Struggling with .45 ACP

[murf]

what kind of seating stem are you using?

if that dillon will let you, seat the bullet just a bit, back off the press ram and turn the round 180 degrees, seat all the way. roll the rounds on a table top and see if they wobble to see if they are seated straight.

luck,

murf

 

[Nature Boy]

I’m out of Berry’s 230g RN bullets but I have some Extreme 230’s on the way.



Thanks for the suggestions fellas. I’ll give them a try when the supplies arrive.

In the mean time, I back to loading .308

 

[RussellC]

Jams I am assuming were failures to feed, which the longer OAL cured? That bullet loaded to fall between 1.260 to 1.265 OAL should run 100%.

Are you checking the sized cases with the gauge prior to loading? If so, and they pass, it is definitely a seating or crimping issue.

I cured sloppy seating (Not very straight), with a Redding Lyman M Die style expander and a Redding sleeved competition seater. It is also nice to be able to dial back to whatever bullet I am loading. Just the expander may have cured it by its self. Redding and RCBS have both copied the M Die style and all their expanders are made that way now. Good stuff.

Starting the bullets nice and straight? It makes a difference, even with sleeved seaters.

For crimp all you need is enough to remove the bell, or a hair more. I adjust the taper crimp die (And it needs to be a true taper crimp) so that the bell gets completely removed on the shortest cases, which means the longer ones will get a hair of inward movement, maybe .001.

Th epics in post #17 look fine.

Berrys 230 Gr @ 1.260/5 OAL.
View attachment 772248

Purposely over crimped Berrys 200 Gr RN. Bad juju.
View attachment 772249
View attachment 772250

A while back I was having the side bulge described, but they fed fine. Like Walk along, I solved the bulge with the Redding Competition seating die.

Russellc

 

[LiveLife]

Thanks for the suggestions fellas. I’ll give them a try when the supplies arrive.

Looking good.

Keep us posted.

 

[joneb]

I will apply enough crimp to remove the case flare, and then a bit more. If the outside case diameter with a seated bullet measures .473-474" my measurement at the case mouth with a taper crimp is .471-.472". Even with this amount of crimp I noticed that the plating was being pushed forward toward the bullet's nose when I would seat and crimp in one step, this bulge would cause a the plunk test to fail. If I shortened the COL so I was seating on the bullets ogive the problem would go away.
I can seat a Xtreme RN profile at 1.260-1.265" if I seat and crimp in two steps, if I seat and crimp in one step with this 1.260-1.265" COL I will fail the plunk test for my barrel.

 

[joneb]

My experience with RCBS dies is that there is a bit of slop between the male and female threads in regards to the resizing die and the flare/expander die this play or slop is manifested when the die or its components are locked down or tightened.
This slop will cause misalignment and can be minimized with teflon tape, this will help with concentricity of the loaded round.
Proper flare is important to get the bullet started straight, start straight end straight.

 

[Ruger 15151]

Lots of great advice. All can create issues with 45 ACP loads when the chamber is tight. I would be most interested in seeing if the sized cases drop into the case gauge before they are loaded. If you are using range brass that has been shot out of a chamber that is not fully supported (like a Glock), you will have a bulge near the base of the case. This might explain why the cases pass the plunk test in the barrel if they are rotated 180 degrees.

I have a SA 1911 with a tight KKM fitted barrel. I run all my range through the Lee Bulge Buster to remove any bulge near the base of the case before resizing and loading.

https://leeprecision.com/case-conditioning-tools/lee-bulge-buster-kit/

Just my .02 cents as I didn't see this issue mentioned.

 

[LiveLife]

Berry’s 230 gr RN ... OAL to 1.250” ... 15% not passing ... case gage

Plunk test pass/fail with the same case oriented 180 deg. which leads me to believe the bullet is getting cocked during seating ... bulging the case on one side.

I would be most interested in seeing if the sized cases drop into the case gauge before they are loaded.

Me too.

From post #18 - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/struggling-with-45-acp.830221/#post-10713394

• To rule out burrs on case rim or insufficiently sized brass, check your resized brass with the case gage before loading test rounds.

 

[Walkalong]

From post #18

And post # 21.

 

[LiveLife]

Are you checking the sized cases with the gauge prior to loading?

Yes.

 

[CKweigand]

I load my 45’s with 230 gr RN Berry’s as well and had a similar inconvenience. I was reloading a batch of maybe 5-6 different headstamps and was having to take the average of the wall thicknesses of the brass in order to come up with a desired crimp (sloppy practice in my opinion) now I sort my brass by headstamps and adjust my crimps to each headstamp. haven’t had an issue and never needed the FCD die. Now all of my rounds go through the L.E. Wilson Gauge and barrels like a dream. And haven’t had any issues knock on wood.

I also set OAL at 1.250 very reliable with Berry’s and my 1911’s love em’ My Springfield loaded is a tack driver with these rounds!!

 

[jmorris]

Drop your round into the gauge backwards. If it won’t go in at all you know the rim is the problem.



If the rim goes but hangs up because your bullet really is crooked. Pull the clip off the top of the Dillon die and drop the guts out.

Remove the little black pin in the side and make sure the seating stem is in there right. One side is SWC, the other RN.

 

[KYregular]

Same length that I load that exact bullet. I do put a decent taper crimp on it, which may knock those small burrs down.

 

[Franky50]

I had exactly the same problem with 9 mm Luger cartridges. As soon as I saw your second picture I recognized you are, as Master Blaster pointed out, over flaring the cases. Do not open cases' mouth so much and you will see the problems disappear. What can you do with the cartridges already made? Enjoy them with a revolver like S&W 625 in case you have access to one.

In the second picture you can appreciate the problem. This case has been over flared.

 

[MifflinKid]

I too had problems with tilted bullets (using a Dillon 550B) especially when
loading mixed head stamps. I tried adding a lot of flair on the case mouths
but that sometimes caused longer cases to hang up going into the seating
die.

I stumbled upon the Double Alpha Mr. Bullet Dillon Powder Funnel. It works like
an M-die giving each case a little step on which the bullet sits. When you put the
bullets in the cases you can feel them slide down to the step and then stop. The
bullets are perfectly vertical for the seating die. No bulging, no tilting.

I use them for .45 ACP, .45 Colt (using the .45 ACP version), 9MM and .40 S&W.
I suspect the 9MM version would work with .38 Special and .357 Magnum cases
but I have never tried that.

MidwayUSA sells them for about $40 each.

https://www.midwayusa.com/product/2670460203/double-alpha-mr-bulletfeeder-dillon-powder-funnel

 

[Walkalong]

Another option is to use an M-Die style expander in one station prior to dumping powder if you have the room. That is what I do. I do not expand while dropping powder.

Station 1 is empty (Cases have already been sized/prepped/primed when I load them.)
Station 2 has an expander die.
Station 3 dumps powder.

 

[Robert101]

I had similar issues and found the problem to be with Winchester brass. I measured the case head and found it to be to large to fit into the case gage. IN your pics it looks like Winchester headstamps.

 

[glc24]

Maybe I've been lucky, but this is all the more I bell the case. Whether mixed brass (a lot of it Winchester), or new Starline. I have never had issues seating bullets, which are Xtreme 230 gr. plated. I have a Dillon 550B, and use Dillon carbide dies and Dillon powder funnel. Nothing special.

 

[tkroenlein]

I have a batch of Federal cases that gave me the bulge where RP and WW did not.

I'd also check the crimp diameter. My SA RO has to get right down to .470" and not a hair over to plunk.

 

[rsrocket1]

What can you do with the cartridges already made? Enjoy them with a revolver like S&W 625 in case you have access to one.

Buy a gun to shoot rejected reloads. I like that. You sir have the right attitude. I just may do that.

 

[Franky50]

Buy a gun to shoot rejected reloads. I like that. You sir have the right attitude. I just may do that.

Of course! Why the effort to unmount defective cartridges if you can enjoy shooting them? I own a nice S&W 625 JM that happily deals with troubled ammunition my 1911 rejects. Ah, and it fire forms the brass in the same action, much better than any die can do.

 

[Nature Boy]

I bought a 3 pack special of Chip McCormick mags from Brownells to replace my generic mags. That might have been contributing to the finickiness

 

[LiveLife]

When people have feeding issues with their 1911 magazines, I suggest they try my Chip McCormick Power Mags.

If failure to feed issue was magazine related, CMC Power Mags resolved the issue. I also recommend Wilson Combat 47D magazines.

 

[Walkalong]

I have three old Chip McCormick Shooting Star mags with my old Springfield 1911 that simply never fail in that gun. It will feed empty brass.

The Power Mags are good, but I like these.

https://www.topgunsupply.com/check-...d-removable-base-full-size-1911-magazine.html

https://www.topgunsupply.com/check-...d-removable-base-full-size-1911-magazine.html

I like the Check-Mate follower in the 8 rounder linked to. It won't beat up your aluminum frame.

If your 1911 won't run with the Check-Mate 7 round GI mag, you have a gun problem.

https://www.topgunsupply.com/check-mate-.45acp-7rd-ss-gi-full-size-1911-magazine.html

 

[Z1B]

I did not read the entire thread...I would consider a bit more bell when seating the bullets and a little more taper crimp. Also seat and crimp in two separate steps. If you want to get a figure on just how much taper crimp, measure the crimp on a factory round and duplicate that.

Looking at the deformed bullets a few post above this one is a bit of an over crimp. most powders used in 45 ACP do not require a heavy crimp.