45 ACP lead load thoughts

[Steve H]

First off..............I'm a newbie to reloading lead bullets, always used jacketed. I came across a couple thousand 230 "softball" Missouri bullets. I loaded a few up to the following: 4.5 grs Bullseye, 1.270 OAL. no crimp. Frist shot went bang but the second round fell apart when it chambered. I reran the rounds through the press and shortened the OAL to 1.260 and put a .008 taper crimp on the round. Is this too much of a taper? Is the .010 shortening gone to cause a pressure problem?

 

[anothernewb]

rule of thumb is 1.250 and light crimp and it'll feed in about anything. 4.5 BE in a 45acp isn't going to generate any pressure issues.

 

[mdi]

I haven't measured crimps on any handload that I can remember. All the 45 ACP ammo I have reloaded, with mixed brass and .451"-.453m lead bullets have been deflared only and checked with a plunk test. A round coming apart during feeding tells me there was not enough (any) neck tension, I have reloaded 45 ACP for three guns back to 2007 and other semi-auto rounds from 32 ACP up using the same methods (starting around 1999); good methods known diameter bullets deflare (just straighten out the case mouth) and
a plunk test...

I'm not sure what Missouri means by "soft ball", but on their site they had 230 gr LRN bullets, but 18 BHN! Way harder than any semi-auto bullet I can remember using. I have cast many plain old 230 LRN bullets sized to .452" but running 11-12 BHN. Little/no leading and very accurate...

 

[anothernewb]

I'm not sure what Missouri means by "soft ball", but on their site they had 230 gr LRN bullets, but 18 BHN! Way harder than any semi-auto bullet I can remember using. I have cast many plain old 230 LRN bullets sized to .452" but running 11-12 BHN. Little/no leading and very accurate...

True enough, but you could use those in several other cartridges than acp. A hot 45 colt ruger load could benefit from 18 bhn.

 

[AJC1]

Powder aside I load mostly to an oal of 1.2. You may like and test for longer and that's great. It sounds like your bullet engaged the leed and is to long. Ye old plunk test is in order.

 

[Steve H]

I took one of my 45's apart and used the barrel (chamber) for the plunk test.....all is good doing that. I'll have a real cartridge plunk tester here Monday when UPS shows up.

 

[reddog81]

How did the round fall apart when chambered?

1.26 is still kind of long for many bullets. The max OAL of 1.275 is only applicable to a few bullets. I have at least a dozen different cast and jacketed bullets I load for 45 ACP and none of them are loaded longer than 1.25. In 45 ACP .01" won't make any difference unless you are loading the bullets really, really, really deep to begin with.

I think a crimp of .002 is common for 45 ACP but it's been years since I measured that dimension. I think .470 to .471 is a common. To much crimp and your rounds won't headspace correctly.

The 45 ACP case is pretty long and the amount of powder you are using is very small. Take a 9mm case with 4.5 grains of Bullseye and move back a few hundredths and you might run into problems but even then changing .01" most likely won't matter.

 

[JohnB-40]

I just take the expander bell off the case mouth for a crimp with 45ACP

 

[reddog81]

I took one of my 45's apart and used the barrel (chamber) for the plunk test.....all is good doing that. I'll have a real cartridge plunk tester here Monday when UPS shows up.

The rounds need to fit into the magazine, feed into the gun and fit in the chamber. Your cartridge tester will kind of help determining if the rounds will work with only one of those requirements.

 

[AJC1]

I took one of my 45's apart and used the barrel (chamber) for the plunk test.....all is good doing that. I'll have a real cartridge plunk tester here Monday when UPS shows up.

The real tester is your barrel

 

[LaneP]

Not sure what you mean by fell apart. Do you mean the bullet set back?

4.2 gr Bullseye and a 225 gr hard cast (commercial) is my go-to .45 ACP load for paper punching. This makes 790 fps out of 4.25" Ruger 1911 barrel and is very accurate and comfortable.

4.6 gr Bullseye and a 230 gr cast LRN nose makes 845 fps from the same barrel but recoil is brisk and I consider that my personal max for range comfort.

I full length size all cases using RCBS dies, expand the case mouth just enough to accept the base of the bullet without shaving lead, then apply a light taper crimp (barely little more than needed to remove the bell) with an RCBS die, and these feed, shoot and function all day. Are you getting adequate neck tension?

 

[Mark_Mark]

.45 ACP lead rounds = CLASSIY

 

[Steve H]

"Are you getting adequate neck tension?"

I need to measure some cases and see

 

[Steve H]

"Not sure what you mean by fell apart. Do you mean the bullet set back?"

the bullet "fell out of the case" and was sitting in the throat

 

[EMC45]

I run my Lee 230gr TC bullet at 1.200 over 4.5gr. Bullseye. Feeds, functions and fires perfect.

 

[MEHavey]

You SEAT as deep as req'd to
1. Get a hard metallic "plunk" sound when dropped into the actual barrel/bottoming on brass case mouth (not the lead bullet)
2. See the rear of case is flush with barrel flange.


You "CRIMP" (as it were) to get case mouth tapered back in to nominal 0.469 -0.471


That will address both of the OP's problems

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

First off..............I'm a newbie to reloading lead bullets, always used jacketed. I came across a couple thousand 230 "softball" Missouri bullets. I loaded a few up to the following: 4.5 grs Bullseye, 1.270 OAL. no crimp. Frist shot went bang but the second round fell apart when it chambered. I reran the rounds through the press and shortened the OAL to 1.260 and put a .008 taper crimp on the round. Is this too much of a taper? Is the .010 shortening gone to cause a pressure problem?

That bullet has a ridge where the ogive breaks into the driving band. I’m pretty sure that step is where you should be crimping; by that I mean the case mouth. The overall length of course does depend on your chamber not the bullet or what any book says.

 

[joneb]

"Are you getting adequate neck tension?"

I need to measure some cases and see

This does not appear to be the case, adding to that the OAL is to long. So the bullet is stuck in the lands of the rifling, when the round is extracted the bullet is left in the barrel.
What brass are using?
What does your expander measure?
Be careful when seating and crimping in one step this can problems.

 

[Steve H]

This does not appear to be the case, adding to that the OAL is to long. So the bullet is stuck in the lands of the rifling, when the round is extracted the bullet is left in the barrel.
What brass are using?
What does your expander measure?
Be careful when seating and crimping in one step this can problems.

Too long makes sense, I think that's a lot of the issue
the brass is S & B
I'll measure the expander tomorrow............Redding dies
seating and crimping .....2 seperate steps

 

[entropy]

4.5 gr. of Bullseye with a 230 LRN is a classic load. You just need to tighten up the taper crimp more than those first loads. And, yes, 1.27 is a titch long.

Is this too much of a taper? Is the .010 shortening gone to cause a pressure problem?

No, and no.

 

[AJC1]

Too long makes sense, I think that's a lot of the issue
the brass is S & B
I'll measure the expander tomorrow............Redding dies
seating and crimping .....2 seperate steps

S and b is harder brass, if your not over expanding, you should have tons of neck tension. Magtech aka cbc is also hard and I separated those two when I used to load mixed headstamps. Now I segregate them all. My inclination would be seat to 1.2 with a dummy and see how that works.

 

[joneb]

seating and crimping .....2 seperate steps

That's safe and a better way to crimp IMO.
Say the OD of my brass with a seated bullet is .473" my crimp will be .470". I do a little more than remove the flare.

 

[mdi]

True enough, but you could use those in several other cartridges than acp. A hot 45 colt ruger load could benefit from 18 bhn.

Perhaps for some, but I have used my "Mystery Metal" BHN 11-12, for heavy 44 Mag. loads in 3 revolvers, one Contender, and one 44 Mag Puma up to 1,600+fps quite well...

 

[Otto]

"Not sure what you mean by fell apart. Do you mean the bullet set back?"

the bullet "fell out of the case" and was sitting in the throat

How long did you say you've been reloading? 30 years?

 

[roval]

was the second round a squib? meaning not much bang and the bullet lodged in the chamber or first part of rifling OR after the first cartdige firing, the second round chambered and you then ejected the unfired round and left the bullet jammed in the rifling and only ejected the unfired brass. which one was it?