Problem with RA 69 brass

[SR_]

I received some 45 ACP brass marked RA 69. About 1/2 of the brass does not seem to fit in my (Dillon) case gage. it is as if the head itself it a bit to thick or too big.

I've measured the brass - it is actually at or below the trim length. I've put loaded and unloaded brass into the gage. The brass is not swollen at the base.

Will I have problems with this brass? Is there something I should be doing?

 

[Car Knocker]

Does it fit in the chamber of your handgun? That's the ultimate case gauge.

 

[SR_]

I haven't tried it in the handgun. Thought about just chambering a round or two at the house then decided I'd ask on the forum.

It will be a few days before I can get to the range.

 

[Slamfire]

It is likely that your brass was fired in some huge 45 ACP chamber. Brass is designed to swell up and make a gas seal, this brass did its job, and now it is large.

So, what your case gage is telling you is that your brass is large. And that you cannot resize it enough to fit in the gage.

Most sizing dies do not completely size the case, the case head is often left untouched. Commerical reloading companies have huge hydralic sizing equipment, similiar to parallel plates, that will completely resize brass, base and up. I have no doubt that this equipment could roll a telephone pole into a 1/4" dowel. You cannot duplicate this with standard reloading equipment.

As long as there are no case neck cracks, body splits, and the primers stay in the pocket, the risk of losing case integrity is low.

As previously stated, will it fit the chamber of your pistol? If so, shoot it. You may encouter problems on pistols with smaller chamber sizes.

 

[ReloaderFred]

SlamFire1 nailed it. The ammunition probably went through a gun with an oversize chamber, causing it to swell just above the web. Very few sizing dies will go far enough to resize this area. If you're using Dillon dies, the problem is even worse, due to the fact that all the Dillon sizing dies I've seen have a rather large chamfer at the mouth to facilitate use in the progressive press. They don't size down far enough.

While I'm not a real fan of Lee equipment in general, their sizing dies do seem to size further down than most others, so for a small amount of money, you could try one and see if that works.

Magma Engineering makes the Case Master Jr., which is an arbor press that pushes the case all the way through a carbide die, sizing it from the mouth to the rim. It's only used for rimless straight wall cases, such as 9mm, 10mm, .40 S&W and .45 acp. I have one with dies for all three sizes and it works well. You have to be a dedicated reloader to justify the $325.00 expense of one. If you're interested, here's the link: http://www.magmaengineering.com/item.php?id=3

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[SR_]

Thanks to everyone for the help.

I had a chance to make it to the range yesterday and the ammo ran fine. Tried it in may XD 45 and a S&W revolver.

ReloaderFred - that Case Master Jr. looks pretty cool - but it would be hard to justify with the amount of reloading that I'll be doing.

SlamFire1 - good thoughts. FYI, I looked over the cases for flaws. Didn't see anything that was a problem.


SlamFire1 - I understand the guy I purchased this from was a bullseye shooter and only had one .45 ACP. One would think that the brass would be more consistent since it was all the same headstamp (which in this case included make and year) and all was fired in the same gun. That was not the case - about 60% fits the gage just fine. The other acts goes into the case but stops just after the rim enters the gage. Originally I thought the brass was too long - but that was not the problem. Then I looked to see if there was a nick on the rim from the extractor that would explain the problem..... then I posted to get y'alls thoughts.

Thanks again!

 

[243winxb]

Some times the rim of the brass will be to large in diameter to slide up the bolt face as the round is striped from the magazine. This can happen when the brass is fired many times with heavy loads in a S&W 645 type gun. Then the brass is loaded and fired in a Colt Gold Cup with tighter dimensions on the bolt/slide face. As all the brass didnt expand the rim at the same rate, some would cycle , some not.