Help with 230gr RNL not chambering

[atomd]

Hi everyone. I just got a case of .452 230gr RNL. I plan on shooting all of these through my XD45 using 4.5-5.0 of bullseye. My XD won't feed any SWC so I got the RN instead. Now the problem I'm having is that the RNL bullets have a little shoulder on them and that seems to be causing me a problem. They won't chamber correctly unless I crimp right on this shoulder. I can't beleive that this tiny little shoulder would cause this to happen but I can't think of anything else that could be the problem. There's no bulging and no overcrimping. They fit nicely into the barrel if I take the barrel out but yet they get caught up while feeding.

To crimp on the edge of the shoulder I have to make the oal 1.23 or so. Any longer and it won't chamber. Any shorter and it will be trying to crimp on the nose. FMJ rounds with an oal of 1.255 feed just fine...but they don't have that shoulder either. I have read a few manuals that list the min oal differently. For instance, my Lee manual lists 4.0 grains of bullseye as the min AND max load with a min oal of 1.19. Others I've read don't list a min oal, but they list the oal as just 1.26-7 depending on where I read it with a min charge of 4.0 and a max of 5.0. Oh...and I use a fairly light crimp.

Now what I'm wondering is if I crimp on the shoulder itself, will that raise pressures even more because of where the crimp is? I would think a bit of the brass would be in front of the shoulder and cause the pressure to increase a bit more. It seems I'm very limited to what I can use for an oal here. Should I change my charge any if I'm making the oal that short? Any other suggestions?

 

[ReloaderFred]

My XD-45 has a very short throat, or leade, and won't tolerate any bullet with a shoulder exposed in front of the case mouth. Drop your charge down just a touch and seat the bullet to where the case mouth is even with the edge of the shoulder, or not more than a couple thousandths below it. This should solve your feeding problem and then you can work your charge back up to where you want it. Decide what your OAL is going to be, and then adjust the powder charge for that length, and you'll be just fine. You can do this with an empty case and just a bullet, and experiment chambering it by hand and see when the slide closes properly on the dummy and allows full lockup.

A lot of semi-auto pistols won't tolerate cartridges loaded at the maximum OAL due to magazine constrictions, but the XD limits it with bullets with shoulders by the amount of shoulder extending beyond the case mouth. Mine is very, very accurate, by the way.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[atomd]

I just got back from shooting a bunch that I seated to 1.23. I shot a few different charges as tests from 4.5-5.0 w/ no problems at all. No signs at all of excess pressure at 5.0. I'll continue to seat them at 1.23. It just made me think a bit when it would ftf at any longer lengths. Looks like I had nothing to worry about. I guess any pistol is allowed to be just a little bit picky huh?

It shot nice and soft with the 4.5. Not enough rounds fired in a controlled enough atmosphere to determine how accurate it was compared to other charges. I liked it though!

 

[lee n. field]

Seat the bullet a hair deeper.

 

[Sunray]

You are taper crimping aren't you? Mind you, SWC's do tend to hang up in a semi-auto. The chamber likely needs chamfering. You extend the shape of the feed ramp up the sides of the chamber.

 

[atomd]

You are taper crimping aren't you? Mind you, SWC's do tend to hang up in a semi-auto. The chamber likely needs chamfering. You extend the shape of the feed ramp up the sides of the chamber.

Yeah...I've given up on using SWCs. They just hang up way too much. I don't think there's anything I can really do about it (as far as seating depth or anything). It's sort of a shame but I'm ok with using the RNL. I like the clean cuts on the paper that the SWCs make.

 

[SASS#23149]

We had a Ruger that required us to crimp right on the lip of the bullet as well..Would not go into battery if we tried to follow jacketed oal's.
We just reduced the powder a bit and had zero problems.

 

[Slamfire]

My ammo has to feed through three M1911’s. I set the OAL with a 230 LRN to 1.250 and taper crimp the mouth of the case to .469”. Works great. A favorite load of mine is 4.5 grains Bullseye with a 230 LRN. This is what I got in a Nowlin Barreled M1911. The velocity is just at 800 fps, which is where I want to be as it duplicates original ball ammo velocity, and does not pound the pistol

230 gr LRN 4.5 grs Bullseye Mixed Brass WLP
25-Feb-07 T = 68 °F OAL 1.250" taper crimp .469"

Ave Vel = 791.3
Std Dev = 9.48
ES 28.42
High 809.4
Low 781
N = 8

 

[kart racer]

I load my lrn at 1.230 and they work fine.3.6 of clays is an easy shooting load at that length.I also use unique and red dot at 5.8 and 4.8 respectively.