Problems reloading .45ACP

[TankerrobM1A1]

Let me start off by saying I find this to be a very informative site and appreciate all the feedback, on this post and others I have read, you all give. Moving on to the problem at hand. I am what one would term an upper level novice in the realm of reloading. I have all the essentials from the powder measure (digital) all the way down to the caliper digital and everything in between. I started off my reloading of .45acp on a set of STEEL RCBS dies that had the depriming unit, the seater die, and the resizing unit. I would reload with that without any issues whatsoever. I started off with depriming the spent case, cleaning the pocket, putting in a dry media to clean the whole of the case checking sizes/measurements with caliper and then WITHOUT expanding the neck of the case *at this point it is charged with powder, primer...etc* I would set the bullet head (MAGTECH 230gr Round nose) on the case and then raise it case and the head into the seater creating a bullet that functioned perfectly every time.


Here is the problem.....


For Christmas I disregarded the standard and got bullet heads 230 gr Hornady Round nose and a set of CARBIDE .45ACP/GAP/AR. I thought nothing of it adjusted it properly and away we go. The issue is not with the Carbide dies but rather with the HORNADY bullet heads. When I go through the same process as listed above, I end up destroying the case and by destroying I mean ripping the case like paper. I tried expanding the neck and doing the reloading that way but the round produced actually jams the fire arms. I am wondering if it has to do with the crimp that I may/may not be putting on the unit. With the steel I would not have any issues. If you all have any ideas of why the cases (prepped the same way every time would be ripping with the new manufacture of bullet heads I am using).


Again this is long winded but I believe the devil is in the details.
"attention to detail, team work is key" is what my Drill use to tell me at Knox...

Thanks in advance for ANYTHING you can offer up. :banghead:

 

[rrflyer]

I've reloaded several thousand rounds on my press and when I bought my first 100 hornady bullets the cases were crushing. I simply expanded slightly more and they work fine now. I can only guess hornady bullets are just slightly larger than standard.

My guess is that your now expanding the case to much and the bullet isn't feeding. Try reducing the expanding that you do before you seat the bullet and see if that helps.

You might also try a lee factory crimp die as this would fix the feeding problem.

 

[ReloaderFred]

The short of it is you need to bell the case mouths more to accept the bullet. The carbide die is probably sizing your brass to a smaller diameter than the earlier steel dies, so the bullet needs that little bit of belling at the case mouth to get it started into the case.

Then adjust your seating/crimping die to just remove the bell, and make a slight taper crimp.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[P97]

Reloaderfred, you hit the nail on the head. I bell mine enough that I can start the Bullet with my fingers, and then Factory crimp them enough that you can see how deep the bullet is seated. I shoot the same reloads through Rugers P90. 97 and 345's and no feed problems of any kind. I reload ball, hollow point and all kinds. Also be sure the total bullet-cartridge length is the same as factory ammo of the same kind.

 

[caz223]

Ja, if you can seat the bullet without expanding, then I'd look for new bullets.
There's nothing wrong with the new bullets, you were just skipping a step when doing it the old way, and it's not working with the correct size bullets.
Expanding/flaring is a necessary step.

 

[jfh]

A second vote for ReloaderFred's advice.

To which I will only add, you apparently need to do more finished cartridge checks, at least until you get this sorted out.

You can do that by simply dropping the finished round into the pistol's barrel and seeing if it chambers completely. However, I prefer to use a max cart gauge, which does more checks than a chamber will, and is built to SAAMI specs.

The max cart gauge sits by finished cartridge collection, and I check the initial cartridges at the beginning, and again (very) intermittently throughout the run. The latter checks help me catch possible crud buildup in dies.

I also find that I now prefer a 4-die setup, with seating only done at stage 3 and crimping (taper crimp) done in stage 4. If you start experiement with different bullets (I finally settled on 200-gr LSWCs for my .45ACPs), that die configuration makes life a lot easier to get the proper LOA and proper crimp.

Jim H.

 

[ReloaderFred]

jfh,

I also use the 4 die setup, and have for many, many years. I found a long time ago that seating and crimping in separate steps made my reloading life much simpler.

In the case at hand, it didn't sound like TankerrobM1A1 had a separate die to work with, but now that I think about it, he does. He can take the seating/crimping die from his old steel set of dies and back the seating stem out and use it just for crimping. Then his life will be easier, too.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[TankerrobM1A1]

Many thanks Gentlemen. Your feedback is much appreciated and tonight after work I will take the dies from the 2 sets of .45acp combine them so as include belling as well as the crimping aspect. Thank You very much!

 

[1911NM]

Good luck, and let us know how it works out. I am a 4 die guy also, but when in doubt, rely on ReloaderFred. I bell till the bullet just sets in the brass not on it, and taper crimp with a Hornady die to .469 +/-.002. Slicker'n snot in my tight chambered Kimber.

 

[TankerrobM1A1]

Gentlemen,
I just want to say THANK YOU! I am home after a hard days work; I implemented that which you recommended and I have to say; I am holding the finished product and HOOAH! And if I may take a quote 1911NM said "Slicker'n snot in my tight chambered Kimber." Isn't that the truth. Cycles beautifully! Hat's off to you gentlemen. Thank you.