Can this screw up be fixed?

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Olympus

Olympus

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So I just found a pretty big screw up on the last batch of about 100 rounds of .45 I loaded up. I'm using 185g SWC bullets loaded with a very light charge of Bullseye with an OAL of 1.23.

I went to load up some mags last night and noticed the new batch are too long to fit in the mag. I measured them and they are all almost 1.30 to 1.32! Can't figure out if my seating die backed out or what. But my number one concern is whether I can reseat these loaded rounds just a bit deeper in order to salvage them. Can this be done safely?


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I would think it would depend on how hard they are crimped... Try seating one to the proper depth. As a last resort you could pull the bullets.

Tom
 
I'm using a factory crimp die. I'm not too excited about having to pull over 100 bullets.

What about the safety concern?


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FYI always check every so often even after your dies been locked into place. I check atleast every 10 rounds.
 
What safety concern do you have? I don't see any safety issues.

I would definitely try to seat them deeper. Just run them through the seating die again.

I would check the crimp with a caliper and recrimp them if required, but I bet you won't need to do that.
 
Assuming a safe load, re-seating them to the proper depth is not a safety issue as far as pressure is concerned. If they are over crimped there could be some bullet shaving, but even then it could be removed and shot safely. Always make sure the seating stem is locked down snugly. I like to eyeball and hand check tightness of the dies in the press every once in a while, both the die in the press as well as the parts of the dies. Every once in a blue moon something will loosen up.
 
Thanks for the information. Just wanted to make sure a primed and charged round would be safe to reseat a little more. I should have plenty of room since I'm using a light charge.


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Most of this advice is looking at the wrong end. A single high primer will ruin your day. Start your checking at that end.

Before you seat anything lower, check your powder throw. If like the overall length/seating die is out of adjustment are other stages also out of adjustment?

Then proceed with re-seating; but don't expect great accuracy when these rounds are fired.
 
It is something like being protected from yourself by design, if the loaded rounds are too long for the mag. there is a very big chance the round is too long for the chamber.

Then there is the seating at the same time the bullet is being crimped, in that process there are conflicts. when making this stuff up some forget, the seater die does not support the case, when seating the bullet moves down, when crimping the case of the mouth is turned into the bullet, with persistence when the reloader continues to seat and crimp the case below the crimp starts to squat or bulge, and that is the reason I seat bullets by first adjusting the crimp to the case then adjust the seater plug on a transfer case.

And I have two 45 ACP that do not like bullets that have cases that look as though they swallowed a bullet, they like the expensive stuff, commercial, store bought, over the counter factory loaded ammo, that does not require additional seating, as long as ammo I load for those two 45s do not look like they swallowed a bullet, we are good to go.

F. Guffey
 
You should be able to seat the bullets deaped, BUT, I assume they are lead SWC, not jacketed, so watch that there is not lead scraping off the bullet against the case mouth.
 
Adjust bullet seating die and re-seat. Should be fine with a FMJ bullet. It's a bigger PIA if you seat them too deep! I have done this once and just about busted the bullet puller.
 
It's really good that the OP is talking about a taper crimped round not one that was roll crimped. that would have been really fun. +1+ on checking as the process is completed every so often. I find that spending a little extra time inspecting things really saves time when reloading.:D
 
You guys are all steering him wrong.

The obvious answer for Olympus is to buy a good .45acp revolver and a few moon clips. ;)
 
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