Deformation of .45 cases, any clues?

[0to60]

I loaded up 100 rounds of .45 with a 230 LRN from MBC over 5.1 Green Dot. They seemed accurate enough, recoil felt fine, but I got a lot of jams. Most often the slide wasn't going fully into battery. The gun is an SA 1911 with a brand new 16# Wolff recoil spring.

As I was collecting my brass, I noticed many of them looked like the attached pics. There is a "flattening" of the one side, leaving the case mouth in a sort of "D" shape.

Any clues?

 

[Walkalong]

Banging the ejection port on the way out. Won't hurt a thing.

Stoppages where the round is halfway in the chamber? 1/8" from closing?

 

[VetPsychWars]

Yup, I agree. If you care about that brass, you might change to a 14# spring. I prefer the Colt Gold Cup spring.

Tom

 

[Walkalong]

The gun should run with a 16 Lb spring with no problems. A lighter spring will likely exacerbate the feeding problem.

 

[0to60]

I just hit 6k rounds, so I replaced the spring. This will be the third 16# spring I've had in the gun with no problems.

WA, yeah, I'd say on the failure-to-go-into-battery rounds, I had to help it along maybe 1/8" with my thumb. It usually clicked right into place.

There were a few other failure-to-go-into-battery's where it was more than 1/8", and on those I couldn't push the slide closed. I had to cycle the slide back to eject the rounds (which they did), but pulling that slide back was tough.

Like I said, this JUST started. The only things different from the last time the gun worked fine are the powder charge (5.1 grains of Green Dot vs. the 5.3 that was functioning fine) and the new spring (I had shot the 5.3 batch on the old spring).

 

[rcmodel]

but pulling that slide back was tough.

Your are seating too long OAL with the bullet profile you are using.

Take the barrel out of the gun, and do the 'Plunk Test' with your reloads.

They should drop in the chamber with a 'Plunk' and fall back out of their own weight.

If they are too long, they hit the rifling leade and get stuck in the chamber.

rc

 

[0to60]

Your are seating too long OAL with the bullet profile you are using.

Take the barrel out of the gun, and do the 'Plunk Test' with your reloads.

They should drop in the chamber with a 'Plunk' and fall back out of their own weight.

If they are too long, they hit the rifling leade and get stuck in the chamber.

rc

I'll have to wait till I clean the gun, its got 100 rounds worth of dirt in it. Right now, some rounds pass the plunk test and some require a little shaking to come free. I do the plunk test every few hundred rounds while reloading, but these MBC bullets are pretty waxy and sometimes it feels like they are a little sticky in the chamber.

 

[rcmodel]

Could also be your taper crimp.

Set the seating die so the finished rounds measure about .472"-.473" at the case mouth with lead bullets after taper crimping.

rc

 

[0to60]

Could also be your taper crimp.

Set the seating die so the finished rounds measure about .472"-.473" at the case mouth with lead bullets after taper crimping.

rc

I'll definitely check on that.

Any idea why this is suddenly happening? I RARELY adjust my dies (just the seating die as wax buildup can affect seating depth).

 

[rcmodel]

Have you thoroughly cleaned the barrels chamber of all carbon fouling with a bronze bore brush and nitro solvent lately??

rc

 

[0to60]

My barrel and chamber are spotless. I usually shoot 200 rounds per outing (lead) and then I shoot a mag full of jacketed ammo. Then I detail strip the gun, soaking the barrel in Hoppes #9 for maybe 15 minutes. Then I run the brush through it maybe 10x and it looks like new when I'm done. I run a patch with CLP through it and its good to go for next week.

 

[murf]

don't forget to clean the chamber real good. you may be getting a lead build-up at the front of the chamber from the bullet being jammed into the throat.

murf

 

[ku4hx]

On the cases: ejection port collision ... perfectly normal and innocuous. It'll have essentially no effect on loading life of the brass