First time loading .45 SWC

[casper129]

Hey guys, I've been lurking here for quite a while.. and been doing a LOT of reading. I just thought I'd share with you my first batch of loads and see what you guys think. My process -

I used the Lyman 1200 Pro to tumble my dirty brass. 6 hours.




With this media -



This is how my first batch of 50 turned out.

200 gr. Missouri Bullet LSWC

Left side - 5.2g Win 231

Right side - 5.6 Win 231

Winchester WLP primer







The only problem that I'm having, is that my OAL on the rounds varies quite a bit from round to round.. 1.230 - 1.260 Without touching the press..


A little picture of my setup -




Some of you may recognize these.. They work well for helping the stupid Lee powder dispenser give consistent loads..



This set of 50 took me just over an hour and a half. Is that decent for a 1st timer? I've loaded all new FMJ rounds, but never loaded used brass or SWC's... I hope to speed up the process without buying a progressive..

 

[KansasSasquatch]

Not bad looking. Your OAL may be varying because of the SWC. Is the face of your seating stem round or flat. If its round you may want to look into getting a flat faced stem. I had troubles with TCHP bullets using Lee dies because the seating die only came with a round faced stem. Switched to RCBS dies and it solved my problem. But if you are going to load SWCs on a regular basis some die makers supposedly sell seating stems designed specifically for SWCs.

Let us know how they work out for you.

 

[casper129]

Ahh, I'll have to look into that. The face of the stem is currently round. In my Lee manual it even said that some rounds may have problems with it. For 8$ I can send a sample bullet to them and they'll send me a "custom" (as their manual says) plate for the seating die. Might have to do that. I was starting to worry that I was doing something wrong. I sat there and measured the actual bullets over and over, and then measured every round coming out of the press.. and kept adjusting the die. Was getting irritated as hell...

I will be going to the range on Sunday, so after that I will be sure to come back and let you guys know how they worked. See if I can tell a difference between the 5.2 and 5.6 rounds. I didn't think I could with my FMJ's...

 

[KansasSasquatch]

With that small of a difference in charges you might feel a slight bit of difference in recoil but chances are it won't be much at all. But you may see a big difference in accuracy. I'm still fairly new to reloading myself but sometimes I come up with a load that is just superior in terms of accuracy no matter what gun I run it through. Other times a certain gun won't like a load but another gun in the same caliber will love it. It's part of the fun if you're a tinkering type of person.

And you should definitely look into a custom stem if it's only $8. But you'll most likely want to stick with SWCs from one manufacturer. In my opinion you probably did good trying out Missouri Bullets. My .45 loads with their "Softball" ammo turns my poor pistol shooting into average shooting

 

[ljnowell]

I bet you wont notice a difference at all. There will be a much bigger difference in the charge weight difference.

 

[steveno]

watch your oal. when I had a kimber and S & W 1911's I could seat the bullet at about the oal that you show. I traded those guns off and got a Springfield Range Officer and it had a much shorter throat so I had to go back and seat the swc to where the sharp edge of the swc is just barely above the case mouth.

 

[TonyT]

For all of my 45 ACP pistols (Pardini GT45, S&W945, DW Pointman, S&W M&P45, Colt NM, etc) I use a 185 gr. LSWC seated with a base to shoulder length of 0.935". This is the load I use for bullseye pistol as well as for plinking and the usual pistol games and it has proven to be very reliable.

 

[Walkalong]

The OAL difference is too much. As posted, you need a different seater plug. I believe you will feel the difference in recoil, although it will not be great. It may be the pic (Probably is), but the "crimp" looks like it could be excessive. Measure the round about halfway down the bullet and then at the case mouth. There should be no more than .001 difference. Looks good overall.

 

[casper129]

I pulled 5 random samples - Case vs Crimp

.4715 - .4705
.4715 - .4710
.4705 - .4690
.4705 - .4690
.4700 - .4695

From those 5 randoms, the crimp seems to be in spec, correct?

Those same rounds, in the same order, have an OAL of:

1.2520
1.2625
1.2530
1.2530
1.2520

Do RCBS dies have a flat seating plate? Or am I better off just sending the $8 to Lee and seeing what they can do for me?

 

[mbopp]

Do your loaded rounds pass the "plunk" test? That is, do they drop in freely in the barrel chamber?
I have a 1911 with 2 barrels. The original barrel would accept rounds of an OAL similar to yours, but the new barrel needs the bullets seated .015" or so deeper, the driving band is almost flush with the case mouth.
My RCBS die set came with 2 seater stems, round nose and SWC. I'm using the SWC stem with 200gr cast SWC bullets from several suppliers.
5.2gr of 231 should be a nice target load. 5.6gr is a bit closer to a full power round, it may or may not make major power factor if you shoot USPSA.

 

[jjjitters]

Ya the RCBS comes with two plugs, plus they have several others that you can order for specific bullets.
I shoot 5.0gr HP-38 under my own cast H&G#68 (200grswc) for my indoor winter bullseye comp. They are extremely accurate as you wil find out. If you want to ,I would also load some up at 4.8gr to see how they shoot plus it will cut recoil down for a nice target load.

Overall they look good, I personally would back the crimp off more, since your using lead, they are ,I'm assuming .452, so with the case wall thickness you can run your case mouth at .472-.473, its where I run my loads for 2 of my .45's that use the .452 bullet, also, I have a barrel that needs .454 and I run my case mouths at .475, it is just taking the bell out and not putting a crimp whatsoever( I don't care to swage my lead even a tiny bit).

 

[mjsdwash]

on my lee dies, after buying a lot of mismatched bullets, i found getting the bullet started, then after a batch, turning the seater plug upside down, i got overall length very consistent. That may help. The plug is just flat on the other side, so you may bulge some cases if you start them that way.

 

[blarby]

Too much good info here.

Listen to walkies.....

Are you using mixed brass ? This could account for the taper crimp problem. Your rounds need to be the same before you fire them.

I load a lot of SWC in cast lead. Lee dies weren't up to the task in 45, and I have an RCBS set now. I love lee dies- but I've had some problems with them in pistol, and I demand precision. One of the biggest problems I found using exactly your press and tool set, was that the "wiggle" in the quick change bushing where it seats against the release button could create as much as .002-.003 slop in any case or seating adjustment. Make sure that your die is seated correctly in the quick change bushing, and that it is set with the bushing divot resting squarely to the left of the release button. This will allow you to make sure its in the same place each time you set it for a process, and that its in the same place during each execution of that process- or your rounds will never be the same dimension.

If your rounds pass the plunk test, make sure you have mags that are up to the task. Many factory magazines for 45 ACP are only designed to feed 230 FMJ reliably, and you will have issues..... Even my wifes $2k kimber came with a crappy FMJ only mag.

 

[germ]

I wonder if the one 1.262 out of your samples was just from not quite cycling the press completely? Make certain you go stop to stop every time. You can also get considerable variations in measurement when not using a tool that measures off the ogive, such as Hornady's bullet comparator. http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item.asp?sku=00005B234 Certainly not a required item, but it can help alleviate some frustrations when getting started.

 

[Walkalong]

I pulled 5 random samples - Case vs Crimp

.4715 - .4705
.4715 - .4710
.4705 - .4690
.4705 - .4690
.4700 - .4695

From those 5 randoms, the crimp seems to be in spec, correct?

If I read that correctly, you have as much as .015 crimp. You want .001 or less. As in 1 thousandth. You have from 5 to 15 thousandths.

 

[jjjitters]

No ,it is only .0015 to .002 crimp variance. As in 1 thousanths and 5 ten-thousanths

 

[918v]

It's not your seater stem. You are seating and crimping at the same time and applying too much crimp. Back off the crimp to something like .472" and your OALs will be more consistent.

 

[Walkalong]

No ,it is only .0015 to .002 crimp variance

Dang, and I was good at math.

 

[BYJO4]

I use a taper crimp of .469 to .470 which is close to your figures. I do seat and crimp in seperate steps and I use a seating stem designed for a SWC (RCBS). This allows me to maintain an OAL within a +/- .003.

 

[casper129]

918V - I do my seating and crimping in two separate steps, with two separate dies.... Not sure what you mean by doing them both at once?

 

[Hungry1]

918V - I do my seating and crimping in two separate steps, with two separate dies.... Not sure what you mean by doing them both at once?

Some set ups like my RCBS will seat the bullet and crimp the case in one pull of the press handle.

 

[918v]

918V - I do my seating and crimping in two separate steps, with two separate dies.... Not sure what you mean by doing them both at once?

Oh, I see. Then something is not tight. Are you bottoming out the lever when you seat the bullets? A .020" OAL variance is too large. It has nothing to do with the seater stem. Concave or flat, all it does is stop the bullet from moving together with the case. Make sure the die is tight in the press.

 

[casper129]

Hungry - After reading on my Lee seating die, it says it crimps while seating.. but it doesn't say if it's a roll crimp or a taper crimp. Why would they include an extra crimp die if the seater already crimps?

 

[918v]

Because Lee feels their FCD is attractive to customers.

All standard seater dies crimp. To set them up not to crimp you have to back the die out until it does not crimp, then screw the seater stem in deeper to account for the lost distance.

Back to square one. I think you have the seater die misadjusted. It is seating and crimping simultaneously. Due to different case lengths, the die is applying different amounts of crimp while seating. On some of your rounds, the ones with the longer cases, the seater digs the case mouth into the bullet prematurely which halts the seating process. That's hog you are ending up with the longer rounds.

 

[casper129]

So.. why would I have different case lengths on once fired brass? What do I have to do to fix this? Trim the cases? From all the reading I've done, nobody trims pistol cases.. (From what I've found..)