Topic: .45 problem

[egress81]

I went out today and shot some reloads I made and i was having some problems with the bullets seating back in when they were being pushed up the feed ramp.
The die I'm using crimps as it seats but I'm thinking it might not be enough to hold the bullet in place.... So I'm thinking i need a separate crimp die.any one have any good recommendations ?

[Jeff]

Spiff (and probably everyone else) will tell you to get a Lee Factory Crimp Die.  I just got one for my .45 ACP but haven't used it yet.

You're welcome to try my Dillon crimp die.  Hell, you can try the Lee if you want.

[High Wall]

Sometimes this happens with the 45 when you encounter undersize bullets or thin brass, or a combination of both.  Occasionally there are sizer dies that don't resize the brass enough.  The case has to be sized down enough to hold the bullet in place.  The crimp is no substitute for the proper fit between bullet and case.

If you have a .308 Winchester sizer die, you can try an experiment.  Size your brass in the .308 die, then load normally and see if you still have the set back problem.

Also, I crimp 45 ACPs after seating in a separate operation, with a taper crimp die. 

[egress81]

i took a look at the rounds that setback and most were military brass and a few were Winchester most of the Federeal and Amerc were just fine i dont really wanna toss the brass but looks like it might end up going in the recycle bin

[High Wall]

Another possibility is that the cylindrical portion of the expander plug on your die is larger than it needs to be.  It should be at least .002" under the bullet diameter, and .003" under doesn't hurt anything.  What brand of die are you using?  What bullets?

[Shortmag]

have you tried just turning your seater/crimp die in another 1/4 or 1/2 turn and back out the seater stem just a hair?  that would be my first attempt, before buying/replacing a die that may be just fine.

of course, OTOH, i've had dies that the expander portion was too big like High Wall said, and when i asked about it on another forum, I was called a liar and told i was covering up for a mistake i made.  by the moderator of said forum no less. (as well as a few other members)

Apparently, because i had a set of dies that they had never seen before that worked a bit different than the more modern ones they were used to, i was an idiot, and no idea what i was doing.   man, did i have fun proving the moderator wrong.

SM

[egress81]

the bullets are Hornady 200 grain XTP HP and the dies are old set of Pacific Durachrome (now Hornady) dies.   

[High Wall]

It sounds like thin brass is contributing to the problem (since some do it and some don't), but I'd measure the expander plug for the heck of it and see what you've got.  If it is too large, you could chuck it in a drill and dress it down a little.

If you are loading on a single stage press, did you notice big differences in pressure on the lever needed to size and expand the cases with different headstamps?

AS i mentioned above, if the brass is thin, but you'd like to get some use out of it, you can size with a .308 Winchester sizer.  It will size them down a little tighter than a typical 45 ACP die will.  I've done that dodge a couple of times in the past.  One time I had a bunch of brass headstamped 'IVI' that was thin and I wanted to use it because I am cheap.  Another time I came into a bunch of Norma bullets that were a couple of thousandths undersize.

[egress81]

I am useing a single stage and now that you mention it there was a noticeable diffrence in pressure that i had to use to get the handle to go down.

I dont have a .308 die to use but i do have a .243 die that i could try it on.

[High Wall]

That's an idea.  Probably anything in that cartridge family will work.