We simply need more information....
• First you need to make sure you bought 45ACP bullets and not 45Colt bullets. "45" is not always 45.
(And it would help us in the future if you could be more specific in your opening post.)
• Then you need to take several diameter measurements along the cartridge, ending with one at the case mouth. Like so...
• Those measurements
must not exceed the cartridge dimensions shown in your manual for 45ACP. Even 0.001" over is way too much !
• You mention the Lee FCD. Kudos for apparently doing the taper crimp in a separate step, but if your Seating Die is crimping and then you add the FCD, you may in fact be over-crimping and buckling the case.
My problem is 1 out of every 8-10 rounds wont fully chamber during live fire. I duplicated the issue at home and noticed that i had some wear (highlighted in red) on the case where the base of the bullet is.
• I hope you did not do this exercise with live ammo.
Everything we do in reloading is to enhance
safety. The proper technique is to make up 10 cartridges with NO powder and NO primer using the same dies and die settings. Then use these "test cartridges" to exercise your pistol.
Is there a special final sizing die that would take the finished round down another thousandth or so? The final Lee sizing die is obviously not enough.
• You clearly do not understand the physical part of reloading. (
That statement is without malice, and merely an observation.) Allow me to help you. All sizing takes place in the first die, the Sizing Die, at which time the case OD is taken
under-size. In the second step the Expander enlarges the inside diameter of the case mouth to be approximately 0.002" smaller than the bullet, but the case is still under-size. In the Seating Die the bullet is guided
from the top by the seating stem, and
from the bottom by the belling (or flair) on the case mouth. Then in the final step the belling is erased by the Taper Crimp die (which may be built into the Seating Die, or done in a 4th die step.) There is no "final sizing die", and if the dies are set correctly, none will ever be needed.
• When the finished cartridge comes out of the last step,
every diameter dimension should be
smaller than the one shown in the manual. The physical test is to drop the cartridge into the naked barrel. The cartridge should fall all the way into, and then all the way back out of the naked barrel
using only the cartridge weight. Like so...
• If the bullet is being seated off-axis then the belling is not large enough or the seating stem inside the Seating Die may fit the meplat of the bullet improperly.
The bottom line is the external dimensions tell the story, and dropping the finished cartridge into the chamber deliver the proof the cartridge will feed well.
Hope this helps.
