

[mwsenoj]

Rfwobbly, what program do you use to make the illustration?

[NoAlibi]

rfwobbly - You are to be commended for taking the time and effort to "show & tell" a new reloader the solution to his problem.

PS - I've archived (stolen? :D) your post so that other reloaders will profit from your work as well. Thanks...Doc

[elbooya]

Thank ypu guys for your help. I tried dropping my slide on an assortment of factory loads i have been shooting. They all pushed slightly further into the case. Is this normal?