Berry's 200 gr. 45 flat points

B

Brutus

New member
Bought 500 rounds of the above mentioned bullets at Cabelas and I just sat down to reload some. Have to seat them down to a overall length of 1.145 before they pass the plunk test in
my CZ 97B. I thought they looked kinda short & squat when I opened the box.
Anybody else have any experience with these. Hope they feed OK. Usually other brands are good at 1.200.
 
Berry's recommends an OAL of 1.200" with the 45 ACP, 200gn FP.

Have to seat them down to a overall length of 1.145 before they pass the plunk test
Click to expand...

That seems really odd.

Of course, Berry's recommendation is just that - a recommendation. But you're loading them 55 thousandths less? Hmm. Chances are, something's not right.
 
I buy them, use them, and love them. They are all I load the .45's with. I'd have to check my notes at home as to what I seat them too though. Its pretty close to just the cone sticking out though. I don't remember my charges off hand either but I really like the way they perform. I'll try to remember to check when I get back from camping.
 
Can you increase the crimp slightly, without hurting the plating or anything else? I'm thinking 1/8 turn or less on the die might help. You might try seating at 1.173" overall length, with the increased crimp. That'd be about midway between your "plunk test positive" o.a.l., and Berry's recommended o.a.l.
 
The reason I'm plunk testing is because on the first go around they locked up all 3 of my 45's.
A Kimber, Sig P220 and the 97. CZ's are known for short throats so I chose that one for plunk testing. Kept reducing overall length in .010 increments until I got where I am.
I agree somethings not right and I have to believe it's this batch of bullets,
 
Since it is a plunk test, I'll guess the throat is closer or has a steeper angle than a SAAMI chamber. It shouldn't matter if it plunks or not, as long as the head of the case doesn't protrude beyond the barrel extension. Below is my image of a 1911 barrel set up this way (third from left). For soft bullets it actually improves the accuracy significantly to load this way. The fact the bullet is stopping in contact with the throat eliminates the need for crimp force to regulate starting pressure. The only reason not to do it is if you get actual feed failures that result, but I never have until the gun has gotten very dirty (talking about 3000 rounds without cleaning, here, and the fouling gum up was due in large part to case bullet lube in this instance).

45SeatingPossibilities_zpsea6ec64c.gif


So the question is, are you actually getting feed failures at any greater length, or did you just go from the 1.2" down to the plunk without checking in between?
 
Problem is the bullets were jamming into the barrel lands instead of headspacing on the case mouth creating a condition as seen in illustration #4 from the left. A case lgth. of 1.145 creates the illustration #2 and still doesn't provide the solid clunk one hears with standard ball ammo.
 
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