kevin9
NES Member
I made my first run of reloaded ammo today in 45 ACP. I started out trying to use an older 3 station Lee Pro 1000 with new Lee carbide dies. Sizing and depriming worked OK, and after some fiddling I got the belling, seating and crimping working OK, but I had problems with priming. It would not consistently feed primers. I ended up with several rounds loaded sans primers and powder in the priming station.
After cleaning up the mess I then went to using an older Lyman single stage. The only problem I had with it was getting the seating and crimping right. I wrinkled several rounds trying to get the crimp right.
When I got it all working I ended up with 46 rounds of 45 ACP. The brass was mixed once-fired, mostly Remington and Federal. The bullets were Hornady 230gr JHP XTP. The powder was Titegroup with Winchester large pistol primers. 23 rounds were made up with 4.27 grs and 23 were made made up with 4.75 grs. The 2 charge weights were what I could get with the .37 and .40 sized holes in the Auto-Disk Powder Measure I was using.
Of course I then had to go down to the Winchendon R&G club and try them out. Both sets worked fine in my Glock 21. The smaller charge had noticeably less recoil than the factory UMC I used as a reference. It grouped OK, about as well as the factory stuff, but about 1" lower at 25 feet. The heavier charge was just about the same recoil as the factory ammo and shot pretty much to the same POI. Grouping was similar as well, although I need to do more testing to reduce shooter-induced errors. There were no signs of excess pressure for either charge.
All in all it went well. Now to get the Pro 1000 working consistently. The primers either were not feeding onto the anvil pin at all, or they ended up flipped 90 degrees. Once the first primer was missed powder ended up in the station and mucked the following ones up. I'm open for any suggestions folks have on getting the primer feed working consistently.
After cleaning up the mess I then went to using an older Lyman single stage. The only problem I had with it was getting the seating and crimping right. I wrinkled several rounds trying to get the crimp right.
When I got it all working I ended up with 46 rounds of 45 ACP. The brass was mixed once-fired, mostly Remington and Federal. The bullets were Hornady 230gr JHP XTP. The powder was Titegroup with Winchester large pistol primers. 23 rounds were made up with 4.27 grs and 23 were made made up with 4.75 grs. The 2 charge weights were what I could get with the .37 and .40 sized holes in the Auto-Disk Powder Measure I was using.
Of course I then had to go down to the Winchendon R&G club and try them out. Both sets worked fine in my Glock 21. The smaller charge had noticeably less recoil than the factory UMC I used as a reference. It grouped OK, about as well as the factory stuff, but about 1" lower at 25 feet. The heavier charge was just about the same recoil as the factory ammo and shot pretty much to the same POI. Grouping was similar as well, although I need to do more testing to reduce shooter-induced errors. There were no signs of excess pressure for either charge.
All in all it went well. Now to get the Pro 1000 working consistently. The primers either were not feeding onto the anvil pin at all, or they ended up flipped 90 degrees. Once the first primer was missed powder ended up in the station and mucked the following ones up. I'm open for any suggestions folks have on getting the primer feed working consistently.