[4895]

Long story short, I loaded up some .45 acp loads with 230 grain round nose plated HSM bullets for a Para-Ordnance 1911 .45 acp. More than half will not chamber easily and many leave the slide out of battery.

I ran them though a Dillon Precision case gauge and most of them do not pass the "plunk" test.

The overall length does not seem to be an issue.

Upon removing the stuck rounds from the case gauge, there seems to be a 'witness mark' right in the center of the brass just below the bullet base where the brass has a slight bulge.

These rounds were loaded on a Dillon progressive and I would expect them to be more uniform. If the crimp is good on one or many, they should all be pretty close, etc.

(1) Perhaps I didn't bell the mouth enough to seat the bullet center?

(1) Perhaps I didn't center the bullets good enough upon seating operation?

(2) Perhaps HSM bullets are more out of round than others or thicker plating?
-I did measure the remaining 40-50 bullets and they were all .451 diameter.

(3) Perhaps my crimp is improper?

Most of these rounds will not chamber through a magazine properly.

I don't have access to take a picture of them, but I could pull some strings to get one.

Help please!

[35 Whelen]

Don't worry about the bullet bulging one side of the case a little. Make sure you apply a good TAPER crimp. That's of paramount importance right after proper sizing.

35W

[4895]

Thanks. I will re-crimp a few until they work in the chamber gauge and see if that fixes the problem.

[ArchAngelCD]

IMO if the rounds did not pass when checked with a case gauge you should not try to chamber the rounds in your pistol and for sure do not try to shoot them!

Please keep us posted on what's happening with the problem...

[SlamFire1]

I seat 230 FMJ to an OAL 1.265" and I taper crimp the case mouth to 0.469"

[4895]

I found the problem. The crimp was wrong. I think my die loosened up or the base plate for the die set had come loose. It's the only thing that could explain having 80 out of the first hundred shoot fine, then after checking with my newly purchased Dillon Precision case gauge, 20 out of about 80 were good. I also noticed while setting it up for .45 auto, was loading .44 special, that the seater die "plug" spins very free when set at the correct depth (1.245"). I think I will put a little teflon tape on it and see if it takes up the slack. I will be checking them better from now on. Thanks for the help.

[Bud0505]

Glad you found your problem. Personally I would never load a hundred rounds until I was sure I had a good functioning load. Usually I'll do a couple of magazines worth and then check them at the range. Once I'm satisfied with the load then I'll start mass production. But that's just me.

[Bovice]

I had something similar happen to me recently. My crimp die had loosened ever so slightly that the rounds were going into my case gauge, but they would hang up partially out of the magazine, pressed against the feed ramp. I thought initially I was accidentally bumping my slide lock (which I have done, and causes a similar condition at first glance) until I put my calipers on the case mouth. It was RIGHT on the edge of not enough crimp, so I made the adjustment and they're back to normal. After about 1000 rounds or so, my seating die comes a few thousandths out of spec too. A good habit to get into is to load up 5-10 rounds, see if they drop in the case gauge, and then check OAL. That way you can fix any discrepancies before you finish a whole batch.

[beatledog7]

Recheck every 10th round or so in your chamber until you reach about 50 total rounds. Then maybe drop back to every 20th. But never let yourself believe that you can just keep pulling the handle and all will be well. QA must be continuous.

[gahunter12]

that the seater die "plug" spins very free when set at the correct depth (1.245").

This shouldn't matter. All of my seater die sleeves spin freely on my Dillon dies. As long as the gold seater insert doesn't spin inside the sleeve. If they do you need to check for the black pin that holds it in place.

[ArchAngelCD]

Glad to hear you found the problem and it was easy to fix...

[Arkansas Paul]

I had a recent go around with a crimp issue myself. I'm fairly new to the crimping thing. I loaded for 2 years without crimping a single round. I had a Sigma 40VE and it would chamber and shoot anything. I got a Sig in .40 and I started having FTF three times a mag, sometimes more. It was dragging along the case where it bulged. I guess the Sig has way tighter tolerances than the Sigma did. Anyway, a quick order to Midway for a Lee Factory Crimp die later and they're feeding like nobody's business. I was way new to it. I never knew that a taper crimp basically sized the entire loaded round until here recently. Learn something new every day.

[Bovice]

The Lee Factory Crimp Die has a carbide sizing ring in it, but the crimp can be done without it. The Factory Crimp Die uses this ring as a backup, making sure that each round is the proper diameter for a minimum dimensioned chamber. Some taper crimp dies are available that do not size because people loading oversized lead bullets do not want the bullet swaged down. For jacketed bullets, though, you will be just fine.