45 acp crimp
- Thread starter biogenic
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NeuseRvrRat
Member
looks like way too much to me
Jaxondog
Member
Too much
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Use your dial caliper to measure the case mouth after seating.
You want it to measure .470".
Yours look more like .465" or less.
rc
You want it to measure .470".
Yours look more like .465" or less.
rc
trixter
Member
If I remember correctly, the 45ACP shell mouth is the stopping place for the whole thing, and it looks like you are using a roll crimp. I believe that you should be using a taper crimp to take out the bell and bring it back into "straightness", measurements should be from .472 to.468 depending on what your gun likes.
FROGO207
Member
With a taper crimp in reality if you can actually SEE a crimp it is WAY too much already. Those are. The round spaces off the rim of the brass and if you roll crimp in any it will fall in the chamber and probably the firing pin will not even strike the primer. If it does you will get excessive pressure. The Idea is to just remove the belling that you used to seat the bullet with and let the bullet slide into the chamber till it is flush with the end of the breach end of the barrel.
Take the barrel out of the pistol and drop the round in it. If it plunks in, ends up flush, and will fall out when it is inverted easily that is enough crimp. If you want to take a factory round that you are sure fits in your firearm and put it in the press, unscrew the seater plug about 1/2 way and slowly screw the die down till you feel resistance with the ram all the way up. Then screw the seater down till you feel resistance. Remove that round and try seating/crimping one of your rounds with no primer or propellant. Then take it and see if it passes the plunk test. If not screw the die in 1/8 0f a turn and try it again and so on till it does. Lock the die body there and adjust the seating stem for correct length. This is a good starting place for your reloads. When they work load some actual live ones to test fire.
Take the barrel out of the pistol and drop the round in it. If it plunks in, ends up flush, and will fall out when it is inverted easily that is enough crimp. If you want to take a factory round that you are sure fits in your firearm and put it in the press, unscrew the seater plug about 1/2 way and slowly screw the die down till you feel resistance with the ram all the way up. Then screw the seater down till you feel resistance. Remove that round and try seating/crimping one of your rounds with no primer or propellant. Then take it and see if it passes the plunk test. If not screw the die in 1/8 0f a turn and try it again and so on till it does. Lock the die body there and adjust the seating stem for correct length. This is a good starting place for your reloads. When they work load some actual live ones to test fire.
mbopp
Member
"Crimp" is somewhat of a misnomer for the 45ACP. What you're really doing is removing the case mouth flare. The bullet is held by neck tension, not the crimp.
moxie
Member
Crimp looks much better now. I've not used those 225s, but they look good.
dnmccoy
Member
Pull them and make sure they weren't damaged by the over crimping
FROGO207
Member
If the copper jacket is still whole (not cut through around the crimp), you can reuse them but they may not be so accurate. How many did you make anyway? If you do use them single load them and check the barrel to make sure that the whole bullet left the barrel between shots for safety.
No worries all part of learning, I have done this when I started out.
No worries all part of learning, I have done this when I started out.
moxie
Member
biogenic,
You can use them if they weren't deformed. Compare to some you haven't loaded. If more than slightly different I'd toss them.
You can use them if they weren't deformed. Compare to some you haven't loaded. If more than slightly different I'd toss them.
Before you pull them, drop them in your chamber. If they space on the mouth and can't be forced too deep, then go ahead and just shoot em.
Even if they measure down to .465", that's still a lot bigger than .452". Depending on how tight your chamber is, they might be dangerous, or they might be just fine.
Even if they measure down to .465", that's still a lot bigger than .452". Depending on how tight your chamber is, they might be dangerous, or they might be just fine.
oldreloader
Member
I shoot the 225 TC from MBC. My gun likes them really well.They are as accurate as anything I've tried.
OP
OP
biogenic
Member
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rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Choot'em Lizabet! Choot'em!!
Case dents are a non-issue unless they are near the case head and cause a high-pressure gas leak.
I would re-use the plated .45 bullets too.
Bad, but not that bad.
A few ain't gonna hurt you.
rc
ArchAngelCD
Member.
That little nick will not harm the brass at all and will smooth out when fired.
The bullets look slightly damaged from over crimping but if like said above, if they space on the mouth of the case go ahead and shoot them at the range. They are easy enough to check and that's a lot easier than pulling almost 40 rounds...
Well, Hello Biogenic, You cannot really tell the accuracy effect of your crimp
unless you test for accuracy at 50 yards from a Ransom Rest. Since most of
us don't have a Ransom Rest or 50 yds to test at; you'll have to make do
with what's available. First of all, Just removing the belling is not a good reason
to crimp the cases. This kind of comment is very popular with non Bullseye
competitors. The crimp does affect accuracy, and the crimp dimensions are
determined by the powder charge, bullet design and weight, whether jacketed or cast and
even distance to the target(25yd or 50yd line). Some of the most accurate 50
yd loads I shot in Bullseye competition had .462" crimps. Yet I also shot some
50yd loads that had had lighter charges, and they had .467" crimps.
If you want to shoot some average charge loads for fun and plinking, I recommend
a crimp of .468 or .469"s if loading cast LSWC. The last time I checked factory
plated 185gr SWC's the crimps were .469". Lately I've been shooting a
Timed and Rapid fire load(for 25yds) that uses a 200gr LSWC bullet with a 3.2 gr
charge of Bullseye powder and this load shoots reliably, is X-ring accurate using
a .469" crimp. A 45ACP handgun has to be setup to shoot wadcutters at such a light charge.
So, I encourage you to load safely and try various crimps, from .465" through
.470", and test to see which crimp works reliably and gives acceptable accuracy
in your particular gun. For the doubters, I have been shooting Bullseye since
1972 and have been reloading 45 ACP Bullseye match loads since 1974.
Tony
unless you test for accuracy at 50 yards from a Ransom Rest. Since most of
us don't have a Ransom Rest or 50 yds to test at; you'll have to make do
with what's available. First of all, Just removing the belling is not a good reason
to crimp the cases. This kind of comment is very popular with non Bullseye
competitors. The crimp does affect accuracy, and the crimp dimensions are
determined by the powder charge, bullet design and weight, whether jacketed or cast and
even distance to the target(25yd or 50yd line). Some of the most accurate 50
yd loads I shot in Bullseye competition had .462" crimps. Yet I also shot some
50yd loads that had had lighter charges, and they had .467" crimps.
If you want to shoot some average charge loads for fun and plinking, I recommend
a crimp of .468 or .469"s if loading cast LSWC. The last time I checked factory
plated 185gr SWC's the crimps were .469". Lately I've been shooting a
Timed and Rapid fire load(for 25yds) that uses a 200gr LSWC bullet with a 3.2 gr
charge of Bullseye powder and this load shoots reliably, is X-ring accurate using
a .469" crimp. A 45ACP handgun has to be setup to shoot wadcutters at such a light charge.
So, I encourage you to load safely and try various crimps, from .465" through
.470", and test to see which crimp works reliably and gives acceptable accuracy
in your particular gun. For the doubters, I have been shooting Bullseye since
1972 and have been reloading 45 ACP Bullseye match loads since 1974.
Tony
99% of folks getting advise here are not shooting Bullseye, nor can they (we) hold that well, and those who are shooting Bullseye do not need anyone's advise except for that from other Bullseye shooters.
Same for Benchrest. You must learn from other Benchrest shooters.
Most of the time crimp advise here is trying to fix really bad crimps (Belling not removed causing feeding/chambering problems, or way over crimped rounds), not about fine tuning a crimp for accuracy.
Same for Benchrest. You must learn from other Benchrest shooters.
Most of the time crimp advise here is trying to fix really bad crimps (Belling not removed causing feeding/chambering problems, or way over crimped rounds), not about fine tuning a crimp for accuracy.
I certainly can't dispute the postion that a crimp of .465 or .471 will affect accuracy in a 45 automatic as I've not bench rested my "close to factory" pistols to know. Is the change in accuracy dramatic? And, is crimping accuracy only realized in custom pistols or can you tell the difference in say a SA Loaded?
rcmodel
Member in memoriam
I certainly do not recommend crimping to .465".
And certainly not with lead bullets.
To do so will squeeze the .452" lead bullet undersized.
The other thing is, the .45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth, and a smaller then .469" crimp may allow the case to start to seat deeper in the chamber if the case mouth starts to enter the headspace step in the chamber.
That gives excess headspace, and at some point the case starts headspacing on the extractor hook instead of the chamber. That is not good for uniform primer ignition.
It may also leave no room for the case mouth to expand to release the bullet cleanly, and pressure will be erratic, which is certainly not good for accuracy.
US GI issue national match ammo is crimped to:
WWC 64 NM = .471".
RA 65 NM = .4695".
US GI issue ball ammo is crimped to:
RA 68 = .469" - .471".
You can't go too far wrong copying that for use in a match chamber, or any other chamber..
And I have shot a little bullseye myself back in the day.
I was also an Army AMU national match armorer back in the day too.
rc
And certainly not with lead bullets.
To do so will squeeze the .452" lead bullet undersized.
The other thing is, the .45 ACP headspaces on the case mouth, and a smaller then .469" crimp may allow the case to start to seat deeper in the chamber if the case mouth starts to enter the headspace step in the chamber.
That gives excess headspace, and at some point the case starts headspacing on the extractor hook instead of the chamber. That is not good for uniform primer ignition.
It may also leave no room for the case mouth to expand to release the bullet cleanly, and pressure will be erratic, which is certainly not good for accuracy.
US GI issue national match ammo is crimped to:
WWC 64 NM = .471".
RA 65 NM = .4695".
US GI issue ball ammo is crimped to:
RA 68 = .469" - .471".
You can't go too far wrong copying that for use in a match chamber, or any other chamber..
And I have shot a little bullseye myself back in the day.
I was also an Army AMU national match armorer back in the day too.
rc
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