Fix 'em or break 'em down?

[P Flados]

The pulled bullet looks like the brass may have been starting to shave (case mouth scraping coating and/or lead) right at the case mouth. This is not un-common with the combination of a cast bullet, a crimp that is more than just flare removal and where the a bullet is seated to have the mouth on a full diameter portion of a cast bullet.

Shaving is likely if you just try to seat the bullets deeper. Shaving may or may not be bad, depending on what you are using the ammo for and how the gun tolerates the shaving. If this is just plinking / target shooting, I would try a few and see how they work. Use a thumbnail to get rid of any shaved material that is sitting just in front of the case mouth.

If I was wanting to save the bullets and get them re-installed to properly fit your gun, I would take a hammer style bullet puller, cut a piece of foam (styrofoam, sponge, whatever) to fit snug inside the bullet puller (to cushion the bullets so that they are not damaged when they let loose) and pull the bullets. Save the bullets and powder. Put a good bell on the cases, set up a seating die properly and re-assemble the loads. It is ok to seat and crimp a bullet with the end of the case on a full diameter portion of a cast bullet, but you have to watch for shaving. If it shaves, you are better off with one step for seating only and then crimping as a separate step.

With that bullet, seating deeper to put the case mouth about flush with the end of the full diameter portion looks like it would be close to optimum for your gun.

 

[P Flados]

An alternate suggestion would be to cut, shave or file some material off of the noses to make a flat nose bullet.

 

[P Flados]

If your FIL actually cast and coated the bullets, a third option is to talk to him.

Since I cast my own, I would pull the bullets the easy way on my reloading press (no die, a 5/8" ID washer sitting on top of the die hole, raise the ram, grab the bullet with a vice grip, retract the ram), and re-cycle the mangled bullets to my lead stash for casting.

I actually do this not infrequently. Probably a little more than half are from "test loads" that were loaded properly but the gun does not like the load. The others were from some kind of mistake.

 

[PWC]

Hi everyone!
New guy in the neighborhood, and to reloading, but not to shooting. My father in law was kind enough to give me most all of what I need to start loading, and I am extremely grateful! He also loaded a box of 45 Colt for me knowing I was looking for some. He has loaded more than I've ever shot, but I'm concerned his skills may be eroding. The box he loaded for me is all 0.100 over max OAL.

Should I pull those bullets and start over, or can I just seat them deeper? I know he used 5.6gr of Red Dot, and they are 230gr LRN bullets.

Ask him! Do they fit HIS gun? Doesn't sound like he's around the bend yet. Open a dialogie with him. You're new to reloading, you WILL learn a lot thru informal conversation and coffee at the reloading bench.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Ask him! Do they fit HIS gun? Doesn't sound like he's around the bend yet. Open a dialogie with him. You're new to reloading, you WILL learn a lot thru informal conversation and coffee at the reloading bench.

Definitely. If he's like my FIL the old boy probably has a sense of humor and may be testing his son in-law. My FIL has been handloading for decades. Not as many calibers as me but higher volume in what he does load, which is mostly .45ACP. A bunch of years back he gave me a bag of his handloads to try out. I thanked him kindly, took them home and took every one apart. They were all 185gr. LSWC over 4.9gr. of W231 - except 1. One had no primer and no powder. I put them all back together, loaded the one oddball with W231 and a primer, and shot them. Next time we went to visit he asked me how those bullets shot. I told him they were all just fine - once I "fixed" the dud. He kind of half-smiled/half-snickered and said, "Yeah. Life's like that. Every once in a while you get a dud. Some're easier to fix than others."
He shoots my handloads, too, BTW. Never had a dud.

 

[45Bink]

He might be up to something, but honestly, I was more concerned about his shoulder not getting the ram all the way through it's travel than his mind. I already have, and know I will learn tons from him. But I also didn't want to step on toes, or come across as ungrateful to someone I respect so highly and hold so dear.

Thank you all for the welcomes and great advice. In the next few days I'm going to press a couple in deeper, then pull them and give them a look. Depending on what I find, I'll redo the lot (I could use the practice), or press them all deeper. I look forward to hanging around here long enough to give some advice instead of just begging it!

 

[P Flados]

Keep posting. When you have questions, there are lots of us that like trying to help out.