Possible double charge in 45acp

[whacko]

Amen!

Back in my 550 days, I had a light over the bullet station. I'd look in right before I seated a bullet. Then I upgraded to a 650 and flicked my eyes to the powdercheck to ensure it was moving the proper amount up. Lights and sirens can fail. I'll visually inspect.

Clean your seating die every 1,000 rounds as well. Lube gets in there and will let a bullet stick. There was some guy in a cowboy mag that was either double-charging or double-seating (I think it was double-seating) bullets b/c he hadn't cleaned his seating die in 10's of 1000's of rounds. One bullet stuck in the seater, he loaded the next and double-bulleted the round. Yikes! I think in the magazine article he blew up 3 different 45Colt cowboy guns.

I stopped reloading because it was too many things to watch at once. It was exhausting.

I started reloading last year with a Lee loader set. The one you use a hammer for to drive the empties into a die for sizing.

Has to be done one step at a time and I run batches of 50

1. Deprime (hammer and punch)
2. Clean pockets and add lube
3. Resize and prime (hammer to drive the shells into resizing due then add a primer to the base and hammer to seat the primer)
4. Charge seat bullet and crimp (insert shell into funnel shaped seating die.....use a dipper to measure powder for each......drop the bullet in.....set the seating tool on top and give it 2 to 3 taps with the hammer......remove seating tool and shell flip over insert carteridge then a couple taps with the hammer to crimp.....

I can do 50 rounds in 45 minutes now that I'm well practiced. Its slow......but the chances of screwing something up are nill

The set cost $30

All in with scale to check the dippers for charge weight, calipers to measure length, plastic hammer, and a few odds and ends was about $100 all in.

I've made a ton of 38 and 357 with this set.

 

[DW357]

I bet for a lot of us (myself included) that intense focus on what's front of you (rather than the 100 other things running through your head) is one of the reasons we find it so relaxing.

Yup. And seeing the loaded rounds piling up is such a great feeling/sight.

 

[drgrant]

It is possible that I double charged 2 .45acp cartridges. The recipe calls for 4gr of Promo and I think I got two of them with 8gr. I am shooing a Ruger 1911 full size. I tried weighing each suspect round but when I did find one that was 4gr over I took it apart and found that it was the lead bullet that was over weight not the powder. I have about 500 cartridges made up and don’t know where or if there are 2 that are double charged. It’s a light load already but do you think it would pose a danger to shoot then? I really don’t want to take 500 cartridges apart.

If it was me I would trash the entire lot, having any doubt.

-Mike

 

[drgrant]

I started reloading last year with a Lee loader set. The one you use a hammer for to drive the empties into a die for sizing.

Has to be done one step at a time and I run batches of 50

1. Deprime (hammer and punch)
2. Clean pockets and add lube
3. Resize and prime (hammer to drive the shells into resizing due then add a primer to the base and hammer to seat the primer)
4. Charge seat bullet and crimp (insert shell into funnel shaped seating die.....use a dipper to measure powder for each......drop the bullet in.....set the seating tool on top and give it 2 to 3 taps with the hammer......remove seating tool and shell flip over insert carteridge then a couple taps with the hammer to crimp.....

I can do 50 rounds in 45 minutes now that I'm well practiced. Its slow......but the chances of screwing something up are nill

The set cost $30

All in with scale to check the dippers for charge weight, calipers to measure length, plastic hammer, and a few odds and ends was about $100 all in.

I've made a ton of 38 and 357 with this set.

Jesus cwithe that sounds like glacial pace, compared to even way when I started loading pistol with my rockchucker. And the odds of screwing up are still
pretty low. (considering you have a tray full of charged brass usually ready to take a bullet at the end. )

-Mike

 

[Dennis in MA]

I bet for a lot of us (myself included) that intense focus on what's front of you (rather than the 100 other things running through your head) is one of the reasons we find it so relaxing.

It wasn't the mental aspect. It was the visual one. It was check, check, check, check. . . Pdink, check. . . repeat. My eyes darted to about 5 different places on each pull of the handle. You have to watch every station. Ensure the seating die worked correctly. Center your next bullet. Check the powder in the case or watch the powder check rod come up the right amount. The feel for the primer to be punched and seated. A new case got seated in the shell-holder. (Not all of that in that order) Then CLINK to ensure a completed, loaded round hit the finished bucket. The worst thing to find in your finished bucket is. . . . loose powder.

That's exhausting after 500 rounds. There was no question I could have done near the maximums claimed by Dillon provided I pre-loaded a pile of primer tubes and quart-yogurt containers of brass (the fastest way to refill the auto-feeder with the maximum amount and keep it running). But an hour was the most I could handle before I went cross-eyed.

 

[drgrant]

It wasn't the mental aspect. It was the visual one. It was check, check, check, check. . . Pdink, check. . . repeat. My eyes darted to about 5 different places on each pull of the handle. You have to watch every station. Ensure the seating die worked correctly. Center your next bullet. Check the powder in the case or watch the powder check rod come up the right amount. The feel for the primer to be punched and seated. A new case got seated in the shell-holder. (Not all of that in that order) Then CLINK to ensure a completed, loaded round hit the finished bucket. The worst thing to find in your finished bucket is. . . . loose powder.

That's exhausting after 500 rounds. There was no question I could have done near the maximums claimed by Dillon provided I pre-loaded a pile of primer tubes and quart-yogurt containers of brass (the fastest way to refill the auto-feeder with the maximum amount and keep it running). But an hour was the most I could handle before I went cross-eyed.

Lol you're seriously overthinking your loading operation, if it's that "exhausting. " The only thing I really watched like a hawk was if there was powder in the case before the bullet got placed. That's pretty much what makes or breaks everything. The rest of the machine once it's set up right, runs itself.

-Mike

 

[EddieZoom]

That's exhausting after 500 rounds. There was no question I could have done near the maximums claimed by Dillon provided I pre-loaded a pile of primer tubes and quart-yogurt containers of brass (the fastest way to refill the auto-feeder with the maximum amount and keep it running). But an hour was the most I could handle before I went cross-eyed.

Yeah, the rounds per hour numbers are overrated. I personally am only good for 300-500 round reloading sessions. Sometimes that takes an hour, sometimes more.

 

[1776]

+P Woody loads!

 

[drgrant]

Yeah, the rounds per hour numbers are overrated. I personally am only good for 300-500 round reloading sessions. Sometimes that takes an hour, sometimes more.

400+ an hour on straight walled pistol with good prep work is easy. And I was pretty slow, too.

-Mike

 

[Terry Schultz]

I have opened 200 of the 500 that I made up in my last session and didn’t find any overcharged ones. I did find some that had only 1.5 gr. or less of powder (my charge should be 4.0gr.). Previously I had removed my powder checker in favor of installing a Mr. Bullet feeder but I think I will put the powder checker back in when I reload all the 500 I have. Because the bullets were in the cases they will not go reliably threw the Mr. Bullet feeder anyway. So what I might do after I reuse the pulled bullets is move the crimp station to my Lyman Turret press and do the crimp as a separate step. Then reinstall the Mr. Bullet feeder in position 4 and move the seating die to position 5. Too bad there isn’t a 6th station on my 650.

 

[swatgig]

Question 1: Do you enjoy reloading, or do you do it strictly to save money. If you enjoy it, take them apart and enjoy yourself all over again.

Question 2: Will you enjoy yourself shooting those 500 rounds knowing one may blow up in your face? If not, take them apart and start over.

 

[Terry Schultz]

I enjoy reloading and I also enjoy saving money. But I reload mostly so I can get the perfect bullet for my target shooting. I still have about 300 more to go before I can start reloading them. But like you typed I can have some more fun reloading.

 

[Terry Schultz]

Well, I opened all 500 shells and didn’t find any over charged ones. I did find one that had a bunch of stainless steel pins wedged in the case from wet tumbling the brass. I think this may account for the look of a double charge in the case. There were some that were undercharged and some by a lot. My charge should be 4gr. and I found some that were 1.5 or less. But most were right at 4.0 to 3.9. I put the powder checker back on the press and have started reloading. I think I will stop at about 100 just to make sure I haven’t got any more errors and have to take them apart again. Thanks for the help and advice.

 

[BrianWilson]

If your getting that much variation in your powder charges I might suggest:
A) Check to make sure your not jarring it out of the case somehow and the powder measure is throwing all the way in both directions every time, etc. etc.
B) Try a different powder. There's a lot of "old standbys" for .45 and that powder your using isn't one of them.
Both my Dillons are pretty consistent.

 

[Terry Schultz]

In shotgun reloading Promo uses the same loading data as Red Dot. Red Dot shows up in the loading manual with a max of 4.5gr giving a velocity of 831 with a 200gr lead semi-wad cutter. Since I only need it for target shooting the slower velocity and lighter charge of 4.0gr. of Promo is preferred for less recoil. I have some Unique I might try. The max charge for Unique is 5.4gr. with a velocity of 790. If it meters better I may move to that powder for my 45.

 

[rep308]

Back in the day I tried saving money by having one powder hopper for both my .357 and .45 reloads. I loaded fast burning Blue Dot for some smoking .357 loads, *emptied* the hopper and put in Red Dot for my .45.

The first time I shot one of those .45 it seemed crazy hot. I set up my chrono and shot another 200 gn .45 at 1300 FPS (listed load was 900 FPS) It all came to me and I realized that I had some .45 with left over Blue Dot loads.

There was no way in H3LL that I was going to shoot those load and pulled every one of the 100 round by hand. Unless you have an affinity for an eye patch or like the nickname "Stumpy" you should do the same.

I now have a separate powder hopper for each of my die sets

 

[ToddDubya]

What did you use to pull all of those? I pulled 20 5.56s once with one of those hateful inertial hammer doohickeys and it was brutal. Granted .45 bullets are much heavier than 5.56, and wouldn't take 15 wacks to unseat, but still.

I don't know your usual operation but I like to come up with a cadence specific for the step I'm on. If I'm using my standalone powder measure, it might be: case, down, up, check, case, down, up, check. It's not because I might forget a step but rather to keep the motions the same so I get the same amount of powder. It also drives other thoughts out of my head.

If you're picking a new powder, try one that requires more. That way slight differences are less significant. Some people like powders that use more of the case so that double charges would overflow and be very obvious. But if you're using a 650 you'd have to manually run a case through twice to get a double charge.

This reminds me, I need to do some reloading for therapeutic reasons.

 

[Terry Schultz]

What did you use to pull all of those? I pulled 20 5.56s once with one of those hateful inertial hammer doohickeys and it was brutal. Granted .45 bullets are much heavier than 5.56, and wouldn't take 15 wacks to unseat, but still.

I used a kinetic hammer type bullet puller for all 500. One of the secrets is to hammer it on a really hard surface like a metal block or the concrete floor. I tried using my wood bench but it had too much give and took too many wacks to dislodge the bullet. The hardest part was getting the cartridge into the holder but I found that inserting it in the bottom was easier and faster then trying to push it in from the top.

 

[ToddDubya]

Yeah, I had the same problem. My bench sits on top of cinder blocks so I pounded on those, which helped. But it's still a terrible job. Kudos for making it through 500!

 

[DW357]

Lol you're seriously overthinking your loading operation, if it's that "exhausting. " The only thing I really watched like a hawk was if there was powder in the case before the bullet got placed. That's pretty much what makes or breaks everything. The rest of the machine once it's set up right, runs itself.

-Mike

This!! And I thought I overthink/overanalyze lol.

 

[PL-52]

I have 2" thick 12"x12" steel block on my bench that receives the whacks of the kinetic hammer. Not used much since I bought a Hornady bullet puller die and installed it in my single stage press, way easier to do removals.

 

[Terry Schultz]

View attachment 284271 I have 2" thick 12"x12" steel block on my bench that receives the whacks of the kinetic hammer. Not used much since I bought a Hornady bullet puller die and installed it in my single stage press, way easier to do removals.

Unfortunately the bullet I am using in my 45acp is a semi-wad cutter and there isn't anything for the collet to get ahold of.