I've been reloading for almost a decade now so I'm definitely not new to reloading, but I'm having more problems trying to reload 45 than I have with any other caliber. I loaded a few hundred rounds years ago and haven't really messed with it since. Last night I tried to load a few more rounds and revisited the frustration.
I'm using a RCBS Rock Chucker with Lee dies. I'm loading Xtreme 230 grain plated HP bullets. The first problem I'm having is when seating the bullet. Enough that I'm sometimes seeing the bullet slightly deformed from the seating stem. I'm feeling a fair amount of resistance when seating the bullet and I'm getting brass shavings around the base. I originally thought that I might not have enough flair on the case despite having put a pretty heavy flair on it. I ended up increasing the flair by only backing the expanding die off of the shell holder by about 1/4th a turn, but it still didn't seem to help. I can't really figure out what I have adjusted wrong here Any suggestions?
The next issue I'm having is when I get to the crimping stage. I'm crimping with the Lee FCD. Normally with plated bullets, I only turn the die in about 1/2 of a turn past where it touches the case mouth. This seems to normally just remove the flair that I've put on the case and provide a light crimp. With this die, it doesn't seem like it's even removing the flair. However, I'm getting a lot of resistance as soon as the round starts entering the die. I know the carbide ring in the FCD will resize the body of the round if it's out of spec and I'm thinking it's resizing the bullet through the case. The whole thing just seems really strange to me as I haven't had these issues with other calibers.
I've shot some of these rounds and they do seem to shoot fine, with average accuracy. About what I've come to expect from plated bullets. I just worry that I'm going to have more issues if I keep shooting these.
Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong? Or what I may have going on?
I'm using a RCBS Rock Chucker with Lee dies. I'm loading Xtreme 230 grain plated HP bullets. The first problem I'm having is when seating the bullet. Enough that I'm sometimes seeing the bullet slightly deformed from the seating stem. I'm feeling a fair amount of resistance when seating the bullet and I'm getting brass shavings around the base. I originally thought that I might not have enough flair on the case despite having put a pretty heavy flair on it. I ended up increasing the flair by only backing the expanding die off of the shell holder by about 1/4th a turn, but it still didn't seem to help. I can't really figure out what I have adjusted wrong here Any suggestions?
The next issue I'm having is when I get to the crimping stage. I'm crimping with the Lee FCD. Normally with plated bullets, I only turn the die in about 1/2 of a turn past where it touches the case mouth. This seems to normally just remove the flair that I've put on the case and provide a light crimp. With this die, it doesn't seem like it's even removing the flair. However, I'm getting a lot of resistance as soon as the round starts entering the die. I know the carbide ring in the FCD will resize the body of the round if it's out of spec and I'm thinking it's resizing the bullet through the case. The whole thing just seems really strange to me as I haven't had these issues with other calibers.
I've shot some of these rounds and they do seem to shoot fine, with average accuracy. About what I've come to expect from plated bullets. I just worry that I'm going to have more issues if I keep shooting these.
Any suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong? Or what I may have going on?