Reloading is very frustrating. What should I do now?

[Rockrivr1]

Ok, I've gone over my specs again on the loading of 45acp and I have made some adjustments.

1. I reset my sizing die so that it touches the shell plate when it's all the way up
2. Decreased the amount of belling I was getting during the powder die stroke
3. Adjusted the seating die to make sure I was consistantly getting a OAL of 1.268. The same as the WWB round
4. Adjusted crimping die to get a lip radius of .471, which was also the same as WWB.

I did all of that and I'm still having loading problems. Going with some recommendations, I used a felt tip pen and drew a few lines from the top of the round down the brass and loaded them into the mag. I manually cycled the slide on my 1911 and it would seem that my problem is about 1/4 of an inch down from the top lip of the brass With the calipers I measure .473 at that area and it seems that it's just wide enough to catch in the chamber. I measure the WWB round in the same place and it's a mix of .470 and .471. I guess that .002 is enough to make a difference.

With that said, how the heck do I fix that? I read and re-read my manuals and looked online, but couldn't seem to find what I should adjust to fix that. From trial and error, I tried adjusting the crimp die to see if I could pull that area in, but it effected my OAL and crimped the lip to .465 or less. I would think that would create to much pressure when shooting. I'm at a loss. What would you do next?

 

[EddieCoyle]

You might be over crimping your rounds. If you try to apply too much taper crimp, the area just below the rim can bulge out.

If you have a spot for it, get the Lee Factory Crimp die for .45 ACP. This will do two things:

First, you can separate the seating and crimping operations. This will allow you to mess with the OAL without having to reset the crimp.

Finally, if you overcrimp the round, the Lee FCD resizes the round on the way out of the die; ensuring that it will chamber.

 

[GTOShootr]

Try to make one change at a time, so you can isolate what works and what doesn't. If the brass is sized right (do they gauge?), the crimp is sufficient (just enough to smooth out the bell?), and the OAL is normal, maybe it is the gun. Try them in a different gun to see.

If you shop at Northeast Trading, bring one of your rounds to show Ted. He gave me a lot of tips when I first starting to load on my Dillon.

What dies are you using now?

 

[Rockrivr1]

I'm using Dillon carbide dies right now. I'm having the same problem in two different handguns, so I'm assuming it's the reloads. I did try to make changes to only one die at a time and I thought I was getting closer as the slight changes I made to the crimping die, was making it easier to eject. But I was still getting some sticking. That is until I checked my OAL. By bringing down the crimps to alleviate the size problem, I was decreasing my OAL. Hummm, maybe I was starting with to much crimping to begin with.

 

[TY43215]

Just to start, leave stations #1, #2, and #3 as is. Turn out the crimp die on Station 4. Put a factory round into station 4 and raise the ram to the shell plate.

Turn the station 4 die down by hand until it meets the crimp on the factory round and set it at that point.

Try a few rounds and see how you make out and report back to us

Have you looked HERE for your answers?

 

[sdavid]

How much belling are you putting on the case before seating? I found that if I bell lower than a 16th of an inch I will have problems. I brought it up to less than that my problems went away.

 

[PistolPete]

What are you using for bullet heads? I had some plated bullets in .45 that wouldn't feed any any of my .45's because of the shape of the bullet. It was a 185 grain plated RNFP that the flat part would hit on the feedramp no matter how long or short I loaded the rounds. The worst part is that I ordered several thousands of these bullets and have yet to use them to this day.

Are you using jacketed or lead and what weight bullet/profile are you using?

Pete

 

[RKG]

Step 1: run a fired case (on which no other operations have been performed) through the sizer only.

Now disassemble the pistol and, using the barrel as a chamber guage, see if the sized case drops in.

If so, then one of the later stages is bellowing out the case; probably over crimping.

If not, then there is something wrong with the sizer.

If you think about things, you will understand that if seating and taper crimping is done in the same die, the crimp has to be quite light. With a roll crimp, after the mouth of the case has been turned into the slug (either lead or the cannelure of a jacketed slug), and then the round is further pushed into the seater, the "extra" case has somewhere to go. With a taper crimp, however, once the mouth of the case has "bitten" into the slug, however slightly, further seating is necessarily pushing back on the mouth of the case, and something has to give.

Step 2:

Assuming your "sized only" case drops into the chamber without hesitation, now load the round and try again. Presumably, the round will not drop in, and is bearing up on some expanded case diameter more or less equal with the base of the bullet. Now very gently try to run the loaded round part way into the sizer (with the decapper removed, if decapping is done on the sizer), and see if this cures the problem. If so, you have too much taper crimp. Either back off or get a two die set (one die seats the slug and the second die separately presses in the taper crimp).

 

[TY43215]

What are you using for bullet heads? I had some plated bullets in .45 that wouldn't feed any any of my .45's because of the shape of the bullet. It was a 185 grain plated RNFP that the flat part would hit on the feedramp no matter how long or short I loaded the rounds. The worst part is that I ordered several thousands of these bullets and have yet to use them to this day.

Are you using jacketed or lead and what weight bullet/profile are you using?

Pete

How many do you have? They would make a good revolver minor load

 

[Cuz]

Rockrivr1,
What make/model press do you have? Who's dies? What is the brand/weight/shape of the bullets you are using? The .45 should be one of the easiest calibers to load. I'm sure it's something small that's causing your problems. Where about in Central Mass do you reside?
-Cuz.

 

[Rockrivr1]

What are you using for bullet heads? I had some plated bullets in .45 that wouldn't feed any any of my .45's because of the shape of the bullet. It was a 185 grain plated RNFP that the flat part would hit on the feedramp no matter how long or short I loaded the rounds. The worst part is that I ordered several thousands of these bullets and have yet to use them to this day.

Are you using jacketed or lead and what weight bullet/profile are you using?

Pete

I'm using Zero 230gr FMJ bullets. They seem the exact same shape as the the rounds used for the WWB rounds I've been trying to mimic

 

[Rockrivr1]

Rockrivr1,
What make/model press do you have? Who's dies? What is the brand/weight/shape of the bullets you are using? The .45 should be one of the easiest calibers to load. I'm sure it's something small that's causing your problems. Where about in Central Mass do you reside?
-Cuz.

My wife just bought me a Dillon 550B for our anniversary/xmas present. This is my first attempt at reloading anything. I'm sure it's something simple on my end that is causing this problem.

I was really enjoying making the rounds, but it can be frustrating when things don't work. Then again, I'm green at it. I've learned a lot in the few weeks I've used it. Much more to go though, that is for sure.

 

[PistolPete]

What exactly is the gun doing when you put the rounds thru it? Have you even tried firing any of these rounds?

What powder are you using?

What are you using for brass? Are you resizing the brass fully? Is it Glock brass?

 

[Rockrivr1]

What exactly is the gun doing when you put the rounds thru it? Have you even tried firing any of these rounds?

What powder are you using?

What are you using for brass? Are you resizing the brass fully? Is it Glock brass?

The round will load, but will not allow the slide to fully engage so I can fire. I have to use my thumb a little to push the slide into battery. Almost like a forward assist on an AR15. Not alway, but more then 50%. If I try to cycle the slide to eject the unfired round, it's near impossible unless I use a piece of wood or side of a bench to put the top lip of the slide and push. I have shot a few of the rounds, but stopped as I didn't want to take any chances. I'm using 5.2 grns of W231

 

[Rockrivr1]

I'm also using my once fired WWB brass to reload.

 

[PistolPete]

Here are my thoughts.

First, where did you get that load from? How did you come up with that charge weight?

Second, to me it sounds like you don't have enough powder in your case. When I first started reloading I was so nervous that when I started 10% below max my gun did the same exact thing. I thought it was something with the belling or crimp but was the fact that my ammo didn't have enough power to fully cycle the slide so when it stripped the next round out of my mag it wouldn't go into battery. A quick bump in powder and the problem went away.

Third, you should be using the powder manufactures guidelines not measuring off another factory bullet. Looking at Winchesters website for a 230 grain FMJ it looks like you should be loading to 1.200" with a starting charge weight of 4.3grains not to exceed a max of 5.3grains. Verify this info for yourself and NEVER take a load from someone online. Here is where I found this info:
http://www.wwpowder.com/data/handgun/45acp.php It sounds like you don't have enough power in your loads to fully cycle the slide except your powder charge is within the guidelines on the website. Check on your powder container and see if there is any data there as well.

Fourth, I'm willing to bet that is your problem as it happened to me EXACTLY as you are describing. Starting reloading is a bit nerve-racking and when the ammo doesn't work right it makes things worse.

On another note when I recently had my new open gun built I tried the load that was recommended by the builder and my gun did what yours are doing. A call to him and he said to just bump up the charge weight by a few tenths of a grain and retest. So long as you don't exceed the max pressure you will be fine. Just know that if you load to shorter lenghts and use the max powder charge it will create MORE pressure so be aware.

Good luck,
Pete

 

[PistolPete]

Do you have a chrono and have you chronoed any of these rounds? That would give you a Power Factor and quickly tell you if the problem is what I mentioned above. If you meet a certain Powerfactor then you can eliminate what I mentioned as that won't be the problem then.

 

[TY43215]

Do you have a chrono and have you chronoed any of these rounds? That would give you a Power Factor and quickly tell you if the problem is what I mentioned above. If you meet a certain Powerfactor then you can eliminate what I mentioned as that won't be the problem then.

Pete, you need to read This Thread Most of your questions were answered first time around.

 

[PistolPete]

Pete, you need to read This Thread Most of your questions were answered first time around.

AHHHH that paints a whole new paint-job on things...

Thanks Gary... I just checked to see how many of those .45 bullets I have and I prob. have 1500+ left. They are yours if you want them.

Pete

 

[Supermoto]

Here are my thoughts.

First, where did you get that load from? How did you come up with that charge weight?

Second, to me it sounds like you don't have enough powder in your case.

Pete, I think he is using 5.2gr of 231, which will make around 170pf+

But he recommendation of a Chrono is spot on... its a must if you are working up loads.

as recommended I would check to see if excess crimp is causing a bulge. But not enough crimp will cause issues also. I run heavy crimp on my .45 with my masterblaster bullets (poly coated lead) otherwise the will not chamber in my revolver.

if your round drop in your barrel fine but still jams, then it would be something else, maybe the extractor

 

[GTOShootr]

Ha Ha, Pete missed the walkthrough, ran by a few.

RockRiv, don't get too flustered, there is a lot of good advice here. Double check the resize, drop check the rounds in the chamber, start over with the crimp. Good choice with the Zeros.

After this, you'll be responding to the reloading newbie posts.

 

[TY43215]

AHHHH that paints a whole new paint-job on things...

Thanks Gary... I just checked to see how many of those .45 bullets I have and I prob. have 1500+ left. They are yours if you want them.

Pete

We can deal

 

[PistolPete]

I think you're almost better having some issues at first when getting into reloading. You will learn more NOW than you would have if everything went smooth. You'll find the problem, realize why it happened and how you missed it, and won't make this mistake again. Then you'll work up a load and find out it isn't what you want and start with a different powder and start the process all over again. LOL Only next time you won't have the learning curve again.

 

[Lugnut]

RKG and others offer good suggestions. It's easy to determine what is the cause by adding one step at a time after sizing. FWIW- I use plated/FMJ and I hardly use a crimp at all... just enough to remove the bell. As a matter of fact I've gauged my rounds WITHOUT running through the crimp die and it will fit no problem. Bell a little and you don't need to crimp much at all.